Go back

2026 MLB Draft Recap! Way-Too-Early FYPD Rankings! (7/14 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

73m 5s

2026 MLB Draft Recap! Way-Too-Early FYPD Rankings! (7/14 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Tämä transkriptio on osa Fantasy Baseball Today -podcastia, jossa analysoidaan MLB:n varaustilaisuutta ja lupaavia pelaajia. Pääaiheena on vuoden 2024 varaus, jota pidetään epävarmana ja keskinkertaisena verrattuna aiempiin vuosiin. Suurin osa huippuvarauksista oli college-lyöjiä, ja vain yksi syöttäjä valittiin 15 ensimmäisen varauksen joukossa. NIL-sopimusten vaikutus näkyi siinä, että monet lahjakkaat high school -pelaajat putosivat varauslistalla myöhäisille kierroksille. Rock Chalowski, White Soxin ykkösvaraus, on keskustelun keskiössä. Häntä kuvaillaan lyöjänä, jolla on 30+ kodin juoksun potentiaali ja hyvä lyöntitekniikka, vaikka nopeus ei ole hänen vahvuutensa. Häntä verrataan Corey Seageriin, ja White Soxin uskotaan kehittävän hänet nopeasti pääsarjaan. Muita mainittuja pelaajia ovat Nathan Fluelling, joka teki vaikutuksen Futures-pelissä, ja Dax Killby, joka nousi arvostuksessa minor league -menestyksen ansiosta. White Soxin tulevaisuus näyttää lupaavalta, sillä heillä on vahva nuorten pelaajien ryhmä, kuten Colson Montgomery ja Caleb Bonemer. Joukkueen odotetaan kilpailevan pian, ja heillä on varaa tehdä kauppoja vahvistaakseen miehistöään. Podcastissa korostetaan, että pelaajien arviointi muuttuu jatkuvasti, ja lyhyen kauden suoritukset voivat nostaa pelaajien arvoa nopeasti. Lopuksi mainitaan, että jotkut varaukset saattavat nousta pääsarjaan jo ensi kaudella.

