Fantasy Baseball Today - First-Year Player Draft FYPD Rankings, International Signings & More! (1/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

No surprise, Wyatt Langford and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are at top of the FYPD rankings (5:22)! ... Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes are up next (11:35). ... Who does The Welsh like most of Walker Jenkins, Max Clark, Matt Shaw and Tommy Troy (15:15)? ... Hurston Waldrep has a lot of upside but needs to improve his command (20:08). ... Colt Emerson looks to have a great hit tool but how much power will he develop (26:23)? ... Noble Meyer and Brock Wilken have huge upside (28:51)! ... Where do Shōta Imanaga and Jung Hoo Lee rank (36:15)? ... The international group is topped by Leo De Vries (41:00). ... Who are The Welsh's top-five international signings (48:05)? ... We wrap up with some FYPD sleepers (55:25)? To display your continued support of the show, please vote Fantasy Baseball Today in the Sports Podcast Awards in the "Best Baseball Podcast" Category https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-baseball-podcast/ 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.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 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/ 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 in Tough Fantasy Baseball today on January 26th. I am Frank Sample joined by Chris the Welsh. Today on the show, we have first year player draft rankings for those in Dynasty leagues. I know a lot of those drafts are either getting ready to start up, have already started up. So obviously, very relevant this time of year. We've got the top international prospects to talk about. Sounds like this class might be the best that we've seen in a while.

Obviously, we'll learn that from the Welsh. And for those listening, checking this out, your inclination. might be, all right, this is a dynasty only podcast. And I'm not going to lie to you. There are obviously lots of dynasty elements. But I can assure you that there will be some names we talk about today that will be in the majors this year. So if you want to get ahead of the competition, you want to learn about these prospects before they're on their big league teams, this is the place to do that. Welsh, what's going on, buddy? It's been a while. How's life going? It has been a while. Let me make it so long of a while. I forgot how much I loved that.

open. I don't even when I was, you know, every single week, I don't think I did a lot of Fridays. So I forget how much I love that. And I was just bopping to it. If you're watching on the YouTube, which you should, it's very naked behind me because the Welsh is moving. So my normal studio of baseballs and all that is out there. But life is good. Baseball is good. Pitchers and catchers report in no time. And as I told you, I have about two weeks until the first camp opens out here in Arizona, which, is the Dodgers and I will be out there fighting through the mob and the crowd. Probably not to even see Otani or Betts or any of those guys.

I'm out there to be like, it's Diego Cartaya looking like. How's Dalton Varshal living? That's what we're going to be looking at. Love it. Absolutely love hearing that. And we will have you on obviously in the month of February as well. And look forward to hearing more from you, you know, firsthand, what you're seeing, what you're hearing out there.

So looking forward to that. Again, today we're talking about first year player draft rankings for those in. Dynasty Leagues, and Scott actually posted his rankings on the website, CBSSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. So I will be going in order of Scott's rankings, but we can compare and contrast to your rankings as well, Welsh. And real quickly, before we get started, where can people find your first-year player draft rankings?

Yeah, I've got all my prospect and first-year player and everything like that, international stuff over at In Thisleague.com. That is on my Patreon, which we're still doing Prospect 1 and in this league. in this league.com where my first year player is over a hundred deep. And I also present them. It's actually something you probably see on how I sent it to you. I'd like to present my first year player ranks like a draft. So I do them in tiers of 15.

And I even put the overall pick if we were just going down the list, what round they are. So people can have a perspective of not just like here is like 60 guys, but oh, hey, this is like a third or fourth round guy. So we are pretty deep into the first year player and decently deep in the international class. I actually think that'll be an interesting conversation when we get there because there are some fun names, but I do have some takes on the international side for the most exciting class we've had in forever.

We'll see. We'll see how much real good data we have on it. But I'm looking forward to talking some first year player. All right. Let's jump right in. And I'll start with the top two names here, Welch, because I think both of them could be relevant for this upcoming season. And, you know, I'm looking at your rankings. I don't see Yamamoto in there.

I'm sure, you know, if I told you to where would you rank Yamamoto, you can obviously tell me. and he's going to be available in a lot of these first-year player drafts as well. But number one for Scott is Wyatt Langford, who we've talked about a lot, fourth overall pick last year, Monster, you know, small sample, 44 games in the minors, hit 360, 10 homers, 12 steals, an OPS over 1100. Sounds like he has a legit chance to be on the Rangers' opening day roster as well. Number two is the aforementioned Yoshinobo Yamamoto,

25-year-old phenom starting pitcher that came over from Japan, has an ERA under 1.7, three years in a row, has not only won their version of the Sy Young in each of those three years. He has also won the league MVP in Japan each of the past three years. So talk to me about Wyatt Langford and Yamamoto. Do you agree those should be the top two players

in first year player drafts? Yeah, I do. And there's a little bit of a crunch for me between Yamamoto and I'm very high in Dylan Cruz who we'll talk about. I'm very, very high on him. and having hitters over pitchers, that's like just his big discussion.

But Yamamoto is special. He's also young. There's longevity into it. And unlike, you know, we've talked about Yamamoto a lot, like the difference with where there are similarities with him and Senga, both, you know, Splitter guys and there's strikeouts out there.

Yamamoto is more of the command guy. So you start talking to me about a pitcher that's got floor and command. Then I'm going to be even a bit more excited. And especially if one thing that I struggle with like Splitter, porkball type of guys is that if you lie on that pitch too much and you don't have something else to go to and you can't command it,

well, then I worry that you're going to get banged around a little bit. And that's like something like Casey Meis ended up having. But I think Yamamoto's too. In my update, I am going to at least put those guys in the first year player ranks. I don't put them in the prospect ranks. I used to. It's just, it's kind of like personal preference or anything like that.

