Fantasy Baseball Today - Arizona Fall League Thoughts & Rays Prospect Carson Williams Joins the Show! (11/9 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

Let's get into what Frank saw at the Arizona Fall League, starting with Cardinals prospect Victor Scott (7:02)! ... Chase DeLauter looks incredibly poised (13:40). ... Kevin Alcantara and Caleb Durbin are polar opposites (17:45). ... News (26:05): Mookie Betts will play more second base and Gavin Lux is penciled in at shortstop. ... The Angels hired Ron Washington as their manager (34:10). ... Back to the AFL, Thad Ward has racked up the strikeouts (38:25). ... The AFL Home Run Derby was awesome (41:20). ... Who stood out from the Fall Stars Game (49:00)? ... We wrap up with our interview of Rays prospect Carson Williams (58:00)! Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello, and welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, November 9th. My birthday.

I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Wow. Way to spring that on. Whoa. Happy birthday to Frank. I think it, Scott. I think there are copyright issues with that song. I'm not that good.

Happy birthday, man. Thanks, thanks, buddy. That is Chris V. Welsh. Today on the show, I have a bunch of observations from the players I saw out in the Arizona Fall League. It's a Frank's scouting notebook, if I say so myself. Welsh and I interviewed Ray's shortstop prospect, Carson Williams,

and the Angels have hired a new. manager. I mentioned yesterday. I had a great time out in Arizona. Welsh took me under his wing, so to speak. We saw and heard a bunch of interesting things, but perhaps nothing crazier than a foul pop-up that went about a mile

in the air, came down, and landed directly on a fan's head. It was so loud. I thought it hit the cement. That was the sound that it made. Let me see if I can recreate it. Just some dude's head. So check us out.

Like it sounded. That was actually pretty good. If you remember, Frank. This is like ADR like movie stuff. Like that's how it sounded. It was so scary. And by the way, it was only one of two people that got hit directly in the skull that day. A player in the dugout got hit.

A raised pitcher got bonked right in the head. But this guy, it was, Frank's right, mile high, didn't touch anything, didn't bounce off a wall, had no momentum taken away from. and just went directly on this person's skull, and it made that sound. And we were all just eyes open like, oh, my God. I don't know what was in the air while we were out there. But between that, I think the night before, we saw like an elderly man kind of fall down while trying to catch a ball. And Kevin Alcantra, like, launched his bat into the net.

It was crazy stuff. Yeah, person almost got it. He had the guy step on the foul ball. Yeah, this old man, a foul ball, he was chasing after the foul ball, and then he stepped on the ball and fell into baseball HQ's Chris Blessing and, like, hurt him. And then Kevin Alconra, me and Chris Clegg were doing an interview in the stands of Peoria and a ball whizzed by both of our. AFL was trying to tell us a story and that it missed Scott White.

If Scott White was there, none of his carnage would have happened. Sounds like you guys were lucky to make it out alive. were basically not as lucky to see your birthday frank you're lucky to see your birthday yeah yeah i am scott you ever catch a foul ball or any type of ball at a game because i never have no welsh i have actually okay so quickly in mesa where we were years ago uh me and my son are sitting in the very front row doing filming ball goes back it bangs right off of the glass comes flying down right to us and i one-hand it And the crowd cheers for me. Amazing moment.

And I'm with my son and he's like seven or eight. So then about five minutes later, we get up because he's got to, you know, popcorn or something. We walk up and this person goes, great catch grabs me. You know, high, you know, high five. This person, that was an awesome catch. Get up to the top. The guy was like, that was a great catch.

I'm like, thank you so much. We get up. My son looks at me. He's like, man, that was a great catch. I'm so proud of you, dad. And I was like, greatest moment of my life. That's why baseball is amazing. That's why baseball is incredible.

all these people completely just created this moment for my kid. But that was a great one. And I almost had a second one, which then Frank could have said he was so proud of me, but he didn't get to say he was proud of me because I was trying to catch a ball with my hat and it binged right off my hat. Oh, yeah.

At the home run derby. That was in the home run derby. Overcome with pride that he actually said, I'm proud of you, dad. Oh, like all these people. Yeah, oh yeah. It's like the greatest dad moment all the time because it was like,

that was great. That was great. And they had cheered beforehand. And it was like, we got to the top of the steps. And I was like, all right, buddy, what do you want? He was like, man, that was a great catch. I'm so proud of you. And I was like, I'm proud of you too, man.

Let's watch the game. It's get some popcorn. The closest I've come to catching a baseball, it's probably the complete opposite of the story you just gave us. Did you steal it from a kid? No, I was at City Field and Starling Marte literally pointed at me. I was sitting in the front row of the outfield. He threw the ball at me. I had my phone in my hand.

I completely fumbled it. Some kid ran down and stole the ball while it was on the ground. But that's what I get for having my phone in my hand and not paying attention. And yeah, that was the closest I've ever gotten. How old were you? That was this year, Scott. It's probably better that the kid got it then, right? Yeah, I mean, I probably would have given it to a kid anyway, but like, yeah, I never caught a ball at a game and whatever.

I'm mad at myself. Let's talk about the Arizona Fall League, some observations. I'm going to go in chronological order of when I saw these prospects play. So I had just a running notepad on my phone and I'm there just typing away and taking notes. And the first one was Victor Scott, who is a prospect in the Cardinals organization. Every time he was on base,

and I saw him, the first game was on Thursday night. He was trying to steal a base. And he did so successfully on Thursday. I saw him in the Fall Stars game. He reached base three times. Guess how many steals he had? That's right. He had three steals in that game.

This season in the minors, he had 94 stolen bases. He hit 303 with nine home runs. He did that across 132 games. Got 66 of those games in at AA. Well, somebody asked me this on Twitter, and I wanted to get your thoughts. I'm not sure how familiar you are

with, like, Estuary Ruiz's development and where he was at this stage in his career. But someone basically asked, like, will Victor Scott turn out to be a better hitter than Estuary Ruiz? And to that, you will say? Yeah, I mean, that's, well, that's been like the common comparison. because of the sheer amount of stolen bases. So I actually got to see Estuary Ruiz from his earliest development

when he was in the rookie league because he was a royal. And I actually watched him as a royal, get traded to the Padres and then play for the Padres on the complex side, which was a really interesting thing. And, you know, when he was in the complex, he just destroyed just the bad pitching, you know, big fastballs, lots of doubles power, actually had kind of a projectable body.

And then the batting average just sank and sank. And his decision making was sinking. sinking. So the reason that we make, it's like the cheap comparison is because Victor Scott steals all the bases in the world. As a matter of fact, I interviewed him, and it's on my Prospect One show that dropped today. He actually had the lead in stolen bases when the minor league season ended. And about 10 days later, they took it away from him. I didn't even realize that. And I was talking and he's like, they actually took it away from me because I said, you had the lead. And he didn't even know why. I was with Eno and we were

both like, we're all three of us. We're sitting here. Like maybe it was a defensive of indifference or something, but he had the lead over Chandler Simpson. And, you know, Chandler Simpson, with the raise, is kind of a zero power guy, which was what I think people assumed Estuary Ruiz, it was. But Estuary always had doubles power. And he's just made better decisions. And he's been able to kind of tap into that. Like, I think he's maxed out his hit tool.