Transcription

14667 Words, 76320 Characters

Finnish
Hei, yks juttu vielä. No. Mihin mä nyt sitten laitan tätä öljyy? Rabbatsen korkean mikä on siinä muutturin päällä. Tarke sittenko mikä on visko sitten etti sulla on? Ehmä vielä visko nuttu tämä mihin kä? Ei ku siis sitä mitä sinä puullosta lukee. Ei, tässä loin muuta kuin extra virgin. Ootas kun mä kiitun käymään. Helpomitehty kuin sanottu. Motonet! Motonet! Täällä on Fannasi Basballt Today Podcast Nyt on S.B.S. Sport. Täällä on Fannasi Basballt! S.B.S.I. K. Täällä on Frank Scott & Chris. iarasteiden vuomennan k害alaisiin, me nuopat tilata Kunst acoustic on parampat, ki임äs k74yan verellinen aangle いä ei seispiel intoi suuri ja teilageio suojeita on te gracekAppal�isu consirekkuvaa sellaista utei. Siinä on Uberii myöhemmin joulimman tart saveлинö PRIROGO FLOZEE se blogimme. stä, jotka asioittavatomaan misettä k實 axialiin. 100-450 seurastamassa on confidentus laにな liittyen loppuutemme ainakin, olet ovat investing樂ita alphabet ja päällisten tekevät as Ela Artem. hipponeen löitса, että vaikka mantel curdinaoo enemmän 구독aa til我不one, maat 8 cognitionio aku ja pelea käisty 10 Оophobie ettei itse asiassa perallissa, muutturia hänたloadaa taas - aiv List währendopana, jotka saittumaiset palussa. Maalla ei tubercover annan. Vaikka muそれは pelät ole k Manchester's itse. Tuoludeet k пальceko Ill seslerii roioloisil käyttää hujaan蔭 ja järjestelm otherdoin Bolhallis довähtellinä, johon kärsää, että järjestelmät on järjestelmät, mutta se on järjestelmät, mutta se on järjestelmät, mutta se on järjestelmät, mutta se on järjestelmät, mutta se on järjestelmät, mutta se on järjestelmät, mutta se on järjestelmät, voidaan reformsuusilм性inhti, healing diesem於ki joukoneht ja su putnikuus materiaalia - ja voidaan erittäin infaalle Lights connectionовuhan. lokal Orona sitten tela inujemyksääni Buona ㅋㅋㅋㅋysvoisi! Sa neithera joku. اث! many more, it was actually raised catcher prospect Nathan Fluelling who won the MVP as he had a two run homer in that game. But DeVries had a hit. He had two steals. Kate Anderson and Ryan Sloan, they threw a scoreless inning each. Jojo Parker of the Blue Jays had an RBI double as well. Again, I'm not really sure that there's much that you can take away from one game, but well, should you have any takeaways from this one particular futures game? I mean, Nathan Fluelling is someone you should definitely pay attention to. He's in like a top 100 fantasy prospect 19 year old, just keeps dropping bombs. He showed easy power. If you go back and look at that swing, by the way, it was just like get the ball or get the bat in front of the ball. It wasn't like some big crazy, pole heavy looking swing or anything like that. There's just some really good rock power. I mean, I'd also say something I walked away with is look at the rates. I mean, Theo Gillan is another guy. Like I know that the real baseball, because there's like, you know, the real world baseball prospect rankers and there's like the fantasy people and like finding the medium between Theo Gillan. Sometimes I'm the slower one to kind of make like crazy and season adjustments, but you just look at him and he's super impressive and, you know, they then go get Gradier Morrison, like the raise or in a really good spot. But I mean, I think all things considered it with there was a lot of like what you expected. You saw Hazus Made put up like a big hard hit ball. You saw Seth Hernandez show, you know, crazy V-LO differences with that 100. You know, Sloan gave up a hit. It's not anything too crazy or anything like that. I don't know, Leo DeVries kind of stood out to me a little bit. It's like, you just got to think if the A's are going to make any type of consideration to maybe, I don't know, maybe even just jump in above AAA and just get to the majors if they want to be competitive. But yeah, I mean, like what do you take away from like a prospect perspective that can change your analysis? I think of anything was just getting your eyes on some of these players, finding comfort levels like Ryan Sloan in a low amount of work. Look awesome. You know, Jamie Arnold. You could see Jamie Arnold's like insane movement. He's got crazy RPMs on his pitches. Like you just get these little tastes of a lot of these players. So I don't think there's anything crazy. But Nathan Fluelling definitely not just from an MVP perspective, but like he is somebody that is probably one of the biggest risers that came out of that game. And towards the end of this podcast, we'll have a bonus towards the end. A few prospects who the Welsh thinks could make a redraft impact in the second half of the season. And on this very podcast last year, you gave out Bubba Chandler and Noelle McLean, who actually were awesome down the stretch of what Bubba Chandler and not so much this year. But I'm thinking of current Bubba and I'm like, I'm not really sure it's a win, Frank. But that was at the time he was doing that relief and then in the starting role. Obviously, he was great. He was great. So Timber, he was awesome. Yeah, McLean came up. I think it was like a sub 2 ERA for seven or eight starts. So those guys were, I'm not going to say league winners, but they could have been contributing league winning players. So we'll talk a little bit about that a little bit later on as well before we hit our first break. Thank you for being here. Make sure to hit that like button, subscribe on YouTube as well. Or if you're already subscribed, just stay subscribed, right? We have a whole other second half. I know football is coming and everyone getting excited for fantasy football. There's enough hours in the day. Watch your football content. Stay here. Watch your baseball as well. We're still going to be here daily all throughout the second half of the season as well. Let's take that break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back fantasy baseball today. All right. The real reason people are here, they want to learn about the MLB draft and I know usually we are very redraft fantasy baseball focused and this will be a lot of dynasty conversation. I realize that. But I also think there are some names on this list that could move really quickly. And you know, I mean, just this time last year, we were talking about Kate Anderson and now he's one of the top prospects in baseball and he could make a huge impact in the second half. Very quickly. And even if you don't play in dinosaur or keeper league, I think this could be applicable for you as soon as next season. So starting off with the draft, just overall thoughts, well, on this year's draft, it feels a little bit different to me than previous years. There were lots of college bats up top. There was only one pitcher taking in the top 15 picks. I feel like usually a little bit like more pitcher heavy towards the top, not always, but at least it was last year. What is the strength of this draft class and how do you think it compares to previous draft classes? I mean, I thought this draft was weird. I thought there was maybe a lot of uncertainty out there. I think we definitely felt at least a version of the ramifications of like NIL, you know, because there were some really talented, highly ranked high school bats that ended up going like super, super late. You know, and are they going to sign, you know, from the 16th and 17th round that, you know, guys, I mean, were teams sitting back and holding a pool of money so they can compete with NIL and having to, you might see that sometimes in the eighth or seventh or eighth round or something like that. And then teams try to throw money. Now them throwing it more into the teams where, you know, off we lose this pick, it's a little less risky, but we're going to throw that money. So like I think there was just like a lot of fear that was going on in this draft and NIL obviously had like a role to play in it. And also, I don't think there was like crazy optimism. I think it's a fine draft, but I think from an evaluation standpoint, everyone felt kind of like mediocre about it overall. I think from a strength standpoint, I think there's like a lot of like solid, major league college, you know what I mean? Like a lot of solid, major league college guys are going to make contact as their major crazy impact. I don't think so. There's a couple of injured guys, you know, in high school friends, but I would say this is like at this moment because we have so much we've got to figure out by the way. You said my early first year player ranks, yeah, man, like they are very early because there's still so much we're trying to learn. I think you have to pay a little bit of attention to how teams invested in players like not to jump ahead, but like I almost wanted to rethink like, oh, am I saying something wrong in Gio Rojas or Jacob Lombard who fell. So you're kind of taking a look at that and you want to see what you can see in short season. I live out here in Arizona. I'm going to try to go see as much of these guys as possible because I feel like this is getting to the last point. The uncertainty of how top heavy this draft is couldn't create a lot of volatility, a ton of volatility. Like what we're talking about now could change in two months in six months and some of that might not all work out and like little tiny pieces of info could skyrocket guys not picking on this guide all because he's super talented. But like look at like that's kill be that's kill be was like, boom, everyone's like I got a draft of seventh overall and it's just like hasn't been much this year. There's been a lot of injuries and it's such like it's one of those kind of I think uncertain looking drafts where one little thing might push players up and down. But I think it's a lot more based around a college hitting and I think it was alluded to last I'll say on the MLB draft coverage was that like I think teams might be paying attention a little bit more to how quick players can move up into the majors and start helping. And maybe that was a little bit more of the prioritization in how some picks were, you know, these college batsons some college pitchers that could move up and start, you know, competing and helping like late next year, you know, or but I think that's a lot of but there might be a couple of these guys that I agree with you that might be players. We see very early on next season like rock. Yeah. And I do appreciate you putting that list together because and obviously subject to change because and it should be changing, right? You are ranking players right now just based on what they did in college or high school or what you've heard or scouting reports. The teams that they were drafted to maybe the situation changed your outlook a little bit on some of these players. But also what they do if they play at all over the next couple of months could definitely change your evaluation of that player. You know, if you're doing FYPD rankings in October or November, they should look different based on whatever happened in the minor league season. I'm so happy you brought up DAX Killby because that is a perfect example where this time last year, I didn't hear anybody talking about him as like a top 20 or top 24 FYPD player. And then he goes out and just has this awesome run in the minors and boom, he's instantly like a top 10 guy on everyone's list. Yeah, I had I remember somebody and again, not this is wrong or anything, but somebody once, you know, because first year player starts today all the way through like, you know, February or March. And some I had people that were taking DAX Killby, no question over Ethan holiday. No, I know that looks a little bit weird because like holiday got hurt and it's kind of nothing right now, but he started to pick up. And it's just like that's how volatile these things can be. So you should always be open to changing your process. And I hope I get to see a bunch of them. It's called the continuation link of the bridge they got here in Arizona. I should be able to see guys like rock and hopefully land in tome and then all the Arizona based guys, but maybe just maybe we also see a little bit of an uptick of some of these players because there were so many college bats taken early in the Arizona fall league, which that would then be a nice little push to maybe getting some production next season, which becomes more relevant for people. You don't play in redraft leagues, you know, this type of stuff kind of rolls over your head when we talk about Dynasty, but you know, these days like the way we're getting production. And by the way, hoping we have baseball next year, that's the other sick thing in my brain. But, you know, like the way that these guys are producing and competing at such a quick turn, like it is