But Yamamoto, definitely there. In overall prospect world, I think five makes a lot of since after the big four hitters in the overall world of it. So first year player two and, hey, if you're in a league that is, maybe it's a points league that really benefits pitchers, I could see a scenario where somebody would want to have Yamamoto at one,

but I couldn't pass on Wyatt Langford because high batting average hit 360 across the four levels, OEP over 400, double digit stolen bases and homers in, what was it, 44 games. There's a lot of great upside there. I still have some questions if this is going to, to be like the superstar of superstar of superstar players like he's being anointed but I really think he's going to be a great solid player for a long time

maybe over time the stolen bases are going to kind of taper down but he's a 30 home run potential with great batting average great points league player because he doesn't strike out as much and he's going to be given an opportunity out the gates I mean they they are at least in conversation going to let him have an opportunity to be the DH and I think a cool advantage if they were to give that to Langford. Is any of those like little negatives we talk about with Evan Carter that they could do like a lefty ready split? You know, they could take Carter out. Langford can go to the outfield. He could DH. So I think there's a decent opportunity and possibility he is there. These are the top two guys for

proximity reasons and overall, but I really hate to talk about it without Dylan Cruz too because I'm still a big Dylan Cruz guy, Frank. And we will get to Dylan Cruz in just a second. I wanted to follow up real quick on Wyatt Langford because I know you have some contacts in the Rangers organization so obviously you know you're maybe a little bit closer to this than anybody else that I know personally but we got a report last weekend

Jeff Wilson of Rangers today wrote that Justin Foskew has a chance to break camp with the team he's a former first round pick as well has shown some power and speed in the minors also mentioned that Wyatt Langford could be unlikely for opening day because the team doesn't want him to start his career out as a

DH. Have you heard anything that might support that and Langford not being up on opening day. So I haven't, I haven't done my, a follow up in the last, let's say it was three weeks. The previous conversation was actually right around you and I. We were having a conversation. I was like, I'm going to reach out and see what was going on it. And as far as what I was told was the intention is that they are going to give Wyatt Langford an opportunity to bring camp with the team.

Now, both things might be true. They may not want him to be this full-time DH. But I would also say this. I think exactly what I just said can live as part of the possibility that they could just simply have Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter, maybe there's another player, just switch and move between. I don't think Carter has to be designated as a full-on DH. I think he could still have plenty of days in the outfield. But maybe that is enough for them to say, here's what we got. We have Evan Carter to be the best advantage for us to be in that player pool and that extra pick.

and we're alive for this extra pick compensation with Evan Carter. Let's make sure White Lankford is getting everyday reps in the outfield if they don't feel that he can take over that spot immediately because they do have Evan Carter, Adolios Garcia, and Lioti Tavares. That is when Bubba Thompson got waived and picked up by the Yankees, so that's not even like a depth option. So they could say this is what we are 100% going with. And if Lankford can't beat out one of these players,

then yeah, he has to go to the market. miners, it's open for possibility for sure. I'll probably reach out and see more, but I, maybe I'm wrong, but I would be shocked if Foskew was the guy that made the team over Langford out the shoot. Yeah, and again, I agree. And Scott said something similar where you can kind of mix things around where, all right, you can shuffle Adoli-Scarcia to DH at times, having Carter to DH. Tavares probably not because he's a really, really good center fielder,

but there are ways where they can get Lankford in the outfield and kind of give other players half days off. So I think it could still work out. A lot will come down to what Langford does in spring training. Number three and four on Scott's list. The aforementioned Dylan Cruz, who you are very excited about, Welsh, rightfully so. Second overall pick in last year's draft. Got 35 games and hit 292, five homers, four steals in 844 OPS. This was an elite collegiate bat.

And Paul Skeens at number four, who was the first overall pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates, 21 years old, big dude, six foot six, massive fastball, average 98 miles per hour, has this plus slider, ridiculous numbers at LSU last year. He was the SEC pitcher of the year, posted all these kind of crazy stats as well. Well, so you think this is kind of,

if you include Yamamoto, is this like a top tier of four in first year player draft rankings and then it drops off? Or do you think it's maybe a tier of three and then you have kind of skeins maybe on the outside looking in? No, no, I'm a skeins in that territory guy.

I'm open to the possibility that taking Yamamoto over Skeens in the long term might look silly. I think that is still in the works here. The biggest thing everybody picks about Paul Skeens to this day has been the fastball shape. That's kind of a constant. There's some big baseball heads that look, oh, I don't really like the shape of it. Lance Brasalski did this really interesting breakdown.

We talk about him all the time, obviously, of talking about players moving on opposite sides of the rubber and maybe making that like a constant, and that's something that could help skeins. I think that would, especially if you're talking about the, if you don't think that maybe there's a possibility, you can have major improvement on fastball shape, then maybe moving around the rubber would be affixed to that a little bit.

I mean, we saw Brandon Fott become a completely new pitcher once Brett Strom moved him over to the left side of the rubber. So I think that's a possibility. Plus, I love Paul Skeen's changeup. He threw it, I think, 7, 6% of the time in college. I think that's something he can lean on more. and I think that's a big strikeout pitch. You just need that fastball to be able to command.

He's a bulldog. He throws strikes and then use those other two pitches to get your strikeouts. And I think that's what can be done. So I don't focus as much on the fastball shape. I think it's a guy. He is an aggressive, aggressive hitter in the likes of a Spencer strider, but with three pitches,

he can go deep into games. Yeah, it's the hope of a generational type of pitcher. So he's in the core with me. And I'm just a defender of Dylan Cruz. I don't want to get too much like, oh, hey, this guy was awesome this year. Let's give him extra credit. And this guy stunk, but let's not worry about it.

So I don't want to be like a complete hypocrite. But I try not to like get super hyper focused on players' performances in their first full season, especially when they're an immense talent. And I think that's maybe some of what gets, what happens with Dylan Cruz. Like he moved up and he struggled once he got up a level. But he is an immensely great contact. there's pure raw power. He's shown good max exit velocity to all fields,

even hitting opposite field. Maybe stolen bases won't be dominant. But I think like a floor is a guy like a Brian Reynolds with a ceiling of a first round overall talent. I just think he's going to work himself into being a 30 plus home run hitter who steals and hits for a high batting average. And he is going to be saved by his ability to barrel the ball and hit the ball hard around the field.

So I like Dylan Cruz. I'm totally here for the Dillon Cruz values. If people are selling, I'm buying. But this is like a really good core for first year player. It's reminiscent of the Jason Dominguez, Bobby Witt, Andrew Vaughn, Adley Ruchman from, I think, 2019. That was like that big core for a first year player. This kind of feels similar. All right.

Let's move on to another tier. And I'm going to throw four names here way. So a lot going on here, Welsh. But Scott's rankings at number five, he has Walker Jenkins. Walker Jackins, an outfielder with the Minnesota Twins, Matt Shaw infielder with the Cubs, Max Clark in outfielder with the Tigers, and Tommy Troy infielder with your Arizona Diamondback.