The difference with Victor Scott and something he had said to me was the Cardinals early on, they gave him homework on what to do. And a lot of prospects don't get. this in systems. I've talked to, I've cited this, but like Curtis Mead, I talked to him two years ago. And after his breakout and the race had told him nothing. I was like, man, what a great season. You know, what were the rays doing working on you with? He's like, nothing at all. So a lot of guys don't get that. Victor did. And what Victor said was they, they told him like where they want him to hit and the blast charts and all that type of stuff. And they said, do it. So now he said,

it's on, he said, his quote was, it's on me to implement this in games. And we've seen that. He had nine homers in the regular season. He's hit three more here. You can see there is a loft approach to his swing. It's not a full ground ball approach. He kind of similar to what James Triantos told you and I, Frank, that I think Victor gets in front of the, in front of pitches just like a little bit early, which is enabling him to barrel.

And he's tapping into some of that power. I think, as Chris Clegg had said, Victor Scott can absolutely be a, better version or what we really want from Estuary Ruiz. I think he can hit for better average. I think there's more power in there. I think he's as dynamic of a stolen base guy. And we talked a lot about his stolen bases and the work he has put into it. Because I literally was trying to be like, hey, what's, is it speed or is it reading the pitcher?

And he went into this incredible breakdown of how he's approached stealing bases. I think he is a super introspective player that really understands himself working super hard to get better. And you're seeing that play out here. you said, he hits the ball every single day. So you don't want to go nuts about it, but this is a major speed guy with fantasy relevant power and a really good hit tool. Victor Scott, like, he's an easy top 100 prospect to bet on. And maybe the Cardinals make some moves for some room for him, or it might just take a little bit longer than we'll probably be comfortable with. But I'm betting on Victor Scott. Yeah, that's where I was going next. And I was going to ask you, Scott, I'm not sure that we'll

see Victor Scott this season coming up in 2024. I mean, Again, he did get some games in at AA. There's a possibility, but the Cardinals, just from a playing time perspective, they kind of have this logjam right now with all these outfielders. So I'm not sure that they really need to rush Victor Scott at this point. Yeah. Yeah, I'm still, I'm pretty skeptical of this profile in general, where it's, you know, we see the 94 steals from Victor Scott,

and it's such an eye-popping number, especially because stolen bases are always in such high demand and fan. but they're really not that valuable in real life. And certainly over the past couple decades, we've seen teams approach base dealers as if they're not that valuable. You know, you think back to past prospects who had tons of speed and not much else. Like Billy Hamilton?

Billy Hamilton. More recently, like Vidal Bruhan, we thought he was going to be a big deal in fantasy and he fizzled out pretty quickly. even Estuary Ruiz. He ended up with a ton of stolen bases, but even on a terrible athletics team, they kind of got tired of the low OBP

without much power in their lineup. I know, look, I got Victor Scott's stats pulled up. He's walked a lot in the Arizona fall league. He does have the three home runs, only a 417 slugging percentage, I'll point out in Arizona, 425 slugging percentage in the minors this year. Estuary Ruiz, frankly,

delivered more power in the miners than we've seen from Victor Scott so far. You know, I have been pretty open-minded to Sal Freelick being a strong fantasy option. And he doesn't have much power. You know, he's definitely speed over power. But he has like, you know,

a plus contact skills. Same with like a Stephen Kwan. So they do have another tool in there beyond just the speed that I think makes it more likely they stick as everyday, players in the majors. I'm not saying Victor Scott won't be a major leaguer at some point. I'm just, I'm skeptical he'll play

enough for us to care about him in fantasy. And I don't know that he's going to be my top 100 prospects for this upcoming season. Let's move over to one of the other big names that's out here that was out in Arizona that I saw. Guardian's prospect Chase DeLauder, who was probably the most poised hitter I saw out there, a game on Friday afternoon, which was just loaded with talent. DeLauder was there. Kyle Manzardo, Kevin Alcansara, James Trianto, so a lot of names in that game. But DeLauder is one that stood out. Obviously, a great feel for the strike zone.

He had one for three with a double in that game. He also had two walks out in the AFL. He's got five homers, five steals, more walks than strikeouts, 14 to 11. He's got an 899 OPS. He is 22 years old. He got up to six games in AA. Scott will come right back to you here on Chase the Lauder. do you think there's a chance that we will see him in 2024?

Well, I mean, the lack of reps hurts his chances. He's a talented player. I did have him in my top 100 prospects this past season. And because of the foot injury, right? That's what he missed most of the season with a fractured foot. He ended up playing only 57 games. So that puts him behind a little bit. And I know somebody like George Valera,

who I didn't have such a great year this past year for the Guardians, but he's been regarded among their top prospects for a long time, and he's further up the organizational ladder. So I would imagine he would get a shot ahead of somebody like Chase DeLotter. But the Guardians, you know, they've had trouble filling out their outfield for years now,

and ultimately it's going to come down to performance. If DeLauder is able to use this strong AFL performance as like a springboard into next year and really hit the ground running at double A, move up to AAA quickly. I mean, you know, it's going to come down to performance in the end. I think he's talented enough to make it happen.

And I think the guardians have enough needs offensively to make it happen. But whether it happens, I mean, I think it's going to depend on the player. Well, long term, what do you think in here with Chase DeLotter? Because just in my mind, I'm not sure that he turns into like

maybe a stud fan player, but I think someone that hits for solid batting average, gets on base. Maybe he's like a 15 to 20 homer, 15 to 20 steel. Maybe I'm just selling them short too. But what do you think about what you've seen from Chase the Latter and maybe his long term upside? Yeah, I mean, I've said that I think he might be the, he might come out of this as like the best major league player at the end of the day, physically the most talented. He had the best presence inside the zone. I mean, you just don't fool him. I think he had 11 total strikeouts out here. He's walking more than he's striking out. That's kind of a constant with him. His decision making is elite. It reminds me of

like how, um, is that quite how Vlad was, uh, Vlad Jr. when he was out here in the AFL. Like the bat, like Vlad was only swinging in the zone. Like he was swinging at his pitch. It was a very advanced approach. And the lotters got kind of that, again, they're not the similarities in that, but like the same visual approach to the zone. And he attacks it with just pure raw power with the swing that not everybody likes. And I think there's a decent chance from a fantasy. perspective, DeLotter could be more valuable than Kyle Manzardo when it's all said and done because you're looking at a 2020 guy that I think is primed to be a number three hitter for a team with the decisions he makes, the contact he makes, he leads the AFL and RBI, and he has done that.

He's pretty much held it the entire year that he's out here. So I think there's a decent chance he is a five-tool contributor and maybe Manzardo is going to be a little bit more elite power might struggle with batting average. We'll see. But I think DeLotter could be the better fantasy option. So I'm a big buyer on DeLotter. I think Manzardo contributes way more this year. I completely agree Valera is the top guy first.