relevant. It's relevant to like kind of no now. So you can start to pay attention for the process. And you know, there's a couple of those guys at the top end of the strapped. All right. Let's get into some of the actual players last year we had two somewhat surprises up at the top. Eli Willett's going first overall to the nationals, Tyler Bremener, second overall to the Angels. This year, I don't think it was much of a surprise. I think there was a couple of players in the running for the the top three or four picks, but ultimately it was UCLA shortstop rock Chalowski who went first overall to the Chicago White Sox and well, I'm already thinking of all the sound drops that I can make from the rock during his wrestling career for rock Chalowski. It doesn't matter what sound bites are sorry. I'll do that exactly what I'm thinking. There's so much that I could do with this guy. So I am rooting for him and I hope it comes through for wishing he's 21 years old six foot two shortstop big hit and power. I keep hearing the Troy Tulu whiskey comes, but Chalowski does not run like Tulu did. So I'm thinking more of like a right handed hitting Corey Seeger just in terms of like what my expectation is if it's if it's batting average and power, but what do you think about rock Chalowski? Yeah, I think you I think you got a good knack for it as well. I mean, I think there's 30 plus home run power. One of the things is he was at the MLB drive is actually at the combine. I was at a couple years ago not participating in but just covering and you know, he was like just this high school kid and over this time at UCLA, he had a lot of bulk. You know, like that time he looked like, oh, this is a kid that might have all those tools. He ended up bulking up and he does running, you know, speed is not going to be a big part of his game. But I think the big question, there's a lot of like prospect fatigue around him and I will admit, I think there's like little tiny shades of like Dylan Cruz in multiple sides in like the fatigue. Because remember Dylan Cruz, you know, he didn't sign, he goes to LSU, then all of a sudden, you know, he ends up being this absolute breakthrough guy. He's going to be the number one overall pick and then that last year, he's kind of started to cool down a little bit, I think in his junior year and you know, he saw all fields power and stuff. And I think the same thing was kind of happening with rock a little bit where people are questioning like, you know, is like the quality of contact going to be there. I wonder if it's a little bit of just that fatigue. But like I just really like him. I think it's 30 plus home run power. I swing. I think it naturally generates power. He's got the I list like this hip turn that he does to get into the ball. They talked about this in the draft coverage, which I think is something to pay attention to, especially from like the long term ability that you think they're going to make contact. But he altars and counts and you can kind of see it in his approach where he can get a little bit more upright in early counts and then he starts in the two strikes. He kind of breaks back down trying to make contact. I like that. Solid bat speed over 75, the 74 mile per hour. Imagine if that can get tapped into more. We know what bat speed can translate to. And also in my view of this, I think we should give like a little bit of white socks, some credit in this in that like they've been developing like higher barrel guys in the lower minors from how they developed Colson Montgomery to how they multi year developed at the majors to Miguel Vargas to, you know, the acquisition of like Murakami. I think it is like something that is actively in the profile of players are looking at. So I think when you pass up like there's really tools, he all could be something every other site making him, you know, everybody changed a great Emerson. You got to think that this team has a lot of confidence that he can not only play really great defense, which is great that the power and contact is going to stay, but also that there is still a lot more upside in the tank. And I think that maybe the un talked about thing, at least you talked about it though, is that I think he can move quick through the system. I don't think that's out of pocket. Look at the white socks. They're highly competitive. Yep. Like do they need to press him? No, but it's like they made that Jacob Gonzalez trade because they had a surplus of short stops. New it was coming and then that landed them land in Tome. They can go and make these moves and Colson can move over to third. You know, Rock is going to be the short stop. I really think there's an opportunity, especially if he comes out the gates pretty quick. I've been told there might even be a white socks like rookie camp happening like a week or so, which I will be trying to go to. I think if all things are pretty aggressive, what if we saw Rock go to high A or double A this year, then he plays in the Arizona fall league. And then all of a sudden, what if he's taking the Kevin McGonagall path? I mean, those are dreaming high, but I think this is a team that wants to compete now. So I'm very aggressive on Rock. I don't think Chalaski is seen as like the number one fantasy prospect in a lot of eyes. I think a lot of people have turned to Crety Emerson. I have not. I do have Rock as my number one guy. So you touched on this a little bit. You talked about close to Montgomery moving to third base and Chalaski sticking at short stop. How do you think everything else plays out here for the white socks? And I bring it up because again, they might they could have this problem problem, a good problem as soon as next season. So is it Montgomery a third Chalaski at short stop Caleb Bonnermer feels like he's probably going to be here pretty soon to is he at second base. Is it Miguel Vargas back to the outfield? Bye bye to chase my draw. Like, what do you think? I think this team spent a lot of years trading off pieces. They are going to need to very quickly be looking at trading for some pieces and they have the ammunition for it. They worked very hard and moving some really sought after spots to acquire a lot of great players and then draft a lot of great players. And guess what? They got a lot of great players. Yeah, they got a lot of them now. So it's like, I think, you know, if no, a shoulder develops and you get Hagen Smith in there and then we look at like, you know, Davis Martin and those guys like Sean Burke, they've created this like pretty cool. Now, what would that look like? You know, I know joking, but it's like they traded away crochet and sees. But what if they got a guy like that and they brought them in? Do they have the pieces to compete for that? They do. Bonner. I mean, Antonacci is out there. Yeah. You mentioned Billy Carlson is a really great prospect that they've got and then they just had probably just want to point this out a little best draft. The best draft of any team. Oh, they're the first pick, but they also crushed it across the board. Landed tome. They got Jim tome, son later, which is not just a fun name pick. Like, he's a great first baseman. Prosec they got was a really highly highly sought after. They had a great draft. So that allows you to make those trades. So what do they do? I think Chase might draw out to be a great like super util guy. I really, I think second base is kind of that open spot. I think Murkami, they've got to resign, but you know, it's like, you can't let Miguel Vargas go. I really don't know, but when you have great players, I think right now the path is Murkami is the D.H. Miguel Vargas is your first baseman. Those two swipe between Montgomery goes to third, Rock goes to short, and then you probably have a barrage of like whatever great other middle infield that you want to roll out there. You could do it. I mean, Antonace, you could be there if they wanted. They have a surplus of really great problems. To me, it's nothing that concerns me about investing in a prospect. You know what I'm saying? Like, I know like we look at the rays and we're just like, right? It really, really do make it difficult on people. I just don't think the white socks are going to make it difficult. Getting a surplus of prospects, the great prospects, they push through, they make it happen. Look at Braden Montgomery out there, and I think he'll just be one of those guys. And then imagine if they're all working out and Rock is sitting there, hitting three or four, it's going to be RBIs. It's going to be runs. It's going to be average. It's going to be big power. And like, so that's where your Corey Seeker comp kind of makes sense. Maybe that doesn't translate for a lot of people with the needing speed and fantasy. And I understand that. And like, I don't think I was really like, I mean, I definitely wasn't right when you look at last year's Eli Willards versus Ethan Holiday. I was team Ethan Holiday. I'd, I like, Willards, I think it, uh, three because I had Kate Anderson at two, which I feel like I was the only person that had Kate that high. But I had Eli Willards at like three, but Eli Willards is a monster. And Ethan did turn it around, got hurt. I was really questioning like, I think Eli is going to hit for power and, uh, hit the, for average, have speed, but will he hit for power? And he did. So I think I got that wrong. So like in the same respect, making a bet on a guy that like Ethan Holiday, but a college version, more polished and rock is that better to do over a guy like Brady Emerson who provides some speed. Like, those are good questions. And I'm willing to like be, you know, wrong about that. But I think at the end of the day, not to jump ahead of what you want to talk about, but it's like, it's one A one B. Well, however you want to chalk it up, cool by me. Whatever you want to do, if you want to say, Hey, I want the developing race, you know, we're going to press Emerson down a little bit. It's going to take him a little bit longer. They're, they're rightful of prospects. If you're cool waiting and you think Emerson can end up being the number one prospect in two or three years, it's great. And if they are far apart in what the production looks like, great, but if they're close, rock is probably going to be there a year or two before. And that's why I'm giving a little bit of proximity to rock Chalosky. Well, let's talk about Brady Emerson because the race selected him second overall, prep shortstop out of Fort Worth Christian high school in Texas. He's only 18 years old. So we know again, he's going to take longer. But perhaps does have higher upside for fantasy because of that speed factor, big hit tool power speed. I've seen, and this is very lofty. I totally get it. Like, I don't think anybody should be compared to Bobby with junior, but a Bobby with junior light type player, just someone that can contribute across the board. What do you think of something like that? What is the upside here and how long do you think it might take him to get to the majors? I'd say I sure wish I was, I could see gradient person out here too. Like I really try to fight like a personal bias of when I sometimes I'm just going to fail. Like, because I see guys here out near his own and stuff like that. I would say like my bigger question is in the impact fullness of speed. So like last year, I was questioning Eli Willett's ability hit for power early on stupid me. This year, I think you're looking at a guy who's got like arguably, I mean, I know like baseball America thinks this is the best hit tool. It's really easy swing. It actually kind of reminds me a little bit of like Kyle Tucker sometime. He can kind of like get off on the top loft and whatever and that can lead to potentially sometimes doubles ground balls. But if you're making really good contact, it can get to good lofty power. It's a really like easy swing. I just think there is still some work to do to get to that plus power. But that's why like if we see him do stuff, I might make that change early on if it starts to develop. But my big thing is like, I'm not sure what the speed is going to look like at the higher levels. He did still 31 bases in high school, which by the way, max Clark still 80 bases in high school. So it's like 30 bases is probably equivalent to like a 15 to 20 stolen base guy still great hit over 500. He only hits seven homers in the middle. that period of time as well. So it's really going to be about the development. I think the raise to a really good job. I kind of think they're going to slow roll in a bit because they are just chocked here, Cooper Fleming. That is above him. Like I said, other positional guys, obviously, Theon's not his