So different skill sets, different timelines for these players as well. We're looking at Max Clark and Walker Jenkins as high school outfielder. So a little bit further away, obviously sky high potential for both of those guys. Matt Shaw and Tommy Troy, collegiate infielders who offer power and speed, lots of like, you know, I've seen Matt Shaw of really getting pushed up prospect rankings and rightfully so. But what do you think?

Does this feel like another tier? And who do you like most from this group? Yes, I agree with what you said. This is another tier. I might even have like a guy or two I would throw in as like a soft add to it. But I love Matt Shaw. I'm a Matt Shaw guy. I will say more predominantly, people are Walker Jenkins.

And that's totally fine. He is also probably the most. physically talented of all these players. He stole a bunch of bases early on. He shows a really good ability to hit for contact. There is really high projectable power. So I get why they're there. But I am Matt Shaw and then Max Clark.

So Matt Shaw specifically was someone I fell in love with in like that pre-draft process. And he had a great debut where he ended up hitting 357. He popped up eight homers, 15 stolen bases. He did all of this in under 40 games, can hit doubles. I think he's just like a total package player might end up moving to third base. I love his ability to make contact. I love for him to get counting stats across the board. Maybe I'm a little bit more picky that I don't think like Walker Jenkins is going to steal tons as he gets older.

And maybe I'll be wrong about that. That's also something I really love about Max Clark. Max Clark is the example where I'm saying like, this is a guy in his pro debut who kind of stunk. And I think he's getting smacked pretty bad for it because he had a bad pro debut where Walker Jenkins did. didn't or did have a really great pro debut. But I think Max Clark is an incredibly talented player who is going to steal tons of bases. He's a technician as far as working in the off season, paying attention to analytics, his swing continuously adjusting.

He's physically impressive as he gets bigger. He is an all-fields contact hitter. I think he's going to have tons of stolen bases, good contact, solid power numbers. It's five-tool-ish. And it's not like Corby. I mean, like, do Corby Carroll, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it's in that, like, make. So I really like Max Clark still.

So I'm banking on the potential. So I am Shaw, Clark, then Jenkins. And maybe Tommy Troy might even actually, now I'm thinking about it, take out of that tier, because it's those three guys are a core. Even though Tommy Troy is a diamond back, I obviously love that. I think he might lack a little bit in the batting average department with the counting stats, where I think those other guys have a potential to go, like, really high in certain categories. Tommy Troy will be pretty solid.

But yeah, let's do Shaw, Clark, and Jenkins in their own tier after the Big Four. If we're thinking long term, even this season, honestly, I think there's a chance we could see Matt Shaw and our Tommy Troy in 2024 with their respective teams. It sounds like Troy has been working out at third base, and that's the plan. Obviously, the Cubs have Nico Horner at second and Danesby Swanson at short. So third base seems like it makes sense. What about Tommy Troy? What do you think long term you see here as the defense?

position for him and the way things shake out for Arizona. So I do think Matt Shaw could be up. I do not think Tommy Troy will come up. I did talk to Tommy Troy after he got drafted. It was actually cool because he was on a backfield. I took a picture of it. You could see it on my Twitter somewhere that he was working with Orlando Hudson. And Hudson was working with him and Kevin Sim and I'm forgetting the other guy.

And I asked him after I was like, what was that like? And he's like, it was one of the coolest things I've ever done, getting to work with Odog working on the infield. They were working at shortstop. I think one of the things I've kind of sat around thinking is maybe this team would end up trading a Jordan Lawler because you've got a little bit of a pipeline coming through. At the end of the day, I think Tommy Trow would probably be a second base option. You know, maybe they'll like him defensively more than Jordan Lawler. But I think if Jordan Lawler stays on the team, he's going to have that shortstop position locked down.

I think he's fine defensively. So I would imagine they would move him to second, which with also a little bit of interesting. injury that he had last year, Tommy Troy did, a little bit of slow development, at least as far as the Diamondbacks go. I don't think he makes the majors. I do think Shaw is a potential because we have to see ultimately what they're totally going to do with that third base position. But I think Shaw is a guy that moved up enough and they think is advanced enough that if July came and they brought him up, I really would not be shocked. All right. Number nine and ten in Scott's first year player draft rankings, we see Hurston Waldrop, the I guess third starting pitch. technically behind Yamamoto and Paul Skeens. Herson Waldrop was drafted 24th overall last year by the Atlanta Braves,

and he has a chance to fly through the system. I mean, he technically already is. He made eight starts last year, including one at AAA, the Braves are a team that's been incredibly aggressive with their prospects over the past couple of years. A legit three-pitch mix, fastball in the mid to upper 90s. We've got that wipeout, split change up, and then flash some big upside with.

that slider as well. I remember when we did starting pitcher prospects podcast earlier in the offseason, we kind of talked about Waldrip like by mid-season there's a non-zero chance that he is the number one pitching prospect in all of baseball. And I still stand by that. I guess we could get your opinion on it. Number 10 is Rhett Louder. So I'm going to just kind of pair these two together. Another pitcher from the Cincinnati Reds. He was the seventh overall pick in last year's draft. The second pitcher drafted behind Paul Skeens. Feels like more of a high floor pitcher than anything else. His best pitch is

a change up. He also has really great control. But if we're projecting long term, Cincinnati, they've done some interesting things with pitching development, but it's obviously a really tough place to pitch as well. So give me your thoughts here. Number nine, Hurston Waldrop, number 10, Rhett Louder. So Waldrop is a guy that I think you could almost put into that other tier that we were talking about. Maybe even over Tommy Troy, I like him, but he's risky. And he's, he's like not new for anybody. So there's no breaking ground. Everybody's talking about Waldrip. The Braves have brought up pitchers quicker than any other team. This is a guy that has college experience. His problem, he has massive command issues. He still had like a double digit walk

percentage while he was in the minors, but his strikeouts were going crazy because he's got an insane slider. He's got the stuff to be crazy, crazy elite. It's just going to be what do the Braves do, which is a great organization for him to be with to hone in that command, to make sure that when he gets to higher levels. In the lower levels, everybody's just swinging at this nasty splitter and he's got a big power fastball. But when you get to more advanced hitters and they start sitting on stuff, what is he going to do? So he could be the number one, but there's some volatility in his game. Ret Louder is interesting because I think I'm higher on him than most people, but I like safer pitchers. I've kind of, that's something that's happened to the last couple years. Volatility and

pitchers kind of gets for me. This is back to our George Kirby conversation where I'm like, yeah, let's get me all the George Kirby's and, you know, and draft champions this year. I like that safety net. And Ret Louder is that. He was phenomenal in the College World Series. Great, great command pitcher with one of the best changeups. And I know the Reds are scary because of ballpark, but I have been thinking they've been pretty decent. If you look at like sliders in the organization, Hunter Green changed who he was,

became a relevant pitcher because he threw the slider. The usage went up and it's a good pitch. Nick Lodolo, another slider guy, off speed, curveball. I think that what they can do is they can continuously develop this slider. And then if you have a high-in command fastball with one of the best change-ups and an above-average slider, I think Rett Louder can put up some big strikeout numbers while not being a power pitcher. He is not Paul Skeens. You know, it's low 90s fastball.