But I do believe we will see DeLotter in 2024 in some capacity with the Guardians. And long term, I would bet on him. He's a guy I want to buy him. Just, I mean, he brings an element of speed that Mazzardo is completely lacking. Five steals in 21 AFL games. So, you know, just from that perspective. And I do like the plate discipline a lot for DeLotter. That's something he and Monsardo have in common.

All right. in that same game on Friday afternoon. I mentioned this name already. Kevin Alcansara, he is a Cubs prospect. Big dude, we're talking six foot six. I think there's a lot of power here. We saw a loud triple to left field that he hit, just barely missed a home run.

And then later on in the game, he had an impressive inside out swing. He went to right field, which scored two runs. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, pretty much completely, we have Caleb Durbin, who is his teammate, and Welch, you kind of made this comparison, and Ashi,

Triantos about this because they all play on the same team together. Caleb Durbin is a prospect in the Yankees organization. He's kind of like a utility guy, second, third base shortstop. He's five foot six. So he's literally a foot shorter than Kevin Alcantara, a spark plug. He had three steals in that game that we saw. He's up to 21 steals total out in the Arizona Fall League. He's batting 358. He has double the amount of walks, double the amount of strikeouts. What am I saying here? 14 walks to seven strikeouts. That's what I would like to say about Caleb Durbin. So polar opposites Welsh, but what are your thoughts here on Alcantara and Durbin?

Yeah. So, I mean, on Durbin, I've been like just kind of going off about it for the last week. Maybe I'm just going to be so wrong because the AFL does this to a lot of people. You know, there's a couple of those guys like CJ Alexander is a 26 year old, big power hitter with the Royals, Blaze Alexander's his brother. He's hitting here. Oliver Dunn with the Phillies. He's a 26 year old middle infielder that's dominant. he's doing some stuff.

There's just something about Durbin, though. There is something in that, like, that Altuve mold where he's a, you saw him, five foot six, but he's a thicker build of a five foot six guy. He's constantly barreling. Same thing I would come back to Triantos. The bat is in the zone at all times if that ball is anywhere in the strike zone. He's got doubles power. He showed actual bar.

He's got double digit extra base hits out here in the NFL. He was hitting three. And he has three stolen bases shy. on Thursday of the AFL record and he wants it. They're playing him. And they put him in a really prime spot hitting behind Alconra in them. Listen, he's not a top 100 guy,

but I think he's a great bet in deeper leagues right now. He's also only two years into his minor league career. He was traded, I believe, this year from the Braves. He was with Scott's team in the Braves in 2021. And he is a total gamer beloved by his team. And Spark Plug is the word.

He just might be one of those guys that finds his way into a major league roster because the bat is live. And, you know, Kevin Alconstra might be the most tooled player out here. Uh, there are some stuff. I still think the swing and miss is pretty prevalent. Uh, I do think he, I don't want to do the lazy like, you know, Elie and O'Neo because it's like a tall, lengthy, big power speed guy, but there are like vibes of that. I just, I wonder if he's going to have less plate presence than maybe O'Neill Cruz, but I think he could hit better than Ellie De La Cruz. Um, I just don't think he's going to be as aggressive. on the base pass.

So all of this is to say, like, Kevin O'Connor is a mold of a prospect you want to bet on, and I would still bet on him. Caleb Durbin is like everything you don't want in a prospect,

but he's just defying the odds, and I kind of want to, I want both of these guys, but Caleb Durbin, I want to get cheap wherever I can. And he will be cheap because nobody, nobody has him. I think your breakdown of Durbin there

is fine. And like, look, Caleb Durbin's not a big name prospect. This is probably the first time a lot of the audience is hearing of him. You said yourself, he's not a top 100 guy. So I think a hundred guy in most minds. I don't see him ranked in the top 30 of the Yankees on MLB pipeline either. Well, and that can, like, when you get that deep in an organization's prospect rankings, it's very malleable.

So, like, maybe a big AFL performance is enough to move Caleb Durbin. been into the top 30 or even the top 20 in the Yankees farm system. But, I mean, the more likely scenario is he's a utility guy, like a Miles Mastrobone, a Garrett-Hampson-type player. I like that there's good on base skills. That, you know, if you're not going to lit, if you're not going to be a power hitter, but you can get on base, there's a chance. I mean, Stephen Kwan was nobody's idea of a big, named prospect and now, you know, he was a top rookie two years ago and is a mainstay in fantasy

now. So it can certainly happen. And if you're in a deep dynasty league and want to take a fire on a guy, nobody's really heard of. I think Caleb Durbin is a good example of that. But, you know, I just want to, I just want to keep it real and say it's unlikely he develops into anything worthwhile in fantasy. Yeah, five foot, I mean, you don't bet on five foot six baseball players a whole bunch and he's an absolute unknown and I completely agree and this is speaking to the guys that the Scott whites of the world that

have 2014 leagues with 10 those are all my guys. That's what I'm saying like that's the spot where I think he becomes really interesting and he's shined a light where I think there's going to be a lot more attention and when you get into the world of a team that's like hey you know we're just looking for some depth I think he's a depth guy. It's going to take

a while but when you're out here you know I'm not a I don't claim to be and I'm not trying to be a scout. I'm just, you know, it's my own version of evaluation. When you see guys day in and day out and you constantly see the same things, you see guys that are the best hitter or second best hitter on that team after Triantos and barrel the ball and do show power and aggressive on the base paths and are clutch.

I mean, those are things that Caleb Durbin does, which it's like, oh, we're now in this space where he was nothing for anybody to, I don't know, like just keep it in the back your mind for the future because there might be something there. But sure, there's probably 30 AFL guys here, 30 prospects in the AFL that you would want to put more of your focus on. And it's not, he's not in play for like top 250. And again, that is Caleb Durbin prospect with the New York Yankees. Let's take our first break. When we return, I've got some news and notes. We'll talk about that managerial hiring. We'll do that here on fantasy baseball today. The news and notes. We'll start off with a bunch of Dodgers news, apparently.

Maybe it's not really news at all, but Mooky Betts will play a lot of second base in 2024. He made 62 starts at second base this past season, and Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes also mentioned that Miguel Vargas and Michael Bush might have to transition to corner outfield in order to carve out significant playing time. So I thought that was somewhat interesting for them. Sticking with the Dodgers, they're still discussing whether Walker Bueller will have an innings limit in 2024. as he's coming back from Tommy John's surgery.

And one other Dodgers item, Gavin Lux, appears on track to be the team's starting shortstop next season. Last we saw Lux was in 2022. He hit 276 with six homers, seven steals, a 745 OPS, and 129 games. He turns 26 later this month. Scott, is there anything? What's up? Well, when you say he appears on track,

is that somebody like us looking at the depth chart and saying, Gavin Lux lines up to fill that shortstop opening or was that coming from like Dave Roberts or Andrew Friedman or somebody like that. I think it was just part of this press conference from their GM, Brandon Gomes, where he kind of hit all these different news items.

Yeah, okay. So that's, you know, that has some real weight behind it then. And I think that's, I wasn't sure they entrusted him defensively to handle shortstop. But if that's the case, I need to move. Gavin Luxe up in my very early rankings a bit.