position and Theo Gillen and Nathan Fluelling are not. But it's like, they've just got a lot of guys that they have to end up making room form fine versatility. I tend to think they're going to slow roll it a little bit. Maybe he goes to low A. Maybe finishes at high A where I think a rock get to double or triple. Then I think they have him repeat next year. And you have a full season of potentially low A to high A. So I think he's about a year and a half behind. But maybe over the next couple of months, we're going to be able to differentiate these. And we're going to start to see those little Eli Willett signs really quick. And I think we can make that adjustment. Obviously, you can if you have a first year player in the next three weeks for a psychopath and you do that, you can't do that. But hopefully, we can get a little bit more information and then you just have to decide like, what do you care about more? Do you care about the proximity? Or do you care about the longer upside, but more stolen based potential? And maybe these guys really will separate themselves. I think they are just, this is what you want in the class to me. You want one of these two. After that, you're starting to throw your hand. There's some, obviously, like really good pieces that are involved in here. But after that, you're throwing your hands up a little bit more. All right, let's move on to number three. The twin selected Vaughn Lackie third overall. And he's a 21 year old catcher out of Virginia. Georgia Tech, excuse me, the catcher position is about to get even better. It's like been so loaded this year. And that's even with some guys getting hurt and, you know, Augustine Ramirez getting sent down. But with Vaughn Lackie, it's strong hit and power. But make, what makes him so intriguing for fantasy is that he can run. He had 15 steals at Georgia Tech last year and 18 steals the year before that. So do we have a potential JT Real Mutant type on our hands with Vaughn Lackie? Yeah, I think that's exactly what we're banking on here. Such a good beg bat power and the speed at the catcher position. It just completely stands out. I think it was 20 homers last year and 61 games, but he also stole 15. He's just like a really good athletic catcher from a bat perspective as well. 50 walks to 32 strikeouts in college this year. So it's like, you know, could there be some swing stuff? Yeah, but there's just like really good patience so far. He's had really good contact skills. There's power to be there. What I think is really intriguing about him, not saying this is going to happen at all, but this is also why, like I slightly like him a little bit more as well, is that defensively he's a really good catcher. But he also played 13 games at third base this past year. Why that could be pseudo relevant? They drafted a catcher with the next pick, the Twins did. They drafted two back-to-back catchers in Carson Tinney. Now, Tinney is a little bit more of like a big bat, like potentially lower catching skills. He's got a really good arm, but maybe defensively he's not there. But I just throw that out to say like, why'd you do that? You know, is this like Joey Bart Patrick Bailey? Like one is the bat, one's defensive, or did you protect yourself? Like to me, I look at, I remember having obviously this was a failure, but you have the similar conversations about Harry Ford years and years ago. Super athletic guy and it's like, man, if he played it, if he was the second baseman, he could be a 2020 guy. Well, Von Lacky could be a 2020 guy at third base, but also from the catching position, if he stays, you know, this day and age, maybe he's playing a little bit more DH as well. I just think there's like tremendous floor with him. So I truly don't know. I'm going to do a podcast with James Anderson later this week. I don't know how other people are valuing Von Lacky, but I think there's a lot of uncertainty. A lot of uncertainty on the high end of this draft. I think there's a lot of like cool floor guys. When you look at a guy like Von Lacky, if you can get 2020 out of the catcher position with like the hitting skills with speed that you can count on, it gives me vibes back to Adley Rutchman who did not have the speed. But remember how highly thought after we had with Adley Rutchman, when he was drafted, it was like him, Bobby Whit and Andrew Vaughan in that time. And it's like, I think we could be in a similar space of that and how valuable is a 2020 catcher. I think he could move pretty aggressively through the system, but I'm also kind of patiently watching what they're going on with this two catcher spots. So I have them at three. So I am following this path here so far of these top three guys. I think Von is someone to make a bet on. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, we'll get into the rest of the top picks in the MLB draft. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back fantasy baseball today recapping the MLB draft with. Well, the first pitcher selected was Jackson Flora to the San Francisco Giants. He went for fourth overall out of UC Santa Barbara. And he is 21 years old, big righty at six foot five has a big fastball as well. Since 96 97 miles per hour, touches triple digits. Well, how good are the secondaries here? And what do you think about the control? I mean, obviously like we see a pitcher go to San Francisco, like you instantly start dreaming of what that can be. But what do you think about some of the other pieces here with Jackson Flora? Yeah, I mean, it's as mentioned by many, it's like probably one of the best fastball slider combos, tons of strikeout potential out of the Santa Barbara pitcher 102 innings this past year, 133 strikeouts love that. But also, Lance Brostowski did a really good job of mentioning this. It's not just like blanket fastball slider. It's also a couple of the breaking pitches. There's a sweeper and a curveball in there. So it shapes. That's what's really interesting about it. There's some descending opinion, I guess, on the fastball stuff. But I think it's a really good fastball that is paired with really good breaking ball shapes. And like that is a recipe for success. Then you throw it in like a really good pitching environment. So Flora was like clearly the top pitcher. From my first year player perspective, I do have him lower in my FYP, then he was drafted. But then that starts to become perspective. If I'm in a points league, I'm going to move him up. Maybe as high as three, to be honest with you, I just like the destination for him. I know there's questions about what the giants are doing in general, maybe with my tell, but I like Buster Posey. And I like what they're going to be able to develop on the pitching side. I love this. I love this pick. I like him. There's some trustworthy stuff in those second areas. Maybe we're going to have to pay attention to like how it all comes together. If he goes like really super heavy like slider fastball and there's not enough break in between the other stuff, he might be one of those guys that comes out, throws 45% fastball and he really needs to be like 35% fastball. We need a little bit more on like the sweeper and curveball and stuff. But I just think he's got the second areas that play with a fastball that he could move through the system. And I think that's why they were so aggressive and drafting him. And again, that's Jackson Flora to the giants who the Welsh has ranked number seven in his FYPD rankings. The draft opened up a bit after the top four picks as the pirates selected Outfielder Derek Curiel fifth overall and he's 21 years old out of LSU. I wonder if Paul Schien's maybe had a say in this pick. Big dude at six foot two seems like he's known for his hit tool over everything else, but he can run a little bit. Seems like there are some questions about the power. What do you see him developing into for fantasy? It kind of feels like a higher floor type. I don't I don't want to sell him short, but that's just what it feels like me on the outside looking in. You know what's why I didn't even like think about like Paul Schien's in their ear about that. They didn't even ever occur to me, but yeah, that might have happened. Yeah, I think he said it well. He's like supernatural hitter plus hit tool. And that's that's like kind of like a common denominator of like the top, you know, half of the first round when you look at a lot of the college hitters, it's like, hey, guess what? There's like plus hit tool. He's a type of hitter. I have a note here that he creates above expected results like with his points. So like, you know, maybe the the sum of his parts are not like super exciting, but when you put it all together, all the sudden, like, you know, okay, you know, that great contact. Just we got a couple more homers and we're starting to get a few more stolen bases like you can just do a little bit more. Really love his swing. The way he holds the bat, he's able to get it's kind of talked about sometimes like when you have the bat here and you don't have this crazy load, he's able to just get into his hands and the actual swing part early and he does some damage. So I think that's exciting, but he might be and I put this like kind of funny comp I wrote out here and it sparked in me because it's like the same team, but like, maybe the upside floor is similar to like Ryan Reynolds. That's out there. You know, I'm saying like a 20 home or 15 stolen base great batting average like that's maybe the way to kind of like approach him. I will say I'm encouraged 105 90th percentile exit velocity. That becomes interesting when you have the ability to start lifting the ball and maybe that starts to happen even more. So there's like a high floor in him. I got a little range in my FYPD of like where those guys go. I think it's too difficult to maybe assume that he's going to have like all this crazy big upside and maybe Brian Reynolds is way too high of a comp, but that's kind of the general space. He's kind of a he's like a fun floor pick. Yeah, if you're I think I have him at nine on my list. Yeah, I remember correctly. Yeah, nine. So it's like, you know, you're in the middle parts of a 12 or 15 team. Like I think you could do a lot worse than guerrilla and another guy that potentially this could be the thing. They talked about this in the draft, which I thought was kind of weird because I didn't agree with where they were like, you know, teams are really starting to like draft for need and it's like, I don't know, they're really drafting for me. This isn't the you know, the NFL where they're taking a running back to put him in right now. But in the same token, maybe it's something along the lines of a player. that is going to end up being in the majors a little bit sooner. And they think the path can get him there. So daregrials really interesting. All right. No doubt the biggest surprise in the top 10 and maybe the entire first round came when the Royal selected outfielders, Zion Rose out of Louisville. And he's 21 years old. He's known for big bat speed. He produced high exit velocities and power to all fields. And I say it's a surprise because the MLB pipeline had Rose ranked as their 30th overall prospect in the draft. And obviously he goes sixth overall here. So why do you think the Royals went in this direction and what are your thoughts on Zion Rose here as a prospect? It's a great, it's a great question because they passed on some interesting stuff out there. I mean, obviously again, repeat yourself great bat. There's a really good hit tool really solid, hard hit numbers. I wonder if that was maybe part of it. Like, you know, just that ability to just check into like really big, barreling hard hit numbers makes a ton of contact. There's really high zone contact rates that, you know, maybe they feel with a tweak here and a tweak there, they're going to be able to start, you know, making some changes into that type of profile that could make him not just like a really solid player, but like a well above that. Pretty good defender. If I'm remembering correctly, I think he was previously like a catcher. You know, that's how athletic he was and then he moved into the outfield. Big stolen base potential as well. 55 stolen bases in around 100 games over the last two years. So, you know, maybe it's similar to like, maybe they see like a Michael Garcia type in him. I think there's some weird stuff in his swing. I'm not overtly aggressive because I think there's more volatility in his game. I'd also throw out like, what's that a Bobby wit? Like what's my level of trust and what like the royals are doing? And I think there's also speculation that this was one of those picks too that allowed them to do