He's not Hurston-Wall drip. But he's a guy that can continuously keep throwing strikes with three really good pitches. So I think he's underrated, so I have him higher. So me and Scott are probably maybe a little bit different than some of the other market. Because I really think Red Louder is somebody that if I were in the back team, I would want him. If he fell into a second round of a first year player, I would be screaming to either take him at my pick or trade to get up for Red Lauder. And especially a name to consider in those head-to-head points, dynasty leagues as well.

Pitching typically does get pushed up a little bit, especially someone like Louder who was a college pitcher. there's some proximity, I think, there. We can see him, I'm not sure if it's this year, but within the next couple of years, obviously. So, yeah, just a name to, I guess, remember it all dynasty formats, but specifically in points leagues as well.

Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll wrap up the rest of, I've got the top 15 in Scott's first year player draft rankings. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. We're talking first year player draft rankings for those in Dynasty leagues,

and we left off after the top 10 from Scott White and picked things up with 11 and 12. You'll notice on the site, Scott has Jung Hu Lee at 10. I'm going to save Jokul Li and Chota Imanaga for after we get through the rest of these first year

player draft rankings and then we can talk about, all right, maybe we think where they should slot in among this group. But 11 and 12, we have two high school short stops. Colt Emerson with the Seattle Mariners, very polished hitter, maybe some questions about how much power and speed long term.

Aiden Miller with the Philadelphia Phillies, the 27th overall pick last year. Did hit over 300 in the small sample. No homers, a couple of steals, 804 OPS. Sounds like not as polished a hitter as someone like Colt Emerson, but maybe has more projectable power. Obviously, great ballpark in Philly if he does remain in that organization. Welch, is this the right spot to be looking at names like Colt Emerson and Aiden Miller,

11 and 12th? So me personally, not Aidan Miller, but yes, Colt Emerson. I wouldn't say maybe. Aiden Miller is like, no doubt, a big power play. I want to say he either won one of the high school home run contests or he was in the finals of one of them recently. This is a big, big power hitter. So the 30 home run potential is there.

I'm not necessarily sold like that the batting average is going to live in a really high spot, though he did in his pro debut. He's a good bet. And we have kind of opened up the first year market. I'm kind of looking at the players like your agreements and disagreements of like, hey, I want to value this really high-end power hitter. Okay, I'm with it. I have him quite a bit lower.

So Aiden Miller isn't necessarily my cup of tea here, but Colt Emerson definitely is. And there are some questions on the power, but, you know, age-old adage of like power is the last thing to develop. So you give me a guy that makes crazy, crazy contact with Emerson was like near a 400 hitter in the minors this year. He can run. It also gotten bigger.

I saw he's my dear friend Dennis Sidler with Siddle. graphs. He's an exclusive client of his and just like looks like Sequin Barkley out there getting that lower half, which lower half, you know, big lower halves usually tend to like, you know, big thighs and everything will be a good projector for future upper body development. I think like if, if I believe he could be a 20 homerun hitter, which I do, I think he's going to steal enough bases and make high end contact that we've kind of taken a little bit of the value out of him. Like it would have been, it was cool when you could get him around the 20s, the first year player, which was

pretty much when the draft happened. Now you've got to pay a first round pick. Love to be able to get him later. But I think there's a ton of outside with Colt Emerson. And I shouldn't say there isn't with Aden Miller. It's just not necessarily where I'm going because there's a few other players I like ahead of him. All right. 13, 14 and 15 in Scott's first year player draft rankings. We have Noble Meyer, who is a starting pitcher with the Marlins. He was a high school arm. He was the fourth pitcher drafted in last year draft. Big dude, six foot five, kind of lanky, 185 pounds. We were talking beforehand. You almost just kind of want to blindly put your faith in the Marlins organization when it comes to pitchers because they've just done such a great job. Number 14,

he has Kyle Teal, a catcher with the Boston Red Sox. He was the 14th overall pick in last year's draft. The second catcher drafted, a college bat, some power, some speed, some interesting things there from a catcher. And then Brock Wilkin, who is someone I know that you are pretty excited about, third baseman with the Brewers. He was the 18th overall pick in last. year draft. Another college bat, big dude, six foot four, two 25, got 47 games in in the minors, hit 285, five homers, eight doubles, four triples, four steals, just, you know, lit it up in the miners last year. Partridge in a pear tree. That's right, at the end. That's a lot going on there with Brock Wilkins. So talk to me about these three Welsh, 13, 14, 15, Noble Meyer, Kyle Teal, and

Brock Wilkin. So like I really love the top in pitchers for better or for worse. I'm not going to you're not going to hear me go nuts about like as we go lower on them. But like, okay, I talked to Hurston Waldrab, huge upside. Talked up Brett louder, really big command. I think like Noble Meyer might be the best combination of everything that you want. The only negative is he was a high school pitcher. I would not be shocked if let's say five years. Let's give ourselves a window. Five years from Now, we look back at this class and Noble Meyer is the best of all the pitchers, even over Paul schemes. I said that on CBS Sports HQ during the draft when the fine people had me on for the live TV

coverage. I said the same thing because I love everything that Noble Meyer is about. It is a big power fastball, a big slider, and he went to an organization that is amazing with developing changeups. So again, you get me three big plus pitches for a young kid that, you know, command is going to be continuously in work, but there's tons of. is a good projectable body. I got to talk to him like a tiny bit

during the MLB draft combine that was out here. I was telling you off here. It was so funny. Everybody out, like I saw Max Clark there. Everyone's, you know, in like the sweatpants and like shirt

or maybe a polo or something. And like Max Meyer came or Noble Meyer came out there with like a suit. And he was a tie in suit. And he was just like ready to talk to GMs and just very, very easygoing guy, unaffected by a lot of stuff with incredible, incredible stuff. So I love Noble Meyer.