Not that he needs to be drafted everywhere because he hasn't shown a ton of potential offensively. The power's been less than we hoped it would be when he was first coming up. But a regular in the Dodgers lineup at a position that thins out pretty quickly. I think that's certainly going to put Gavin Luxe on the radar in 15-team leagues, if not 12-team Roto leagues.

I think they also mentioned Miguel Vargas. They reiterated the wrist injury, holding him back and being part of the... the struggles. Just pointing that out that, I think that was a part of this conversation when they spoke about Miguel Vargas. So I know he'll be a big topic and he's a, you know, he's kind of out of everybody's mind. But it'll be interesting to see where that goes and what this, you know, recovered version of Miguel Vargas looks like in spring training. I still wish I could look at exit velocity data for him from 2022 that we had that available because it was, it was unimpressive both

in the majors and at AAA this year. The numbers of AAA once you got sent. down were fine. They were what we were used to seeing from Miguel Vargas and the miners, but the eggs of velocities were still pretty, pretty bad. And I wonder how much the wrist impacted that specifically. Bryce Harper will strictly play first base moving forward with the Phillies, meaning that Reese Hoskins will more than likely not be back in Philadelphia. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said that Christopher Morell will play first base in Winterball. Morrell has never appeared at first base at any level, minors or majors,

in 107 games last season. Morel hit 247 with 26 homers, six steals in 821 OPS. The guy has tools for days. There's no doubt. 95th percentile barrel rate, 81st percentile sprint speed for Morel, but a 31 percent strikeout rate,

well, it's just pretty interesting because, I mean, if we can get a guy at first base who can steal, who can go like 30-10 or 30-15, That's a pretty unique skill set. Another thing that immediately comes to mind, too, is, boy, this team hates Matt Mervis. They're like, we would rather put Chris Morel at first base than even talk to you guys about Matt Mervis doing anything.

So I feel like that. I don't mean to make it about him, but it like showers more of that just negativity. And, you know, if that's one more reason why they may bring somebody in and they did it three times over last year. They bring someone in to compete and you also have Chris Marell in there. writing really seems like it's starting to be on the wall for Matt Mervis and what this team thinks about him. I would not be shocked if we saw Mervis get moved during the winter meetings

that are coming up here because if you're talking about Marell doing this and clearly this team is here to spend after signing counsel, I would have to say he's going to be probably, I wouldn't be shocked if he's like an A. You know, just like send him to the A's. That's the team that could get him out at first base. I feel like it's going to be a team that wants a little competition at first base.

and it feels like the Cubs just don't want him there. So sorry I made it about Matt Mervis, but that's what's so telling when I think about this. Every show the two of us do together about Matt Mervis. So what you're saying is I should not keep Matt Mervis in the Scout White Dinosy. Well, but what if Matt Mervis is a brewer? What if Matt Mervis is out there, you know, get rid of Routy and get rid of Routy? Yeah.

Well, I mean, obviously monitor what happens this off season. But no, I have a sinking feeling about Mervis, not so much because I doubt the talent. though I do think there are reasons to question it but just because of the way the Cubs have approached him and continue to approach him and it's very different than what we were hearing as he was breaking out two years ago when they were saying internally

they're comparing him to Anthony Rizzo they must have really cooled on him it's a stark stark turn and also look at a guy like how James Triantos has played and maybe putting him in a corner infield spot he's played third base but I legit think if this team was like all right Matt Mervis or Kyle Hendricks.

They'd be like, oh, Kyle, get up that first base glove because whatever they can do to not have Matt Mervis have an opportunity is clearly where they're headed. Blue J's GM, Ross Atkins said that Alec Manoa has, quote, earned the right to have a strong leg up

for an opening day rotation spot next season. I think I looked into his early ADP and it was something like 380, so I mean, Alec Manoa is free, rightfully so, but I don't know, kind of like in a Jose Burrios way, We have no reason to bank on Alec Manoa, you know,

bouncing back outside of the fact that he was really good the two years prior. So I don't know. If he's free, I might be in on Alec Manoa. I mean, it's the definition of a lottery ticket. Yeah. You know, you pay next to nothing for a chance that's something huge, knowing that it's probably just going to be trash at the end. What are, you know, trying to trash because that's what a lottery ticket that doesn't pan out is.

It just goes in the trash can, right? do you have that up do you have the NFPC stuff up yeah he's uh there's 19 drafts 370.8 is the ADP could you do what are like uh Ricky Teeteman or Joe Ricky Teeteman is 330 so yeah about 40 picks higher yeah so my point is I'll do Job here Jackson Job is 468 okay so I mean would you rather you know the prospect um you know the prospect uh potential here for whatever inning so's are going to be or lottery ticket on a guy that does have a longer track record to be unsuccessful than not i'm not trying to make a big case for alec minoa because no thanks you and i frank i think i was out on him that was my two thousand twenty three three hundred range and it's like what are

the type of lottery tickets that you want to take no man i don't know manoa might make more sense than like jolted innings from a few prospects that have some questions and like it like a guy like Tiedeman. I agree with that. To put specifics on it, now that I'm done with my starting pitcher rankings, I have Alec Manoa 93rd. I have Ricky Tiedeman 100 first. So I have Manoa eight spots ahead of Tiedeman.

And Tideman is my highest ranked pitcher. Pitching prospect who has yet to appear in the majors at all. He's the highest ranked of that category of pitcher. So yeah, I agree with what you're saying there. Okay. White Sox GM, Chris Gets, wouldn't rule out Yohan Moncada playing multiple positions in 2024. David Peterson underwent surgery to repair the labrum in his left hip and will miss six to seven months. And we have another manager.

The Angels hired Ron Washington, who's been with the Braves organization since 2017 at different capacities. He was most recently their third base coach and previously managed the Texas Rangers from 2007 to 2014, much like we did on yesterday's podcast. I like to look into some manager tendencies during that time. And the Rangers ranked fifth in steals during that run with Ron Washington. So perhaps good news here for like a Zach Netto or Luis Renhifo. There's like no one else on the Angels roster that I think is going to steal bases. Yeah, I don't think he's, look, I mean, we're entering such a different era from stolen bases.

I'm not sure how much managerial tendencies even. Plus, it was a completely different era of baseball when Washington was last managing. Just given his kind of nature, I suspect he'll be somebody who encourages players to run. But, yeah, guys who aren't, don't really have the capacity for that, I don't think are suddenly going, I don't think we're suddenly going to see Mike Trout start to steal bases again because Ron Washington is the manager for the Angels. I mean, the main thing Washington is known for is anybody who's seen or read. Moneyball knows is coaching up players on the defensive side,

particularly infielders. And so I wonder how much that played into the Angels decision to bring him in as they're introducing new infielders like Zach Netto, like Nolan Shanwell, to just kind of help do for them what happened for Danesby Swanson and Austin Riley in the Braves organization, where they went from being defensive question marks

to true standouts. And I don't even know how Netto ranks defensively. Maybe I'm not giving him enough credit. Maybe he already is a standout. But it couldn't hurt. It couldn't hurt to let Ron Washington go to work with them. I mean, otherwise it's weird, right? The Angels, I don't think any of us view it.