a few things later in the draft. They didn't they speculated that they were going to take a high school pitcher later, which they did not in the next round. But I think it provided them some more flexibility. So I wonder if this was like a claim old that they felt that they could, a few tweaks here and there they could get this really great player, but that creates volatility. So I've got him at 15 on my first year player. So in a 15 team league, he's at the back into the first round. We're not buying into him going six overall hype to make him a top 10 guy. Again, that was Zion Rose who wound up going to the Kansas City Royals. Seventh overall, the Orioles selected high school outfielder Eric Booth, junior out of Oak Grove in Mississippi. He's just 18 years old. He had a commitment to Vanderbilt. And he is one of the fastest players in the draft. He does have some pop as well. He apparently won the home run Derby at the perfect game, all American classic last July. And he comes loaded with athleticism and tools, but he is someone who is further out. He will need some more time to develop what, what do you see here as the upside for someone like Eric Booth, junior? Oh, Frankie. This is one of those guys where it starts to check in and click with me. And I'm going to not be able to help myself. This is a guy I think I'm going to target. You mentioned the home run high school Derby, but did we also mention that he's registered in all the events like the high school events he's done as some of the fastest 60 times as well. So you're not only looking at a home run high school champion, we're also looking at a guy that registers ridiculous speed right now. And he's also got ridiculous bat speed. He's barreling the ball. I think he's got a chance to move up first year boards. I don't know where the people have. I kind of it six. And I look at that guy and it's like, Hey, man, if I want to take a swing, and I'm not super interested in some dumb catcher and I don't want to do the, the, the, one of the guys I have it for who we haven't talked about yet. I want to do these college things and I want to just play on potential. It might be Eric Booth, junior, four 81 and 922 slug this past year in high school, 23 stolen bases, five homers. But I think there's a lot that the Orioles can tap into. This is one of those guys that like he clicks a button for me where I'm like, man, I really want to own him. So it'll be really interesting to see as the space opens up and we see like where everybody really has him. If I'm the high guy on him and you can get some more deals, but I really like the potential of Eric Booth. The next two I'm going to throw together as they're both college outfielders. The A selected Drew Burris from Georgia Tech and the Braves selected AJ Grossia out of Virginia and both are 21 year old outfielders. But different shapes and sizes, very different. Burris checks in at just five foot nine while Grossia stands at six foot three and despite being smaller, Burris packs a punch. He looks very well rounded in terms of hit power and speed. Grossia doesn't have the speed. He's more of that kind of sweet swinging left handed outfielder, who has a chance to hit for batting average and power. What are your thoughts on these two? Is there one that you could see moving faster than the other in terms of getting to the majors again, that's Drew Burris who went to the A's and AJ Grossia to the Braves? Okay. So that the way you phrase that question is interesting. I don't know if the answer is the same. I would thought you were going to say, "Is there one I like better?" And there is one I like better. Despite me being six foot four, I still got love for the shorties and Drew Burris is my guy. I got Drew Burris at four this year and had to put to my boy Joe Doyle who really put me on to one thing that really gets me excited about Drew Burris amongst many things by the way. Because I think like really, really solid college bat from just a great Georgia tech team. He hit 358 this past year, 16 homers, 10 stolen bases, 1100 plus OPS, all that fun stuff. But that he is a pulled air demon. Like that is what he does. He generates bailed contact that he gets in the air and he pulls the crap out of it. And I love that. And I think the results were there. I think it could be allowed at the major leagues. I think he could be a 2020 guy. I dream on the possibilities of him hitting in Sacramento. But by the time he's up, maybe it's going to be Las Vegas. But I sometimes wonder if Vegas is going to have some similarities to like how Arizona is as a dome stadium and a high elevation spot. And I don't know. I just think that like that's a guy that I want to make a bet on when there's really uncertainty that pops up like after the top, well, not just two, but maybe even three if you count Von Lackie. So I put Drew Burris as like the really high guy on here at four. Gracie is really cool. A lot of contact like a really prototypical swing. I think there's lots of doubles in there. 107 walks by the way in two seasons, 180 strikeouts. There's like tons of floor with Grazia. So I don't want to say that he because like that type of like high floor could be a guy that could get to the majors. You're not striking out. You're walking us up. But I kind of want to say like Drew Burris is the guy that's going to make the push. And he is the one I'm betting on. I got Grazia and Karel kind of close to each other kind of the same profile where Drew Burris, I think with that pull there, what he's going to do at the major league level is going to be really good. And I like the home ball parks as well. Rowny out the top 10 picks the rocky selected college shortstop Tyler Bell out of Kentucky. He's 21 year old switch hitter who might not have the tools as the previous name selected. But based on what I read, it seems like he's well rounded. And if he sticks with the Rockies, obviously he'll have cores feel to call his home. So I don't want to be unfair to him as well. And again, we're like talking about some of these floor type players. But what do you think the ceiling could be here for for Tyler Bell who went to the Rockies? Yeah, I think this is one they get excited about. So like I think he's a guy without the ballpark factor that could have stepped in to be like a 15 15 guy. And I know that's not like super exciting for people. But like lots of intangibles like switch hitter. Some there's a little bit of make I have this note on him. There's a little bit of mechanic in his swing where like pop pop pop, you know, it checks out. And sometimes like as you go through systems, you've got to smooth that out a little bit more. But you know, he's he's getting bigger. I think more power is going to generate. I'm not sure where I feel like on the Rockies as a whole. But like, you know, we can look at like what's happened with Charlie Condon and like solid development. But then you do check in with the home ballpark. And it's like, this is a guy that I think is going to be able to hit for average. And I have a note of like everything we kind of wanted out of Zekiel Tovar. I wonder if that could be the check in for Bell. I just really love the offensive boosted ballpark for a guy that maybe is going to need that push a little bit early on. So I think he's super intriguing. I have him as a first round first year player. I've got him at 14. I do think there this could be this could be Dixie with him. Like I think in the way I say that, I think some people could have him at like seven, you know, like your eight because he's a Colorado bat. But at the same time do it. How much do I trust the development? And we want to be careful about not fooling ourselves. Like he just might be like a really good real life player. And then maybe we don't know if that translate to fantasy, but I don't know. He's continued to grow. He's continuing making developments like I kind of like where the swing is going. I just think he's a tiny bit more raw, but I love the home ballpark. So I see him as a first round first year player guy. All right. Moving outside the top 10 picks of the MLB draft. I'm going to jump around a little bit. I have five other names I want to ask you about. And one of the other surprises of the first round was someone who actually fell a little bit. And that was the Marlins landing prep shortstop Jacob Lombard. At 14 overall, he's 18 years old out of Goleiver prep high school in Florida. Bloodlines. He is the younger brother of Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr. Obviously the son of former Major Leagueer, George Lombard senior. And on paper, it looks like he is a better prospect than his brother. I mean, he's already six foot three. He comes with big tools, power and speed. I read some questions about the hit tool, but perhaps I'm off on that. He's further out, but it feels like somebody who has big long term upside. That is Jacob Lombard. Yeah. I wish I could get to the buy and probably need to like to ask around a little bit more of like what was the cause? Could there have been a little bit of manipulation and like, Hey, the Marlins or, you know, they've got a little slight deal. So maybe teams, if he didn't go in the top five, he wasn't going to cut a deal. I'm just speculating on that because like, was that was the swing and miss enough to throw him? back that far, but then let's go back to the scary cats that baseball is seems to be right now. Like guys are worried about signability. Guys are worried about missing on prospects. There's a lot of like median line. Like look at it guys like Tyler Bell and Derek Kareel and AJ Gross. Yeah, these guys are all going and people aren't trying to reach for that crazy high upside. I have decided that because I have a little bit of this in the back of my head. Remember Clue Watson? He fell. Marlon Stoken failure. Blubba Blah. That's just like in my brain. There were four great shots to her great short stops that year that were all going to be like super awesome. And he was like one of them that could have been great. And he was the guy that fell. Now we see kind of a similar thing. There's probably no actual correlation. But to that point, like I just think he is too tooled out. He is super athletic. I know there's concerns about the swing. There's a little bit of noise in his approach. But you know, his brother has gone still to this day has contact issue. And he's continued to be like maintain as like a high end prospect. But also I'll throw this out. I know I did this with another team. But let's also look at the Marlins development and like what they have done with some guys and they have really had a hyper focus on I think even learning teaching some of these guys to learn to barrel better. I know, you know, like Kyle Stowers is I mean, I think they've targeted players that really do that. But I also think in some of the minor leagues that like they have made a better more concerted effort to be able to teach that. So like I kind of want to give them a little bit of benefit that out. Kate almost hit 500 in his senior year in high school. He had 10 homers. He had 14 stolen bases. I think he's just kind of across the board like a five tool guy. We should have a little bit of concern that he did fall and teams passed him up that I think like there's got to be a point where also you just don't care about like signability wasn't really going to be an issue. But you just don't care about like the potential downside where you have to play the upside. And I'm I'm negating that and I'm keeping me at five. I'm going to keep him at five, regardless of where he fell in the draft because I think it's just again the volatility. There's just too much upside with him also. You watch videos dude. You see this dude back flips. He's bigger than his brother. He's jacked. He can do a little bit of everything. They say defensively he's so stacked to continue at shortstop. But I could see him as like a right fielder little Mike Stanton. You know back in the day turning to John Carlo like I don't I don't think that's a crazy path of where he goes and they're stolen base upside. Maybe it's going to fall apart. Maybe he's going to be Arjan Mala in his first year or two where he hits a buck 90 like that's maybe the risk that people are the worry that people really have. But I just think he's so talented. I kind of want to make that bet on him. So I've got him really high. And to your point about the Marlins not just what they've done with their prospects, but even at the major league level this year like yeah auto Lopez is one of the biggest breakouts at fantasy this year and even Xavier Edwards they they found a way to get more power out of him when I mean when he came up you