If I was in the team, I think Noble Meyer is the upside play. Ret Louders is the safety proximity guy. I think they'll sit on Meyer, Noble Meyer a little bit. Kyle Teal, great. I don't fall in love with catchers in Dynasty fantasy too much, but he does do a little bit of everything,

maybe even projectable for one of those guys, like a Henry Davis that could play out. So that's a really great bet as well. And then our last guy, I just completely drew a blank who was, oh, Brock Wilkin. So Brock Wilkin, teammates of Ret Lauder and played in the college world.

series. He put up the biggest EV numbers that I got from college bats overall. He's got kind of an interesting like inside arm angle where he's almost like hunch. Some people don't like that, but he gets to the ball quick, absolutely murders baseballs. And this is one of those guys where you're trying to be like, who really could be, I'm going to say like a Matt Wilson, like the next 35 plus homerun power guy. That's Brock Wilkin in my mind and a great ballpark as well. And you see like Reese Hoskins getting signed, even though Wilkins is a third baseman. You could foresee Wilkin being the guy that maybe comes in and replaces, you know, Hoskins is a nice two, a nice two-year stop gap until a guy like Wilkin gets in there. But yeah, I think he hits for enough contact to tap into

the power where Wilkin, Wilkin, I would 1,000 percent and do have over Aiden Miller. There's no chance I would bet on Aiden Miller over Wilkin at this point. Yeah, looking at your first year player draft ranks, you have Brock Wilkin at number nine and Scott has him at 15. So you are aggressive. there on Brock Wilkin, and if someone's looking for power in their first year player draft, he is very clearly a name that they should be targeting. Wanted to quickly mention a few other names that you have on your top 15 list that Scott does not have and quickly, you know, just kind of talk about what you like about those players. Leo DeVries is the top international signing.

I'm going to save that for a little bit later on. You have Chase Davis in outfielder with the Cardinals at 13. You have Nolan Shanual, first basing with the Angels, who we did see at the end of last season. You have him at number 15. What do you like about those soon? Yeah, we're in a space where, like, I'm still coming to terms of things. Chase Davis was someone I absolutely loved in the pre-draft process. And this is one I'm trying to come to terms with because he had a horrid pro debut. He actually got the most aggressive assignment. He was like the very first player and he didn't even go to rookie ball, I don't think. I went to think he went to A ball. And he really struggled. But

this is a guy that is a power speed five tool outfielder who has, you know, the Harold Reynolds could not stop talking about how he looks like Carlos Gonzalez and loves the swing. And that's what he says every time he talks about Chase Davis, but it's real. So I went from like five of Chase Davis down to acknowledging the really bad pro debut and trying to trying to not completely give up on him after just one small sample size. So I moved him to the back end of the first round. I think a lot of other people are going to look at the pro debut and be like, nope, no thanks. But if I'm on like a wheel pick and a first year player, I think, think he's a good bet, but he's not as safe as a lot of other guys.

Shanwell is kind of the same thing. You know, maybe he'll never develop into a pow. You know, he's always going to be a first base version of Luis Arise, which nobody really wants. But it is hard to also not acknowledge that, A, he's going to be, you know, a lead off hitter for this team or presumably leave the top in top three, a hitter for this team. And he makes tons and tons of contact. So it's like, is there a possibility with, you know, major league training and not just going from Brooklyn, ball to the majors in one month if a team gets their hands on him that he can't start to improve. He can't be talking to Mike Trout and improve your launch angle and your barrel and get bigger and

start hitting for more homers. Yeah, I think that is a possibility. And this is a guy that's a 300 hitter. So I just don't want to give up on him. But I am leaving off the table a lot of other upside plays. But that is the dance of first year player, this dance between do I want a player that has proximity versus do I want the upside of a player that might take a couple years. but either A could be one of the best players of baseball

or could be a complete failure. That's this weird dance. So the back end of the first round for me, I've got some weird shots with Chase Davis and Shanwell. And if you want to talk yourself into Shanual, the Angels ballpark, Angel's Stadium over the past three years, they have the third best park factor for home runs,

for left-handed home runs. So it projects out where, all right, if Nolan Shannon-Shanuel can raise that launch angle a little bit, he obviously makes a ton of contact, might be able to tap into like 15. home run power if everything works out for him. And a name to know in points leagues too, because his plate discipline is going to be

probably his standout skill. Just the ability to get on base, probably going to walk more than he strikes out. So something to consider there with Nolan Shanual. Two other names that I mentioned earlier that Scott has ranked in his first year player draft rankings. Just kind of want to figure out where you would slot them in Welsh. We've got Chota Imanaga,

who is a 30-year-old starting pitcher who came over from Japan. he signed with the Chicago Cubs this all season. And Jung Hu Lee in Outfielder from Korea, who signed with the San Francisco Giants. Scott has Junghuli at 10, which would be just ahead of Rhett Louder, I believe, yes. And then he has Shota Imanaga at 16,

which would be just ahead of Brock Wilkin, something I assume you would not too. No. So for me, one thing I noticed, I got to have, louder, I should have ahead of Davis, but I think I sent that to you differently. So you would have Davis at 14,

Shenwell at 15. I don't have really high hopes for Lee to be. I actually think Lee is kind of like a Shenwell type of player, like high contact. He's got more of a professional background. You know, I mean, he has more track record to go with.

But I think he's not an immensely high stolen base guy, not an immensely high power guy. He makes a lot of contact. So I think they belong together. So if we want to get into like arguments here, I'd be cool with Lee over him. So we could put Lee at 15. But I would rather probably take a shot on Imanaga over him just staying in the rotation. So I'll set them in the first round.

I would put them at 14 and 15. And we would bump Davis and Nolan off at the first round. Shota Imanaga has drawn some comparisons to Nestor Cortez. He's this lefty who doesn't throw particularly hard. We're talking 91 to 93. on the fastball, but he throws it up in the zone. He has deception with that fastball. It's a good vertical approach angle.

Also has a slider and a splitter, which seems like it's going to play well for Imanaga. The knock on him is that he does allow a lot of fly balls, could be prone to home runs. So when we get those, you know, warm days in Chicago and Wrigley or the wind's blowing out, you know, we could see some home runs pop out for Imenaga. But there is a lot to like about him.