The Angels is a contender with Otani, presumably gone next year. So why are they bringing in a 72-year-old? I think it's mostly for player development reasons. Yeah. Maybe. I mean, but I also think there are some teams that are just poised to always have the presentation of like, hey, guys, we're winning. This is one of the best hires on the market. He can coach up our players. Like, there are teams that are always trying to sell the market that they will be competitive when we all clearly know they will not be competitive. I love the idea of Ron Washington. If this organization had a bunch of players that were coming up and needed to be coached up and developed. But they don't. They literally just brought up. guys, there's almost, that system is, it's atrocious. And what he can help is so very limited. Maybe we're going to see a stark change.

But I, I think they can present Ron Washington in a way to people where I think he would be suited better for like a younger team, you know, if like, you know, you got the nettoes. You're creating leaders. You're creating better defenders on really good hit tools of young players. But there's just not a lot of those guys in that system. A team like that, that is maybe like the Reds that's graduating a bunch of young infants. Yeah, that's great. Or a team like with Dusty Baker taking over the Astros a few years ago.

Like, that's clearly ready to contend already because, you know, Ron Washington, 71 years old. I was aging him prematurely. Reds are the exact, like that's the best example. He doesn't have, you know, a decade of. potential managing the Angels. I wouldn't think. We've seen managers in their 80s before, but I want to grave yet.

I mean, I guess there's a chance they move Mike Trout this off season and maybe that kind of, they recoup some prospects there and kind of turn things around that way. But yeah, as of now, it's kind of a weird organization, roster construction, not great farm system going on with the LA Angels. It looks like, it looks like Zach Netto's already a pretty stellar defender.

So again, it couldn't hurt. All right, let's get back into some other observations I made while out at first pitch Arizona watching the Arizona Fall League. This one, not to the same level as other names that we've mentioned so far, but Friday night we saw Nationals pitcher Thad Ward, or as he's known on some website's Thaddeus Ward. He looked good. He had seven strikeouts, just one walk over five innings. Did give up three unearned runs, but that slider was flashing.

I know that's very clearly his best pitch. He made some great pitches. He made some hitters look foolish, including Yvonne Melendez, who's one of the top prospects out here. Mind you, he's 26 years old. I don't know that there will be much there, but the nationals are a young team. And maybe Thad Ward kind of carves out a role here.

Welsh, any thoughts on what you saw there? And maybe if he can impact the nationals in 2024. Yeah, I think it's a possibility. I want to be dismissive of it. I'm also not going to be, I can be very Pollyanna. Like, oh, this guy, I'd lot of love him. him, blah, blah, blah. I saw that bitch twice. I think it's fine. I think older, advanced pitchers

who can, one of the problems Jackson Joe brain into is he got very predictable. That was something that I thought there were some warts with Tiedemann that he was able to mask a little bit more because he just said, like, he could throw a change up at any time and like changeups, especially that developmental time were like really hard to hit. Same thing with like a slider. And Tideman could do that. My point is to come back to like when you get some of these more advanced pitchers who some have major league experience, some have been kind of taught, especially as you get to the higher levels

and age just does it for you in baseball, you start to learn to pitch more than throw and you can kind of pitch from behind. Those older advanced pitchers sometimes can really take advantage here. So I'm not trying to be super dismissive at that award, but I'm not overly excited. I think the slider was good. I think it's the relief piece.

Maybe he's a fifth starter. maybe he goes back and forth for a little bit between getting a spot start here and maybe doing long relief and then six, seventh inning type of role. But maybe super deep leagues you could take a look at it. There's definitely the potential for a roster spot for him. And they brought him out here to make a decision

because this is going to be a decision time with that award. But I'm not overly optimistic. Frankly, on that team, I would rather, I like Davis Daniel, who was with the Angels. Also probably somewhere between relief and a fifth role. he had one of the most bonkers curveball. This is 75 mile an hour that he just was able to use with, I think it was like a slider and a 91 mile hour fastball

that he just commands all the time. And then he just drops his curveball on you. I thought he was a more advanced pitcher on that same team than Thad Ward. And he's a name that has popped out, you know, statistically in the Arizona Fall League, Davis Daniel there with the Angels. And yeah, I think there's a chance he can earn an opportunity with them here in 2024 as well.

I'm not sure that the Arizona Fall League Home Run Derby is a place that you go to kind of learn anything about prospects. Obviously it was a ton of fun. We were talking beforehand and you know, we kind of had the Zach Hample thing going on. We're out there with baseball gloves and we're trying to catch home runs and stuff.

You're downplaying a little bit. It was like the most fun. It's the most fun I have. I'm getting older. I got kids. I try to have fun. Sometimes I can be a Debbie Downer in some spot. Sometimes I get hyper-focused. Everyone else and first pitch is kind of, hey, party time, I get very hyper-focused. I let loose and I had the most fun I've had in such a long time.

And Frank is a total gas-lider, the best type of gas-lider that you love to have around you. And I can't speak for you because you have a much more exciting life than I have, Frank. But I had the best time. And I think that would look like the best time you had during first pitch. So running around the outfield of a home-run derby is an A-plus activity. We set the over-underb. heading into the home run derby on one and a half. How many home run balls could we catch collectively

as like first pitch Arizona? I think we had maybe 10, 15 guys, maybe 20 guys there. Over under one and a half balls caught, we wound up with one. And it was Rubein Guy from the Beat the Shift podcast with Ariel Cohen. So shout out to him.

A great moment, like a little kid coming over trying to steal it from him. He's like, nah, I got it, man. That's just important. But we almost had the, one. I put my hat up there and it's just like, here's the hat and the ball just went, boom, and everybody was yelling at me because I didn't, I didn't put any vertical into it. And there's video of it as well. I'll have to share the video.

The two names that I wanted to mention here, just because obviously they've got some big pop. I looked into their minor league numbers. And yeah, I mean, they, you know, uh, twins prospect, Kalai Rosario, he's 21 years old. He had 21 home runs in the minors this year. This guy was hitting tank jobs. I mean, I get it's whatever. It's a home run derby. But like, he was hitting them further than anybody else out there. So just wanted to point that out. And Blue Jays prospect, Damiano Palmajani, who goes by the nickname of cheese.

His teammates call him cheese because it sounds like, I don't know, Parmesan, I guess. Which an announcer did out here in the AFL. Anouncer did announce him as Damiano Parmesan and the entire dugout screamed cheese after that was happened. It was the best thing. And we screamed cheese every time he was not. Every time they announced his name in the Home Run Derby, all of us would just scream cheese.

Did you guys make t-shirts with like the top 10 inside jokes from we should Arizona? I don't know if there's many more. Cheese was a big one. That was probably about it. I kind of wanted to run through as many as possible so that, you know, we can be inclusive and everyone else can know what was happening at first pitch Arizona.