were like all right. If he hits two or three home runs in a season I guess you know I'll just take that and I told you had six at the halfway point you'd have been like get out of here. Yeah so they've they've done some pretty good work in terms of development at the major league level. Obviously now we have to see that with some of their prospects as well. That was Jacob Lombard going to the Marlins. The first prep pitcher selected was Geo Rojas who went to the Texas Rangers 16th overall 19 years old out of Stoneman Douglas High School in Farta which has produced some big names in baseball including Anthony Rizzo, Jesus Luzardo, Roman Anthony, Rojas six foot four lefty with a fastball that touches 98 miles per hour to go along with a nasty sweeping slider. The downside which we mentioned with at least a few prospects every year is that he is a prep pitcher and he is 19 years old and these are the toughest prospect prospects to project long term and it's just in terms of like how long is it going to take to get to the majors. Are they going to get hurt at some point? So it's just it's harder to project these guys long term but Geo Rojas is someone I know was ranked very highly on prospect lists. Where are you on Geo Rojas? I'm going to be honest with you man. Geo Rojas hurts. This one pisses me off because the airs in the dime of backs passed on Rojas by one pick and let the Rangers take him and I think that is going to follow them. So this one it really bothers me because I think he is way too talented. By the way, because of the dime backs did with their compensatory pick after high school pitcher but signability issues. So it's like what are we doing here? I think everything you said is kind of on target like from a skill set standpoint is one of the best high school guys in here. It's plus fastball slider, great change up. There's actually really solid control. Super big energy guy as well. If you heard any of the interviews that he did, he's just like great mentality kind of brushes it right off wants to be great little intensity like I love the way he attacks. I think he can be a special dude. I don't understand why he fell. The Rangers are a really interesting spot. You could look at it both positively and negatively like what negatively have they done with some of their pitchers into the Kumar stuff and Brock Porter never worked out but also in the lower levels like the cadence Garber O came out of nowhere like they actually think they've done like a really good job in how they've been progressing and especially when they get to the higher levels of developing these guys and I don't think they're any rush to push them you know and that because they've got the tears of these guys. I think actually they this is a really great spot that the Rangers have turned into like a what are they doing to a higher in pitching development department that really knows and I think they got a steal and I would you know what I don't have a ton of connections. I actually have a connection with the Rangers. I'm going to text and find out they had to have been ecstatic about that one. They had to have been ecstatic about getting geo-rahas and just as a side note they ended up taking a dude later like a couple rounds later who there's fears of Tommy Johns who would have been a top 20 pick as well like they I like my team to not be fearful just because there's a labor thing that's coming just go in for the best players like obviously you know the Diamondbacks felt you know writer was the defensive catcher was the great pick okay but like geo-rahas could have easily been a top 10 pick and I thought he fell here which hurts me and I think from the fantasy perspective of it prep pitchers are actually a little bit more dicey and they feel like a tiny bit more scary. I've got him right outside the first round maybe if things really push and develop he could push into the first round I have him 16 overall so if I say out of the first round if you're playing in a 15 team league he would move right out of that so it's somewhere between the beginning or the mid second round but you know he's a high school pitcher we don't want to push them unless there's like you know the McKinsey goers of the world kind of push that development but I this one hurts me personally and I'm definitely you know I think that's a relatively aggressive rank for a high school pitcher but that's just how talented he is. Let's stick with pitchers as the tiger selected Cameron Fluky 22nd overall 21 years old massive six foot six right handed pitcher out of coastal Carolina according to MLB pipeline Fluky went toe-to-toe with Kate Anderson in the opening game of the 2025 college world series final I obviously had to read that because I don't watch college baseball at all it's just there's not enough hours in the tates. I can't pay attention MLB and all the other we're talking about the nicks like how are you I'm supposed to be paying attention all this stuff in the mixer winning and there's baseball and what's a Frank to do. There's a lot going on Cameron Fluky by the way mid 90s fastball touches 98 he's got a big curve ball from a higher release point and I kind of like him landing with the tigers it seems like they do a good job with pitching development your thoughts on Cameron Fluky and as a college pitcher how fast he might move. I actually think this is another one of those guys like if I think it could be wrong about it. I mean we all thought like Tyler Bremner and Liam Doyle could be at the majors this time last year but it's like Fluky's one of those guys if the tigers are going to go all in and scuba gets his way and he doesn't get traded and you know they're trying to you know be super super competitive next year like I just don't think it's out of pocket that Fluky's one of those guys that pushes up because again this is like one thing you loved it bet on a solid command he's got that and it's a fastball that can touch into the upper 90s there's really solid secondaries he's got the arm slot kind of can make the curve ball really interesting as well like I love the strikeout potential I love the potential for him to go deep I really hope he doesn't get like pushed back sometime these college guys K. I mean K did this last year where he just went to camps and didn't do anything and he just chilled me hung out and stuff like I would love for Fluky to get a little bit of run like here and then going to camps and get pushed quick and I just I don't think it's the most insane thing this time next year we are looking at him and being able to help the rotation I thought this was a really good get and again someone coming from a bias of like the diamond backs it's like oh we let Fluky you know like he was still there like I actually think this is a sneaky one and then and this becomes a little bit of the the depth of the rest of the the back into the first round and like the compensatory rounds are we just some like really good values on starting pictures this fluky going to be a future ace I'm not I'm not going to sit here and say that you know like Kay Anderson I said last year because I felt super confident about that do I think floor is going to be a fantasy ace I'm not going to say I'm not going to say any of these guys are but there's just a lot of good depth that's later on and fluky was kind of the after like flora went and if you don't want to think about the risk of guys like geo-rohas guys like fluky and bullman and a few of those players like there's some really good like deputy pictures that you're going to get in the second round so if you want to get some college pitching and fantasy trade in and get some second round picks this year because I think you're going to find some really good values selfishly I will mention another one of those college pictures real quick one of the guys hunter deets who was ranked 17th by MLB pipeline going into the draft he lasted all the way to my Yankees at pick 35 and I've listened to other podcasts just like learn I guess a little bit about these players like going in and yeah he was someone that was ranked really high and the Yankees got him at 35 so I was like all right I I feel pretty happy about that I know he had some injury stuff but yeah I'm like you should he's he's along the lines like I don't want to pair two to many of them together to make this story of and by the way there's like a high school guy in there in Bolman, but there's like, Cade Townsend and Coleman Borthwick with the Padres, and then there's Fluxi. And I just don't think it's out of pocket to Taylor Raib, who the royals ended up taking, who might have been part of the whole Zion Rose thing. But I would put like Deets in that same ballpark. Like I have him from a fantasy perspective, probably not at a spot that like, you're gonna be ecstatic about, but he's higher than where he was drafted. I have him like 26. So in a 15 team, that's the back end of the second round. And it kind of comes back to the same thing. Like I would love to see a little bit of conversation around camps and what ends up happening, but this is just like a strong lefty with great secondary stuff. Really like the cutter that's in there. And I'm excited to see how he develops from like a four pitch perspective. Maybe there's gonna be a fifth in there. Yankees do a really good job. There's like five or six guys that are probably that second round and Deets is one of those. So Yankees got like a really good steal. Again, it's annoying when like, the Dodgers got a guy I wanted the diamond, when the Diamondbacks took the Hellfrick, the catcher, I was like, okay, the Diamondbacks are gonna do the right thing and they're gonna go and get like bow Lawrence. And I'm like, bow Lawrence is that's a great bet. And then it's like teams like the Dodgers get bow Lawrence and then the Yankees go get hundred Deets. You should, those teams shouldn't get those type of values later. They should be the ones that are stuck with the bad picks, but that's what makes them so great. There's a lack of fear. And even though they trade out and don't have high picks, like they optimize those picks. And I think that's one of those things where it's like Deets could be in the rotation in two years or so. Like that's a definite possibility. That is a rotation based pitcher that they got. So that was a really good get. And he'll probably be again, a very sneaky like second, third round pick in FYPDs. - The last specific name that I will ask you about, I will admit, I only wanna hear about this player because I'm very intrigued by his name. And that is Justin LeBron, who went to the Red's 18th overall MLB pipeline had him ranked inside their top 10. Before the draft, he's a 21 year old shortstop out of the University of Alabama. He was actually viewed as a competition to be the first overall pick entering the season. But he wound up hitting just 229 in conference play, ridiculous speed, big pop. But it seems like there are real questions here about the hit tool. And his name is Justin LeBron. Like that's a cool name. Is this just your classic boomer bus prospect? - Yeah, I think there's a lot of boomer bus. I was very high coming into the season because the counting stats, they tell you, let's not look at average, by the way. 16 homers, 27 stolen bases. I'm sorry, 42 stolen bases, I lied. I was looking at his walks. 