I know Lance Brzezowski's really excited about him. he was excited even before Imanaga signed with the Cubs. But he, Imanaga is a player that I think is being slept on in redraft. And maybe the fact that he's 30 years old probably will get slept on in Dynasty as well. Yeah, no, 100% because I want to say like, I was giving you my ceiling on those players. I think there's a legitimate argument that taking them in the first two rounds,

the first 30 of a first year player, if you're in like a rebuild mode, I just don't think it makes a ton of sense. It's like, Imanaga is interesting because you could take him and trade him. I personally am not a big draft a guy knowing I'm going to trade them. And I know a lot of other people are. So if you want to play the upside game, that's where I would go. But, you know, there are guys in the second round that we haven't or we're not going to talk about that it's like at the end of the day,

you want to take a 30-year-old Cubs pitcher over like Bryce Eldridge, who's a two-way player for the Giants or a couple of the international guys or even like a Kevin McConagal with Detroit, who I'm really high on and a couple players will talk about. Like, I just think there's a lot of upside in the second round of first year player hitters that you could regret taking a 30-year-old pitcher over. So there also might be a little bit of context of like, where are you in your dynasty?

You know, if you're a massive rebuild team, I'm probably not looking at those guys and would move them down. But if I am playing for now, our league is really interesting, the Scott White League, 24 teams. Pitching is really tough.

I would not, I will not be shocked. when Imenaga goes top eight in our league because I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility because it's like everybody is looking for now production you want to compete. Pitchers are tough. But at the same end in a 2014 league,

you don't want to miss on that high upside future. If you're not competing at all, you would be much better set taking the Louders and the Noble Myers or even some of these other bats that are floating around the second round. All right. Just a quick recap of Scott's top 15 in his first year player draft rankings. Again, site. Wyatt Langford of the Texas Rangers, Yamamoto of the Dodgers, Dylan Cruz with the

Nationals, Paul Skeens with the Pirates, Walker Jenkins with the twins, Matt Shaw with the Cubs, Max Clark with the Tigers, Tommy Troy with the Debacks, Hurston Waldrop with the Braves, Junghu Lee with the Giants, Ret Louder with the Reds, Colt Emerson with the Mariners, Aidan Miller with the Phillies, Noble Meyer with the Marlins, and Kyle Teal with the Red Sox. Imanaga just behind that at 16. Scott has ranked, I believe it's 30. Yeah, 30 names on the site so you could find the rest of his rankings there. Welsh, let's transition over to the top international prospects.

I mentioned one name already. Your number one international signing, I think number one for most people. Leo DeVries, who is a Dominican shortstop who got $4.2 million from the San Diego Padres. He is 17 years old who models his game after Jose Ramirez, both are switch hitters. Leo de Vries, I mean at 17, he's listed at 6 foot 2, 180, so obviously that is a frame that is going to play long term. It's obviously so hard to project. I mean, these guys are like four or five years out from probably being in the majors. But talk to me about Leo DeVries and why it feels like there's more excitement about the international signings this year than maybe not last year because people are pretty excited about Ethan Solis.

But like the past five years, for example, it feels like there was kind of a lull in there in terms of international prospects. Yeah, I did an episode on this whole thing. So there's a couple things. I think it's interesting in what you said. Like, and I might be off here. I haven't had any necessarily pushback or anybody disagree with me on this. But like, okay, couple things. Up until last year, everybody on the planet was out on the J15 class because it kept

failing and not working. And Roderick Arias, he didn't work. And look at Poisson. And they just don't worry. It was Jason Dominguez and everybody. So coming into last year with Salas and Felman, everybody was a lot of, everybody was out. And this is a little me thing. But like everybody loved Felman. I loved Salis and I made a big case for Salas last year. And that ended up working out. And then we also got Sebastian Walcott.

So part one of why is everybody excited? Because we had hits. Ethan Solis jumping into the top 20. Sebastian Walcott was someone you got later. He boosted up. And we haven't even seen Felman. So confidence is back up. Look at this. We got these guys. Part two, two A and two B. I think these guys are solid. I think this is like a solid class of players. But I also think comps are running wild. And I think that is what might be getting people excited. There's a player we're going to talk about in a little bit that you note, and I'm not trying to give it away, but it's like, this guy comp to Julio Rodriguez. Well, something I noticed. It's like three or four players that everybody's like, this guy is like Julio Rodriguez. The comps are crazy. And my assessment, I did everything I possibly could. I don't

travel to the Dominican Republic, blah, blah, I do everything that everybody else does. I take what I know with baseball. I watch videos. I watch any video that you can, which is not a lot. And then I read all the reports that everybody else can report from the smart people that have done it. And I just got this sense

of everybody who was being comp to wild comp. This is like the Harold Reynolds thing. Everybody's Bo Jackson. This guy is modeling after Jose Ramirez. And this guy looks like Julio Rodriguez. And it made me think, I wonder if the assessment of a lot of these players is not great right now. If everybody doesn't have a really great feel, I personally, last year I walked away confident

as can be. I was like, Ethan Salas is the dude without question. I didn't walk away and be like, boy, this is the greatest class I've ever seen. But I see tons of upside. I just wonder if everything we have on these players tells us enough of a story to be hyper-aggressive. So that is kind of my little thesis behind all of these players. But there are some really, really interesting players in here. And DeVry's is at the tippy top from a overall body projection.

Alex Jensen did a great episode with James Anderson where they talked about it. And he kind of calmed him, be careful with Wander Franco. But like the best bat since they Wander Franco. And I see a lot of those things. But I just don't, I didn't see this insane upside. And I'm taking this approach where I was hyperaggressive. of last year. I think there's a lot of worthwhile guys.

I think the top five guys I'm in on. But I only put and talked about 10 guys in my most recent episode because I think there's so much we have to see. So I'm almost reverting back to a couple years ago where everyone was like, hey, don't worry about it so much. You get pick up these players later. They're way too risky.

I think there is a lot of risk because what you just said, everyone is super hyped up. This might be the best class in blah, blah, blah. Maybe. I don't know, but I don't feel as confident as I did before. and all the reports that are out there. And I see like a lot of similar things in video for a lot of these guys.

But DeVarize is uniquely, uniquely, the body projectable five tool player clearly looks like he has an explosive bat, which is kind of old school Wander Franco reminiscent. And he is the guy, I think, that is really worth taking the upside risk. I'm more risky with international players. I put him inside my top 100,

and he is also in the first round of my first year player, because you do make bets on this. And it is a consensus, consensus across the board that this is the guy from all of the really smart people, whether I question how much really solid information we have on all of these guys. This is clearly the guy. So I'm willing to take the risk on it. But boy, do I want to see these guys in person? And I will because I believe four of the top like five or six international guys are in Arizona.