But yeah, those were basically all of them. I feel like you went to summer camp. We kind of did. And we're trying to shame you to get you there next year. Because as I said off air, one of the most asked questions, Frank and I collectively, because Frank and I spent a decent amount of the time together out there was where Scott. Scott was asked about so much. Literally, some people were like, oh, Frank, love you, Welsh, take a picture and stuff.

But then we had some people that saw it. So like, hey, where's Scott White? I was literally asked multiple times. So we just, we want to get you out there. A little peer pressure. No, no big deal. Just to come out. If you don't like to have fun, then don't worry about it.

Fund's overrated. Who needs it? In case Scott didn't believe me, I had to, you know, pay the Welsh to say that here on the podcast today. Is there anything to take away from these two Welsh, like long term, Kalaya Rosario and Damiano Palmajani? I don't, I mean, Rosario, it's like plus, maybe plus power. He didn't, you know, it wasn't like a big off, like a big offseason. average type of guy like 252 he hit in season. That's what I was trying to say.

He did improve that off at 239. He actually, his teammate out here, Aaron Sabato, when Sabato was drafted a couple years ago, he was like crazy EVs. It was all about him, 114, 115, but he's just consistently not hit for average. And Rosario, I don't think will ever be a batting average guy, but like what we saw, like I'm actually kind of down on Ivan Melendez

after seeing him, even as a Diamondback guy. I'm pretty down on him off. of the AFL. Should I keep them in the Scott White Dynasty League? Over Matt Murvis. Or should I keep? Well, you just said it over Murvis. Yeah, I would have Melendez over Mirvis,

but I'm pretty worried about what I saw with him. Rosario, I think, has easy, easy power, but I think he's like a classic 240 type of guy. And when you just see power that's pitted up against guys like Kevin Algonra and Ivan Melendez, and he was prolifically, I mean, when he hit a homer, it was 440 minimum every single time. You saw plenty of other guys not get to that. I think there was something with Rosario out there.

It's a much deeper league play. It's a power only play. I actually talked to him on Tuesday when I went over to Glendale, and I was like, what's up, Home Run, Champ? And he had a big smile. He was kind of happy about that. And he's like, well, he's like, on to the next one.

He's like, I'm going to try to do it in this game here. Like, there's a lot of guys that were ready to be gone from here. I won't say it, but there was one player that was like, essentially actively rooting for them to not win so they could go home and not play in the playoff, where Rosario was like very hyper-competitive. Like, he was very excited.

He's like, hey, man, I appreciate the love. I'm ready to get back out here and hit some more bombs. Kind of a guy to root for very, very hyper-focused and some of the best raw power as he won the home run derby out here. All right. Let's take our final break. When we return, I've got some thoughts on the Fall Stars game. And our Carson Williams interview will do that right.

after this. Welcome back in. Let's quickly run through the Fall Stars game, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's an all-star game for the best players out at first pitch, at first pitch, Arizona, at the Arizona Fall League. That is what

I'm trying to say. And most notably, we talked about this yesterday. White Sox top prospect, Colson Montgomery, hit a 409-foot home run off of a lefty. So lefty on lefty, you'll love to see that. I saw him earlier in the week. I don't know how much you could take away from one game, but like, he had two pretty awful looking strikeouts that I saw.

But then he crushed that home run in the Fall Stars game. So like, all is forgiven, I think, right? I don't know. I mean, that's, that is my least favorite kind of prospect analysis. Yeah, because I went to, I went and saw this guy one time and he struck out two times. Okay. I mean, like, players strike out two times sometimes. But they were bad, strikeouts.

You got like 29 times when he was out here. But yeah, yeah, yeah, to that point. I had someone confirmed. me, yeah, he's striking a lot out here and he's not walking. We're talking about Colson, Montgomery. Colson, I might have. The numbers have been terrific in the minors.

Yes, 27 times and 20 games. Yeah, it's been a lot. I brought this up to a NFL. I brought this up to blessing. And because my assumption of watching Colson out here because there's something to be said about like Brian Romoos, his teammate. Some people kind of may even like him a little bit more

because he hits the ball really hard all the time. Is that like, I think Colson was here to be like hyper aggressive. And I think sometimes guys are just out here to be hyper aggressive. They won't tell us, but sometimes in the minors we've even heard where it's like, hey, don't swing at first pitches. Alec Thomas told me that one time. There was like a level in the minors where like they were not allowed to swing at,

I think it was first pitch strikes and the very first pitch. So I'm not saying that's what happened here. But I just from what I've seen watching him before and in person here, It just felt like there was a, I'm going to be here to be hyper aggressive with maybe it's off speed pitches or fastballs and he's eating a lot more. I just, I feel like it was an abnormal approach in what we usually see. And that's something that can happen out here because everything else still looks amazing. You know, he's getting bigger. The power, the big numbers are there.

But it's some ugly strikeouts, which the only thing I can associate with it is a hyperaggression to want to swing out here, which some guys are doing. Some guys are out here as a couple guys. I mean, and it may have been a message passed down to him from the organization. Because it exists for development, right? Arizona fall. That's why it's there. And Colson Montgomery got on base a ton, 456 OBP, between rookie ball high AA, mostly AA, this year. But, you know, the power was not, the power production didn't quite live up to the scouting.

reports and hasn't yet for Colson Montgomery in the minor. So maybe it was like, okay, try not being so passive and see how it goes. Yeah, one of the things you don't want to do in the AFL's walk because it's like, the walks are abound. So there is something to be said about being hyper aggressive to make sure you're not just getting a 450 OBP because you're going to have a lot of bad pitches. You're going to have guys that I love that can throw 100, but maybe not for command. And the walk numbers are always extremely.

extremely higher here. After Coles of Montgomery, we know that Kyle Manzardo is one of the other big names out in the Arizona Fall League. He crushed a home run in the Fall Stars game. He also struck out twice once on a high fastball. Again, it's an incredibly small sample size. But Welsh,

I do know that you had the opportunity to talk to Manzardo and he acknowledged that he preferred pitches lower in the zone. So it just, it was interesting to me to see that, like, okay, maybe he does struggle with high fastballs, and I saw that up close and personal. He struck out on a high fastball. Do you think that is something that pitchers,

I mean, they should look to exploit in the majors, but is it something that you're worried about with Manzano? No, so I asked him this exact question, not just like about, because what he said, he actually told us in the homerine derby, he wanted low in the zone, because to what you're saying, he liked to hit.

But I also asked him that I noticed that he was getting pitched high and inside a lot. And he had an answer for it, which was pretty interesting. He said the level that he was playing at, there was pretty, I think it had to do with the ABS. I got to go back at this amount of interview, but it had to do with the ABS system, that there was no ABS. And that top of the zone was just kind of taken away from them.