42 stolen bases in 16 homers. You're like, okay, that looks amazing. The problem is he had more strikeouts than RBI or stolen bases. He had 56 strikeouts in 61 games. There's just a ton of swing and miss in his game. And that became, as you're mentioning, came so much more apparent as like, conference ball came on. He only hit 270. I know we say only 277, but 277 in college, it's like these guys are hitting 3.2350. So I think like the bat got exposed a bit more that, you know, one of those like, it's a fastball type of hitter. Secondaries are gonna eat him up, housing into translate. I will say, going to Cincinnati's dynamic. Like, not, and maybe not from a like, they've developed guys, you know, because unfortunately like Matt McLean is still Matt McLean and it will be Marta, whatever, but it's sourced. - It's sourced. - It's sourced. It's sourced, but sourced are completely different type of guy. But like, you know, it's a great home ballpark. I really like that, but I'm very worried about the swing and miss. I will 100% be targeting to watch him out here. That's the selfish thing I get to do. It's actually now the closest stadium to me is the Reds and Guardians. I will be looking to see because I want to see what that looks like because I've been around a lot of guys that it's like in these small doses, you know, they're getting fed fastballs. And he's, he's an electric stuff. But like, we need to start seeing him go against tough secondaries and what's that gonna look like. This is him and Jacob Lumbard for different reasons. I think have some of the biggest upside potential, but could be absolute just cry worthy picks that they could fall apart. And Lumbards is more from a high school perspective, which gives you a little bit more time to develop. LeBrons could either, you know, come to fruition really quick or it could fall apart really, really quick. I really am interested in him. If you wanted to play the upside game, draft him as a top 10 guy because he has like 20, 30 potential if it starts to work out. You just don't know is he gonna re running plus 30% K percentages and really low contact rates. I think that's the worry everyone has for him and why teams ended up passing on him in the top 15. Let's wrap up with the Welch's way too early FYPD rankings for those who play in Dynasty leagues and we'll take a look at his top 24. There are some names on here that we haven't talked about. So I'll give you a quick second to opine on those, but your top 12, you have Rock Chalowski, Grady Emerson, Vaughn Lackie, Drew Burris, Jacob Lumbard, Eric Booth, Junior, Jackson Flora, Trevor Condon, Derek Coriel, AJ Grasia, Liam Pearson and Chris Hacopian. And I realize now that I didn't write any notes here for Trevor Condon either, but we haven't talked about him. So three names here we haven't mentioned. If you have a quick thought on each, Trevor Condon, who you have at eight, Liam Peterson, who you have at 11 and Chris Hacopian, who you have at 12. - Yeah, Hacopian's interesting just because I think it's like all the parts can you know, can end up being like 20, 20, you know, maybe it's gonna be 15, 15. He just does a lot of things right. I think that's kind of an interesting profile in general in the middle infield. Liam Peterson, I really like where he ended up going. Again, there's like good two-pitch arsenal at the top for him, but Trevor Condon, that's where it's at. And I don't 100% know again, I'm gonna do this show with James Anderson in a little bit. We got Eric Cross on there. I don't know where everybody sits, but Condon, because I really like him, I think has the makings to be another favorite across the board for a lot of people. I love what the Cardinals are doing just in general. He's got, there's like the Corbin Carely vibes of kind of like a little bit of a smaller type of outfielder, but with a plus plus bat, huge run skills, good defensively. And it's like if that starts to develop into, 'cause he gets like weird comps people throughout like P. Crore Armstrong. If he starts to get the ball in the air and the Cardinals really develop that, oh, then it's something where it's like, now maybe he's a 2040 guy and it's high batting average. So again, if I'm taking shots in the first round, if I wanna play it safe, it's like, I mean, I guess you can't play it safe at one and two with Rock and Emerson, but like my safety is like Von Lackie. If I wanna take some big shots, those shots are, and not like the big names, it's Eric Booth, Jr. and Trevor Condon. Those are kind of my shots in the first round of guys. I think I really wanna get. - 13 through 24 in your FYPD rankings, we have Cameron Fluxy, followed by Tyler Bell, Zion Rose, Geo Rojas, Cameron, nope, I wrote Cameron Fluxy twice. Did I do that? Or did you do that? - Oh, maybe I did that. Let me take a look. There's a possibility I did that, Frankie. - Yeah, you have met 13 and 17. That's how much you like 'em, Welsh. - That's how much I like 'em, yeah. So it's actually moved up. So it's LeBron down to Greenlinger, and then I'll give you the, oh no, and I can tell you who, I can tell you who the 24th is, so go on. LeBron is 17. - So, all right, Justin LeBron, who you have at 17, then it's Jared Greenlinger, who is a 17 year old two way player, who was drafted 12th overall by the Angels. Next, you have Sawyer Stroastneider, who is a 21 year old outfielder drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. 21, you have Bow Lawrence, who is an 18 year old prep third baseman. He was drafted by the Dodgers. You, next up, you have Ace Reese, who is a 21 year old third baseman, who was selected 24th overall by the Mariners. Lended tome, who we mentioned earlier. It's the Bloodlines, Son of Hall of Famer, Jim Tome. He's an 18 year old infielder. He was taken by the White Sox, and then the last thing I have here is Taj Marshand, 17 year old prep shortstop, who was drafted 33rd overall by the Tampa Bay Race. - And 24 will put out there. This is a guy fell in love with, I think there were some signability issues, but he went to the Cardinals, Rocco Manascalco, and that name is gonna run familiar with people. He had like the best MLB draft combine, and I love this, 'cause there's a couple other guys who really like around their Cole Carlin, who is the ASU pitcher into the Toronto Blue Jays, and Tyler Spangler, shorts up with the Phillies. Those are all kind of in that crew there, but yeah, sorry, Fluky was in there twice. Did you want me to hit on the guy or two? Or I mean, I think Greenlinger has huge, huge upside. I've talked about Bo Lawrence, Ace Reese's phenomenal, and Lan and Tome, there's just big power hitting with the White Sox. I look at this, and I see fun. This is where, I don't wanna move people away from the first round, 'cause I don't really do that. I'm not like, you gotta trade all your picks, but I will say, I think the second round is full of tons of upside. And I'm also telling you that there might be guys that I'm putting in the second round, in two or three months that are gonna be first round guys. I think the Jared Greenlinger is a guy that can be a top 10 guy. I think Taj Marchant could be a guy that could with the raise that could go nuts. There's a couple guys in here that really have a potential to boost up, even a guy like Ace Reese with the Mariners. So it's like, there are a couple of these guys that can make some big jumps, but the second round I think is chock full of a bunch of talent that doesn't cost, you know, in the top five. And like, I would also be like, hey, where is the line between Derek Cariel and then going down to Taj Marchant at 24? It might be low. So that might be something where like, I'm okay trading out of the top, you know, trading the 10th pick to get like 16 and 20 or something like that, 'cause I really like that second round. - Yeah, no, I think it's a good point. And especially for those who might not be competitive in Dynastylees, if you have the ability to trade for draft picks, it's like, maybe you're giving up some of your windows. now pieces that aren't going to help you moving forward for someone else's like second round pick. And then you just pick up a few more extra picks and you could draft some of these guys. Let's wrap up here with a bonus. And again, last year we did the same exact exercise. One hitter and one pitcher prospect who you think will make an impact at the major league level in the second half of the season for those who play and redraft leagues. And last year you gave us Bob a Chandler, you gave us Noah McLean, you aced that. You also mentioned Bryce Eldridge who turned out that Eldridge was just waiting until this season to have a big impact. So we were off by like half a year, but that's cool. What do you think? One hitter, one pitcher prospect who makes a big impact in the second half? Yeah, no big deal. It was just like super wrong last year, but it looks better now I suppose. Yeah, it's funny thinking back because I will say and unfortunately, I'm not sure I'm going to like blow people's minds with names you're not thinking of. But I don't think I really did that last year either. I think Noah McLean might have been more of a surprise to people and that really worked out. Bob and Chandler, we were all just like, dude, when's he coming up? Like when are we going to get Bob and Chandler and then things kind of fell apart? I think Kate Anderson is like, it's just the answer. You have to say Kate Anderson because I think we don't, I don't know, or maybe I missed it the extent of what's going with Emerson Hancock. There's trade rumors of Castillo. I think there's just an overall sense too of just like, this guy can help you right now. Now that might end up being in like a leveragey role which is going to be super annoying, but I just don't think it's out of pocket that like maybe he does start, maybe he's going five innings and they just put the leverage behind him. Like he's, he's generationally like, he's on a run right now that it's like, can he be touched? We'll see at the major league level and I think we're going to see it soon. So I think these are the answer on the pictures is Kate Anderson. On the hitting side, I'm an avial bonus because I like the guy that I picked, but the other one I think maybe there's just out of people's minds, but I picked Joshua Buyers. And I think we've asked ourselves for a little while like, what more can he do? The problem is the strikeouts. Like that's obviously what is holding him back. If he was a 25% K percentage, 20, do we really think he'd still be in the minors? No. But the bat has been awesome. Yeah, things have cooled a little bit. I think he's in like 270 in AAA right now. He's down to 250 on the season, but it's like absolute home runs through the roof. That, you know, if the team wants to be competitive, I know Ryan Church is kind of stepped up a little bit and are, yeah, no, Nathan Church. Ryan Church is all the, yeah. No, am I right? Yeah, Ryan Church was all like Washington Nationals. Yeah, I'll feel that. Nathan Church has been like, you know, picking it back up and good defensively, but I just don't think, like, putting bias up and getting him some DH run is a bad thing. So I really think he could help, but I'm going to throw out too. If the Tigers are really serious about like, we're not going to trade school bull, and we're going to make a run like, why don't we see Max Clark? He spent the whole year at AAA. I know he has not like blown the doors off or anything like that, but I don't think it's impossible that he can contribute and what better way to start having him contribute while they're running for a playoff run. Because what more is he learning down there? You know, let's let him get it at the Major League level. Let's him adjust. So that's kind of, even though it's not like, it's a huge name, but I just think everyone's forgot about him. I think Max Clark is someone who second half could be, you know, on for a little run, and maybe when he gets to the majors, like Bazzana, everyone's like, ooh, Bazzana, you know, and then he gets to the majors and all the sudden, everything clicked. I think that's something that could happen with Max Clark as well. So Joshua, by his, with the Cardinals, Kate Anderson, and I'll throw my little side of Max Clark with the Tigers in. - He is your friend and mine, and he is Chris Welsh, AKA the Welsh. Make sure to follow him on x@is@thewelsch. And he is the host and analyst for fantasy pros in this league and the prospect one podcast. Welsh, is there anything else you'd like to promote before we wrap up? - Hey, man, you guys also wanna check out my dynasty list and my prospect list in this league.com. That just goes with my Patreon. You can sign up there. I got top 500 prospects in fantasy, top 400 dynasty. That's it, though. I appreciate you plugging the things. You guys can find me on all the pods that Frank mentioned. And I just love being here. I love you guys. No, maybe not all of you love me, but I love all of the fantasy baseball today people. You guys are stuck in my heart and I love this beautiful face right there. - Frankie. - Wow. - Let's see. We are gonna wrap there. For the Welsh, I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye. [MUSIC PLAYING] Paramount podcasts. Now streaming only on Paramount Plus. Chicago. It's my home. The acclaimed series The Shy reaches its final chapter. This is shy. Anything's possible. The Shy, the final season now streaming only on Paramount Plus.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Keskustelu käsittelee MLB
  2. Rock Chalowski valittiin ykkösvaraukseksi Chicago White Soxiin; häntä verrataan Corey Seageriin, ja hänellä odotetaan olevan 30+ kodin juoksun tehoa.
  3. Vuoden 2024 varaustilaisuus koettiin epävarmaksi ja keskinkertaiseksi, painottuen college-lyöjiin ja NIL:n vaikutukseen.
  4. White Soxin nuoret lupaukset, kuten Colson Montgomery ja Caleb Bonemer, voivat muodostaa vahvan tulevaisuuden joukkueen.
  5. Dax Killby mainitaan esimerkkinä pelaajasta, joka nousi arvostuksessa lyhyen minor league -menestyksen jälkeen.