And I'll report back there. But that doesn't help for first year player. But this is the guy that you invest in in Leo DeVries with the pod. Again, that name Leo DeVrys, if you're trying to figure out how do I spell this thing? First name, Leo, I think his full name is Leo Dulles. It's like L-E-O-D-A-L-I-S. And then it's D-E-S-E-S-E-S. So if you're looking for Leo DeVries, that is how you will spell out his name.

Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll talk about the rest of the Welsh's top five international prospects and some sleepers to know in first-year player drafts right after this. Welcome back in number one in the Welsh's top five international prospects, the aforementioned Leo DeVries. The rest of that top five includes Jose Perdomo, who got $5 million from the Atlanta Braves. We got, who am I missing here? Fernando Cruz, who got $4 million from the Cubs. Then we got, I don't know why.

Dwell Joseph. Dwell Joseph. Yeah, like my rundown is kind of all like formatted weird. Dewell Joseph, who got 3.3 million from the Mariners, and Adolfo Sanchez, who got nearly 3 million from the Mets. So again, let me recap that because it wasn't great. Jose Perdomo from the Braves, Fernando Cruz from the Cubs, De Well Joseph from the Mariners, and Adolfo Sanchez from the Mets.

Give me a quick runaround, maybe a fun factor too, or what you've seen from any of those four. So, Perdomo might be one of the safest, all-fields contact, just really good hitter, a little bit smaller. So I think the question is going to be like, where will the body end up like getting to and will he tap in to really advance power? But it's a very, very easy swinger, makes great contact.

He, to me, is kind of a floor player. So where DeVrize is number one, I don't mind too much further back in Pardoma because I think there's a little bit more safety in him. Fernando Cruz with the Cubs, he is the big play. There's a small part of me that watched him and was like, boy, this guy looks like he could be number one overall type of player. Incredible body.

Like, this is a guy that looks like he could get to like a Luis Robert type of range. He's not there obviously yet. But as Alex Jensen had noted, I really like this note he said on James's show, was that Fernando Cruz is one of those type of players that like he's a showcase monster. He knows how to show off every little facet of when he's in a showcase. So think of it from football terms of like pro days. Pro days players are put in the best position to succeed, throws they've done a million times.

Like that's what he's kind of alluding to. But Cruz definitely, I think has the biggest swings of like he could be a crazy big impact bat, but he also, because there are some strikeout swing and miss issues, it could kind of fall apart. Might even be Christian Hernandez light or, you know, massive major over Christian Hernandez like kind of like him in the future.

So I'm kind of. Both ways. I just think the bat's so explosive, it might be worth taking the risk. Dewell Joseph with Seattle might be a player that is a big riser. I mean, obviously the Mariners do such a great job. He's getting bigger and bigger.

He has massive power. They list him around 62175. He might be getting soon to push in 200, maybe 6 foot 3. Great athlete, but this is another one of those guys that had some swing and miss. I noticed in the swing, there's kind of a little like a wind up,

which to me that it's always a struggle with like, that windup is either going to have really bad, like high fastball velocity issues, or that wind up also might be something that is a precursor to really bad off speed stuff. But like physically, he's like really exciting and really impressive. And then Adolfo Sanchez is where I probably differ than some other people, don't have them in the top five. This is another safe guy. The Reds do a really good job with their international market.

They have for years. We're seeing a lot of those guys starting to pop around. And Sanchez, I think, is a great floor combo player. generates like really good power. He's not a free swinger. Swing is inside. Makes good decisions. I think he might even be a tad bit older than some of this class.

But that's just one of those guys that I think, I don't know where the stolen bases will go, but I think like he's just a really good hitter with better power projection than Prudomo, but Prado might be like the best hitter in the class. So that's my top five with one glaring name, at least in the market, not mentioned, which I know we're going to talk about. Yeah. So I believe that name is Paulino Santana, who is not in your top five. 17-year-old Dominican outfielder who is ranked second by MLB pipeline,

has received some of those Julio Rodriguez. Oh, yeah, no, I know. That was the first one. Everyone's like, he's like Julio. Yeah, so talk to me about Polino-Santana and maybe why you don't have him in your top five. He's number six. He's number six on mine. So just for everybody to know.

Yeah, I don't know enough about it. I didn't pull enough from the video to be like, oh, my God, he looks so much better than Fernando Cruz. maybe the bat isn't going to be as free swinging as Fernando Cruz or Duel Joseph. Maybe he's a better runner than I'm seeing. I mean, obviously, I don't think Dwell Joseph is going to be like a, I don't know if the speed is going to be insane in that spot or Fernando Cruz. There's five tool potential with him.

But he was also a little bit of a late riser as far as I've been told. He definitely jumped up, pipeline, put him at two. And I just don't think the comps help. I actually, if anything, I think it might have irked me a little bit because I didn't look at him And I was like, oh, yeah, that's Julio. I think the idea is of Julio is I think, I think he's done a really good job with like learning English like Julio did. He's power.

He speed. There's some contact in there. I think that might be where some of the comp is as well. I don't know if there's like as much of a physical projection where he's going to get there. But, you know, new Julio is in my brain more than old Julio, who was kind of a skinny kid at like 1718. So I just didn't see it as much as everybody else. And maybe I will be wrong. but this is what starts to happen is comps go around and we there's like four videos of Paulino Santana that exist.

And someone, we see a video and we're like, oh, yeah, this is the best guy. And then if we invest too high, then we're kicking ourselves. So I just that that's where I sit with him. I know he will be a popular one. Maybe I will be wrong. And the Rangers did bring Sebastian Walcott over to camp last year and then brought him up aggressive. Maybe I'll get to see him more. and maybe I'll get more reports.

But that was kind of my big thing. I don't want to pretend like I'm the international J15 expert because I'm not because I don't get to see them in person. I am beholden to like two or three reports that exist out there in three or four videos as everybody else is. So I think you just have to like really be cautious with these players, even though I can be a not cautious person. Polino Santana probably has more upside than Adolfo Sanchez.

I'm not sure if you can necessarily argue he has more upside than the rest of the guys, but maybe I'll eat my words and word like, what a, as cool as it was for me to get solace right the year before, maybe I'll be as stupid on not being as high on Polino Santana. You know, I realize I said that Adolfo Sanchez signed with the Mets, but it looks like he actually signed with the Reds. Yeah. So just wanted to correct that.