And he said he actively didn't worry about the top of the zone based on where he was hitting. So this is something a little bit new. And he has been actively attacked. and he recognizes it, and he knows he's here adjusting because he likes the bottom of the zone, and he spent most of the minor league not worried about the top of the zone

and where he was. And I thought that was really interesting that he was cognizant of that. And he understood that. And I thought it was the maturity of the hitter that he is. And that's why I'm still banking on him. You know, he got his average backup,

but it went back down. He's got crazy good power. I love his ability to hit low, but we have seen major leaguers. And I've said it at nauseam, but like, you know, the Cardinals with Nolan Gorman. They're like,

a drive line and you need to figure out how to hit high fastballs. I think that's something that he's aware of right now. Like he is aware of this upper zone is part of his work and he can cheat a little bit on lower stuff. I think it's a good place to be in. And I think defensively he's fine and just a great interview and very smart guy. And, you know, he had a, he, there wasn't a lot of confusion. Sometimes you get guys that are just kind of like, we got lucky.

You know, Triantos gave us, I thought, incredible answers and was very insightful, as was. Manzardo and some guys don't. Sometimes they don't talk about the process and he did. And the understanding of the process gives me a lot of hope. All right. Lastly, I wanted to mention from the Fall Stars game, Emiliano Tejoto. We got the full experience and this guy was the talk of the town basically out at first pitch Arizona. People were talking about how live his arm was. He throws over 100 miles per hour. He's got this wipeout slider. James Triantos revealed to us that Teoto is now throwing a sinker, which is something he wasn't doing a couple of years ago. Again, you could check that interview out from the previous podcast that the Welsh and I did with James Triantos.

The full experience, he threw one inning, gave up zero hits, two walks, two hit by pitch, two wild pitches, zero strikeouts. But again, consistently hitting over 100 miles per hour. He has dominated out there. 11 shutout innings overall, 19 strikeouts to three walks. Scott, you and I were kind of talking yesterday, and you're like, well, who is this guy? Teoto? I think he can be like. the Rangers closer of the future, assuming that they don't sign anybody because, like, all the

prediction pieces that I'm seeing right now are like, yeah, Josh Hader is going to the Rangers. Like, everyone's just assuming that. So we don't know yet, but if Josh Hater doesn't go there, then maybe Teoto has a future as a closer there. And I mean, at one point, a manual class A looked like the Rangers closer, closer of the future, and then he became the Guardian's closer of the present. So who knows how things can develop. But this is how relief pitcher development happens. The reason I hadn't heard of Emiliano Teoto is, let me say that name again since it's new to most of our listeners. Emiliano Teoto, T-E-O-D-O.

The reason I hadn't heard of him is because he was a not very good starting pitcher prospect prior to entering the Arizona Fall League, where, to give you the numbers, you struck out 19 and 11 innings. Walked only three. I mean, maybe you saw two of them, but he walked only three in those 11 innings and had, just the one hit by pitch. So, like, he was dominant in what's clearly a hitter's league. I mentioned it before. Arizona Fall League.

It's all in Arizona. It's a lot of hitter-friendly venues, which is why you see some of these not-so-power hitters put up pretty good power numbers sometimes. But Teoto pitched great. He's 22. It'll be 23 before opening day. Hasn't pitched even at AA yet.

So it's, you know, he's not in the Rangers or any other organizations immediate plans. But, you know, it's, I don't even bother to rank relief. I do position by position prospect rankings in the offseason. I don't even bother to do a separate relief pitcher thing because those guys develop later, usually converting from starting pitcher either in the upper stages of the minors or even once they get to the majors, it happens. I mean, Josh Hader was a starting pitcher prospect until he reached the majors,

and he became a closer. So it's, there's not a lot of utility or, a lot of, for relief pitcher prospects. There's not a lot of utility for relief pitcher prospects and fantasy, but I do think based on the way things went for Emiliano, Tejoto, and the Arizona Fall League, he's a name to keep in mind. 100%. Let's wrap up here with our interview of Carson Williams,

the Ray's shortstop prospect first round pick from back in 2021. He's just 20 years old. Already got some games in at AA and AAA. He's got big power and speed. but issues making contact. We're talking about a 30% strikeout rate in the miners. True story. We were first introduced to Carson Williams.

And we're like, thank you for your time. Whatever, we'll make this quick. And he goes, yeah, let's make this quick. I got to go play Fortnite. That's a real thing that happened. Yeah, and it's good because I don't know if it's cut out of this or not, but like I make a mention of it at the end because like he was walking. He had two bats in his hand, a bag, and he was walking out.

The NFL guy grabbed him and you could see. It's so funny because you feel like, you just feel like these guys in the corner. We're sitting over there on the field and they're pointing and Carson looks at us and he's like, all right, these guys are going to be all right. And he walked up and I was just trying to set the mood because we felt bad. And I was just like, hey, man, sorry, we're grabbing you right as you're trying to get out of there. And then he's like, yep, got to go play Fortnite. And I think he even says it in here.

Like 30 minutes from now, I'll be playing Fortnite. And I thought it was interesting too because it's like, my kid is playing Fortnite. And I forget how old I am sometimes. And you hear that and you're just like, oh, listen to this silly kid. And you're just like, well, he's actually closer to my kids age and he's closer to mine. Yeah, he's a professional athlete. You want to give them the credit for it. But yeah, that we were, it usually I work very hard to kind of, I'm forgetting the word,

but like bring down the walls a little bit for prospects and just kind of like, you know, make him feel comfortable. And I felt like he almost got us a little bit. And it almost threw both of us off. We're like, oh, Fortnite, because it wasn't even just like a half joke. It was like, yeah, no, no, no, the new season's out. I haven't even played it yet. It was like a real thing.

We're like, all right, man. So I'm still dying to know how he does. So none of us are going to know yet. But that was the setup to the interview. Yeah, we should got like his gamer tag or something. Or I don't even, I don't know what the kids call them anymore. Anywho, let's wrap up. This is Ray's top prospect Carson Williams.

It's talking about what he's working on in the AFL, a little insider scouting report as well on his former teammate, Jr. Camerero. Everybody, it's Welsh, it's Frank, and we are here with Tampa Bay Rays, Carson Williams, one of the big studs out here in the AFL. Actually, one of the craziest things I was thinking about was when you were here, when you got announced to be here, you're actually like the top prospect of according to baseball America. What kind of a weird feeling is that when you are anointed as the top guy? I mean, you had Vlad Jr., Ronald Acuna big years. You're the guy that got right out there.

There's a lot of like kind of extra pressure, but I feel like you can handle it. It's an honor. It's an honor for everything. Everything coming my way. I just kind of, every day is a day to get better. Yeah. The experience in the Arizona Fall League playing with a lot of great players, what have you pulled out of that?

Because you've had a really interesting year, too. Lower levels, we had some higher strikeout rates. You dropped them when you caught up. So, like, you've shown so much maturity and a lot of advancement, and you're getting to put that on display here. Have you taken the regular season into the Arizona Fall League? Absolutely. This just, I mean, I think our manager most has it best.

This is all practice. every single day is practice in the minor leagues and including the AFL. Right now there's ups and downs. The AFL has been kicking my butt a little bit, you know? It's just how it works. But then you have good games, you have bad games, and it's all just practice to make it up to the big leagues. Well, I was going to ask you, and Frank Scots, I'm here too. I was going to ask, like, how unimportant are the stats?