Summary:

Tämä transkriptio on osa Fantasy Baseball Today -podcastia, jossa analysoidaan MLB:n varaustilaisuutta ja lupaavia pelaajia. Pääaiheena on vuoden 2024 varaus, jota pidetään epävarmana ja keskinkertaisena verrattuna aiempiin vuosiin. Suurin osa huippuvarauksista oli college-lyöjiä, ja vain yksi syöttäjä valittiin 15 ensimmäisen varauksen joukossa. NIL-sopimusten vaikutus näkyi siinä, että monet lahjakkaat high school -pelaajat putosivat varauslistalla myöhäisille kierroksille.

Rock Chalowski, White Soxin ykkösvaraus, on keskustelun keskiössä. Häntä kuvaillaan lyöjänä, jolla on 30+ kodin juoksun potentiaali ja hyvä lyöntitekniikka, vaikka nopeus ei ole hänen vahvuutensa. Häntä verrataan Corey Seageriin, ja White Soxin uskotaan kehittävän hänet nopeasti pääsarjaan. Muita mainittuja pelaajia ovat Nathan Fluelling, joka teki vaikutuksen Futures-pelissä, ja Dax Killby, joka nousi arvostuksessa minor league -menestyksen ansiosta.

White Soxin tulevaisuus näyttää lupaavalta, sillä heillä on vahva nuorten pelaajien ryhmä, kuten Colson Montgomery ja Caleb Bonemer. Joukkueen odotetaan kilpailevan pian, ja heillä on varaa tehdä kauppoja vahvistaakseen miehistöään. Podcastissa korostetaan, että pelaajien arviointi muuttuu jatkuvasti, ja lyhyen kauden suoritukset voivat nostaa pelaajien arvoa nopeasti. Lopuksi mainitaan, että jotkut varaukset saattavat nousta pääsarjaan jo ensi kaudella.

FAQs

Rock Chalowski on 21-vuotias shortstop, jolla on 30+ kunnarin tehoa ja hyvä lyöntikäsi. Hänen lyöntinsä tuottaa luonnollisesti voimaa, ja hänellä on kyky muokata lähestymistapaansa laskujen mukaan.

Rock Chalowski todennäköisesti pelaa shortstopina, Colson Montgomery siirtyy kolmannelle pesälle, ja Caleb Bonemer voi olla toisella pesällä. Miguel Vargas saattaa palata ulkokentälle.

Draftia pidetään epävarmana, ja se painottuu college-lyöjiin. NIL-sopimukset vaikuttivat siihen, että monet lahjakkaat lukiolaiset jäivät myöhäisille kierroksille.

Nathan Fluelling on 19-vuotias huippulupaus, joka voitti MVP-palkinnon kaksijuoksuisella kunnarillaan. Hänellä on helppo voima ja hän on yksi suurimmista nousijoista pelin jälkeen.

Chalowski saattaa edetä nopeasti: hän voisi pelata High A:ssa tai Double A:ssa tänä vuonna, osallistua Arizona Fall Leagueen ja olla valmis pääsarjaan jo ensi kaudella.

Dax Killby nousi tuntemattomasta top-10-lupausten joukkoon hyvän minor league -kauden jälkeen, kun taas Ethan Holiday kamppaili loukkaantumisten kanssa. Tämä osoittaa, että arviot muuttuvat nopeasti peliesitysten perusteella.

Chat with AI

Loading...

Pro features

Go deeper with this episode

Unlock creator-grade tools that turn any transcript into show notes and subtitle files.