Adolfo Sanchez of the Reds, not of the New York Mets. Welsh, of these top five international prospects, I know you have Leo DeVries, rank at number 12 in your first year player draft rankings. Where do you have Jose Perdomo just among the grand rankings, the grand FYPD rankings? So I have him in the mid-20s in the second. So remember, I do 15 blocks. So he's in my second round block in the mid-20 sandwich.

You know, sandwich between like, you know, the Cole Carrig's, Ed Miller's higher, Dylan heads, stuff like that. But he's the only of the international guy. So it's like DeVrize's first round and Perdomo. always second round. All right, let's wrap up with some sleepers for those doing first year player drafts right now. These are names that, you know, maybe outside of the top two rounds, top three rounds. I mean, you can kind of tell me where you're looking to draft some of these guys,

but who are some sleepers for you? Okay, so I'll just kind of blow through a couple of them because I wanted to give you guys a couple. So some of my favorite sleepers, type heat we didn't talk about with the Mariners. The Mariners had three first round picks, Johnny Farmello, Cold Emerson, and Tai Pete. Tai Pete is the most physically impressive looking player. I think there's speed power combo there. So I have him in the second round. If we're talking,

I put him on this list because of the players we have not talked about. I love Cole Carrig, who the Rockies took. He was a catcher, drafted as a catcher, and then he played outfield out here. All he did was make contact, hit for some power.

One of the games, I was there to see Special Walcott, Carrig was there. He was able to hit a homer. I think he's a great five tool best. He's later in draft. Cooper Pratt is another player I've talked a lot about with the Milwaukee Brewers. All he does is hit every single time in a great draft class of Brewers had.

It was like Mike Bovie, Eric Batanti, him, and even Wilkin for a little bit. And Pratt let off every single time, got a hit every single game I saw him, could hit high velocity. He can run. He's just one of those dudes. I would try to get in every first year player. And I think there's a couple others without giving, you know, big breakdowns. Ralphie Velasquez with the Guardians I really like. Brandon Winneker with Minnesota.

I really like in Ty Floyd with the Reds. Those are all somewhere second, third, fourth round. Those are players I would be looking at in first year player. All right. And just to give an idea of where these players, their positions and where they play, Tai Pete and 18-year-old shortstop with the Mariners. Cooper Pratt, a 19-year-old shortstop with the Brewers.

Cole Carrig, I mean, choose your position, Wells, because I don't know what to do with that guy. He's 21 years old. He's in the Rockies organization. Hasn't he played like catcher? So outfield, like he did weeks. It's really weird. The first week he was here in Arizona, he played catcher.

Then he went and played like two weeks in the outfield. And then he started playing shortstop. So yeah, he's just like a super util guy. I have no idea where they're going to settle on him. But they also do that with multiple players. Sterling Thompson and the AFL, they did that with him in the AFL. They had a week of playing second base and a week of outfield. So they might just accept this versus.

subtility. If push comes to shove, I would make a bet that he's an outfielder, but you're right. Like, he played, he played so many different spots. I don't know what 2024 will be yet. All right. Well, I've got a sleeper here, Scott, uh, Scott, I'm so used to calling my co. Scott, you're not Scott. It's okay. It's okay. You're the Welsh. A sleeper that, look, I am an aggregator of aggregators. You know, I don't, I can't tell you much about these players, but this is someone I've heard you talk pretty excitingly about. This is someone who, you know, you've referenced that Roto Wire podcast with Alex Jensen and James Anderson, and they kind of talked glowingly about this player as well. So I can assure you, it's not a Homer thing. But George Lombard,

a high school shortstop who was drafted by the Yankees. Well, what do you have on George Lombard? Because I know some people are kind of excited about him as a sleeper. Yeah, you know, one of the thing, I actually saw him at that MLB draft combine and pretty physically impressive. I got like these like George Springer vibes, like early George Springer vibes for me. He's not listed as an outfield. There's a shortstop. I think he could end up being there. But pro debut was good.

He hit over 300. There wasn't much power projection there and a few stolen bases. But he walked more than he struck out. I think he can build into a George Springer like player. I think he could lead off as well. I think there's good power. He obviously showed a really good plate ability early on in his pro debut with not the batting average, but like walking more than striking out is such a big key. I think he's a

great bet. I'm, I don't know how aggressive everybody is on him, but I've got him inside my top 20, a first year player. So I'm, I'm with you on Lombard. He's definitely a guy in the second round I'm looking to get. And if he falls, which he might, because these are just ranks here, he might be a third round guy. He would, I would make that bet for sure. Yeah, I mean, it shows how much I know. I'm giving out sleepers that are going in the second round. Well, that's just my second round. I think a lot of people. Here's the tough thing about first year player, man, is so much has changed from like when the draft happened and people ranked to getting to see some performances. Like, you know, the Bryce Eldridge has moved up and, you know, Dylan Head has moved up.

Arjun Namala has moved up. The difference between number 18 and number 30, it literally can just be league preference. Or if these guys don't pay attention, who do they pay attention to? James, me, pipeline, baseball America? I mean, like, there are wild swings, I think, between like 18 and maybe even 40, where I say Lombard is a third round pick and he can go in, or a second round pick and he could go in the third. Or Cole Carrig is worth a second round pick and he goes in the fourth round. It's going to be league dependent. There's great depth in this first year player class that I think you can take advantage of a lot of stuff. I don't hate having quite a few mid-round picks just as a suggestion for you guys in Dynasty.

Obviously, I want the top end, but if you're not swimming in that pool in the top end, get a second and an extra second and third round and reap the benefits of players that I think have some real good potential to bump up. Last point on George Lombard. It's technically George Lombard Jr. His father actually played in the majors very briefly. He's currently the bench coach for the Detroit Tigers. So there are some bloodlines there. His father was an all-American running back too, so athleticism within the family.

And I kind of understand the George Springer comps. George Lombard looks like George Springer. Looks just like it. But also game, kind of like games. His face looks like him. Yeah. But yeah,

there's literally like the physical comp of like his face. But like there's the body, 6-3 getting closer to 200. Also some of the even skit like the game play. That was just the thing that popped out when I was watching. And then after you like you stop watching like stuff. And then you look, you're like,

That was what was sitting out there for me. Yeah, let's go. George Lombard, maybe the shortstop of the future for the New York Yankees. Who knows? We're going to 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'll be back again next week. Bye-bye.