I talked to Victor Scott and Roger Crawford a little bit ago, and you don't want to be dismissive of, like, anything that you do, but how unconcerned are you about what you're actually putting up on the stat sheet? here versus the proper things that you're accomplishing. No, no, no. I'm not really worried about that stuff. Right now, it's just about getting at-bats. I'm in a unique position where I'm young and I'm going to be in the higher levels next year.

So as many at-bats as I can get against this premium pitching is awesome for me. Yeah, and there really has been. Speaking of which, premium pitching, anyone that stands out, like, who's the toughest pitcher you've even faced out here? I actually haven't faced Teedman, but everyone in our locker room says he's the guy.

Him and Job. Him and Job too. I was talking with Reggie Kraft. Job was working on a new cutter out here. That's kind of a hard experience. You know, Reggie Crawford actually had this to say. He said, you get these scouting reports on some of these guys, but then you might have guys out here that are working on completely new stuff.

And how do you even like work through that? So there's hitters that go, that make their plan based off that stuff, and they sit on pitches and stuff, and that makes it a lot harder out here for some guys. And then also, there's guys that kind of go up there, hit, do their thing. It's different for everybody. Yeah, so we're talking about pitchers that are working on new things. Is anything in particular that you're focused on working on while you're out here? Yeah, just staying through the ball right now.

Started this whole thing off and kind of have been pulling off the ball a lot here. So just really trying to stay through the ball and make good swing decisions. Is that about the strikeouts? Is that about minimizing that? Because it gets overplayed. Strikeouts get overplayed quite a bit. The strikeouts for me at this point, it's, they, of course they matter. And you want to keep them down as much as you can.

But that's not what I'm interested in right now. I'm trying to find ways to hit the ball hard, put it in play, and that'll take care of itself. Obviously, you're getting closer to the majors. How cool is it to see someone that you played with, right? Like in a junior Caminero make it to the majors at this point. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's my guy. That is my guy. I go to him for offense, and he comes to me for defense.

Yeah. So I love that kid to death. He deserves it all. He's probably one of the best players I've ever seen in my life. Really? Oh, my gosh. Go ahead. Oh, I was to say, have you, like, have you had this moment where you're like,

oh, my God, he's there. Mm-hmm. could be there, like really, really so you're a young player, you're very smart, you acknowledge like where you're at in that. But to see him progress, like, you two could be playing with each other in like six months. Yeah, absolutely. That's the goal. I mean, I think next year we're going to work on the things I need to work on with the swing. I'm going to keep my defense solid and we're going to see where I can get up to. On Camerro, what's the advanced gathering port? What's your idea, like, playing with Camerero, what can you tell us about him?

About him? It brings a lot of energy. Kids, electric. he's the best bat I've ever seen in my entire life. And for any pitchers going against him, don't miss. Don't miss, because it's going to go really far. Last one is just 2024 goals. What is, I mean, obviously there's a healthy, there's improve on some of the simple logistics, but are there any, like, hardcore statistical goals

or anything that you really want to accomplish? No, just want to become a better hitter, better defender, better person, better athlete, all together. Season 1, chapter 5, Fortnite. what do we do? What's the gun? The gun? Oh, gosh. What's the load out? What's the load out? That's what's important here. It's a simple AR and a pump and that's all you need. Okay. Pump AR, that's the load out. Okay. Well, it's OG.

I'll be in retail in 30 minutes. OG Fortnite is back and Carson Williams. All right. We appreciate you. All right. Thanks a pleasure to meet you, guys. Thanks so much for your time, man. Thanks again to Carson Williams of the Tampa Bay Rays for giving us his time and to the AFL for hooking us up there. And obviously there's some interesting stuff that he talked about.

He acknowledged that the AFL was, quote, kicking his butt. And as of now, he's betting 246. He's got 30 strikeouts, over 80 plate appearances. That is a 38% strikeout rate. Not exactly what you want to see from a kid who has struck out as much as he has in the minors. But, you know, Welsh, I wonder, because, like, he said he was, like, just focusing on hitting the ball hard. So, like, maybe strikeouts, he just, like he said, he doesn't really care about that right now.

the AFL. I mean, he doesn't. I mean, he doesn't. I think we should. It's not just the AFL where he has strikeout problems. Well, and that's what I mean, I feel bad, because now I've seen Carson Williams and I kind of like him and I don't want to speak ill of him. But, man, the strikeouts up and down.

Like, he ranks highly among prospects. I know defense is a big part of it. He's a standout defender at shortstop, which is always going to carry a lot of weight in prospect circles. And, you know, he has power. But these strikeouts. rates even in the lower miners. I can't pull up the exact number right now because my computer's grinding.

It was like 31% at high A and then he had like six games at AA where it was like around 20%. I am lower on Carson Williams than the typical prospect guy. As am I. That's why I always like note like I get kind of chirped about it and stuff like that. He did say something interesting and I'm forgetting the last thing I want to do is listen to myself or oversee myself in any of that. But he said something about where he was trying to get inside on balls. And he definitely has been slower in reaction out here.

And ultimately, the thing you're looking for is like the improvement. You know, you're looking for the guy to make the adjustments over time. I think it's very positive that he's unaffected, that he recognizes maybe where some of those swing and miss issues are coming from where I think he was saying he was just like, things are getting inside on him. But it's like high fast balls have been. problem. It's tough because he's very likable. He's very engaging, stares you in the eye with to both of us. I mean, he was very- They're actual people. They can't be people for me. They're

human-based on a page so I can remain objective. I did an interview with a prospect one time, who's in the majors right now, who did not look at me for nine straight minutes. We did an interview. He was like so engaging to the prep and back and forth, back and forth in the minute the interview started, he just looked away. But like, Carson Williams is like, he's very engaged, smiling. He's a very smart guy. And those are the type of people you kind of bet on it. Plus, you should acknowledge he's younger. But I do think there's a gap between like, hey, he's the 20th best prospect in baseball to where the development is and where it could kind of go. But yeah, he's kind of easy to root for. He's a nice guy. Yeah. I'm dying to know how he's doing a Fortnite.

Crown Lindsay has. Last point. What he said on Junior Camerro, quote, best bat I've ever seen in my life for any pitchers going against him. Don't, man. Caminero, a consensus top five fantasy prospect. He got seven games in with the raise last season. Crushed the miners, hit 324, 31 home runs, a 975 OPS as a 20 year old for Junior Camerro. And across 18 drafts so far as ADP is 195. Does that sound like an appropriate time to buy Caminero, Scott?

Do you know where that is among third baseman? Because I haven't done my combined rankings yet. So I can gauge if I'm in line with that or not more if I know where he ranks at his position. I bet that's like 15, 16. That makes him 19. So it's... I have a 12th.

It's just behind Jake Berger and Isok Paredes in ADP. Okay. And it sounds like it's quite a bit different from that mock draft we looked at that you did the other day, Frank. It sounds like that was... That was a real draft, Scott? I'm sorry.

That real draft you did. I have Commonero 12th, And I imagine he's going to move up in ADP as there gets to be more ADP. All right, well, jam-packed episode. We're going to wrap there for Scotty and the Welsh. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today.

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