Fantasy Baseball Today - Top Second Base Prospects & Arizona Fall League Updates! (11/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: November 1, 2023

The Welsh went to Game 3 of the World Series (3:37)! ... First Pitch Arizona is this week (9:13)! ... Let's jump into the top second base prospects, starting with Matt Shaw and Termarr Johnson (13:10). ... What should we expect from Tommy Troy (20:21)? ... Ronny Mauricio should make an impact in 2024 (25:09). ... What about Curtis Mead and Connor Norby (30:16)? ... Jace Jung has big power potential (35:00). ... Tyler Black and Ryan Bliss had huge, breakout 2023 seasons (37:44)! ... Any love for Thomas Saggese (45:42)? ... Which second basemen should we look to buy or sell in dynasty (49:52)? ... We wrap up with the latest from the Arizona Fall League (55:40). 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. Welcome into fantasy baseball today and welcome to November. Hope everybody had a fun Halloween.

I am Frank Sample, joined by Chris, the Welsh. Today on the show, take a look at the... top 10 second base prospects in Dynasty and the names you'll need to know for redraft leagues in 2024. We'll also talk Arizona Fall League, World Series thoughts, and get you updated on first pitch Arizona, which is this week. More on that a little bit later on. But first, Welsh, I do have a confession. Are you ready? I don't think I'm going to like it. I love November. I love the month of November. It's an awesome month. My birthday is in November. My brother's birthday is in November. We have Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday. You just eat and watch a

bunch of football. It's amazing. You get to see family. That's cool. And now we have this new tradition. First pitch, Arizona. I love it. I love all of it. Okay. No, I love it. I thought you were going to be like, I have this thing to tell you. Go Rangers. And I was like, ah, we're going to do this again. No. I'm, I'm good. I'm game with everything that you said here, Frank. I agree with every bit of it. I love, I live a tradition of seeing you in November. Yeah. Yeah. More, again, more on that in just a little bit. Welsh, you're obviously wearing your Arizona Diamondbacks hat, and I tease this on yesterday's podcast. You were out there at Game 3.

Obviously, the result is not what you wanted. And a little heads up. We're recording this a little bit earlier in the day, so we don't know what happened in Game 4, even though this podcast and video is coming out here on Wednesday, November 1st. But, you know, it really felt like just watching the game, Adoli Garcia throwing Christian Walker out at the plate, just like completely changed the momentum of the game.

Yeah, let me tell you, man. So there's a big push out here locally. Everybody wants Christian Walker to get going. Everybody has been like, come on, man, Christian Walker, let's go. There's a big chant for it going into the game. When he got up, it was one of the loudest I've ever heard. That almost homer, which I think they estimated 20 of 30 parks that double would have been a homer in. I have, there's only three times I have heard that stadium explode like that.

A couple years ago when I was at the opening day, Seth Beer walk off on National Beer Day, Homer, that was the most electric game I've ever been to. Later in the game with Rollo Pardomo was one of the loudest, most just energy electric. But when Christian Walker hit that, the stadium erupted. Everyone was buzzing. Oh, my gosh, here we go. We're going to start it off hot. Let's get going.

And then in an instant, and this is the problem with what happened with this game. This happened three or four times last night, two nights ago as you're listening, is you would have this moment of buzz and excitement. that was immediately deflated. And when he ran through, when he ran through that stop sign and Adolus, I saw the replay. The replay actually looked kind of close.

It wasn't remotely close watching it live in person. Because I have the vantage point. I was staring at Adolus and I could see the third. And I was like, he got him by a country mile. It was so big. And it was very, very deflating. And also just not even the strandedness, but not taking advantage.

They literally squandered every opportunity. That definitely, like if looking back on it, was the precursor of just deflating the energy from the Diamondbacks. Speaking of deflating, I mean, the Rangers suffered big injuries in that game, Adolias Garcia with the oblique and Max Scherzer with the back tightness. Again, well, by the time people are listening, you probably have more updates by now.

But what are your thoughts? I mean, I think, you know, Arizona can very clearly climb back in if there's no Adoles Garcia. I mean, listen, this game, We could be going in and, you know, had all things gone right, a two one diamond back lead into game four. If they really should have taken game two, that was a disgusting blow. They had opportunities last night, too. They, is as bad as they played.

I mean, I got to tell you, when, when Cory Seeger was up and Brandon fought through that pitch, I put my head down. I was like, I know that. Before it even hit, I'm like, I know this is going. It was the most no doubt Homer I've ever seen in person. It was unbelievable. Yet the Diamondbacks were still just lingering around. And that's kind of what they've been doing. They've got these close opportunities here and there.

I mean, they blew out the Dodgers, the Rangers in game two. Yet both wins for the Rangers have been relatively within reach for the Diamondback. So, you know, I think the momentum is with the Rangers right now. The injuries could step back a little bit. The Diamondbacks offense has to get going. It's within reach for them, but now they'd have to win it in Texas. and it's a really tall task. I don't know.

I want to be optimistic and say the Diamondbacks are going to win. I'm going to hold to that, but last night was pretty deflating. You know, my first, that was my first playoff game I've ever gone to, my first World Series I've ever gone to. I definitely walked out a little bit sadder.

Yeah, I don't blame you, man. I've been to a bunch of Yankees playoff games, have not been to a World Series game. We're kind of toying with the idea of going to one of these World Series games, but my gosh, they are so expensive. It's like,

as people are listening to this. I'm going, like, I'm probably going to see Frank. Like, as you're listening to it, this day, I'm going to be in person with Frank. And we'll talk about some of the other stuff. Yeah, we have been going back and forth about all the possibilities. The ticket prices did drop a little bit, Frank. I can tell you that. But there is the possibility of going, which, by the way, I said this on another show,

but can I tell you? So you know how we used to like get tickets? That was cool. You get your physical tickets. Now we don't. It's all digital. But there's kind of this uproar of like, I'd like to get, you know, memorabilia. Some people like to get them autographed or keep them.

I looked, it was $40. I know just this grand scheme, but $40 just to get a fake version of your own ticket that you purchased. I was like, what? I wanted my fake ticket. And they're like, oh, that'll be $40. I was like, holy God. It was crazy.

The amount of money you spend at the No Shocker at the World Series is, I was a sucker. I was buying this. I was buying that. Look at this thing. I got to show you this. This is the coolest thing I've ever purchased. the World Series. It is a lineup. I'm going to show it on camera. A lineup baseball. So it's got

World Series right there. And then it's got both the starting lineups of each team on the ball. That's awesome. I'm a sucker. But I'm just, I'm pointing out. I'm a sucker. And that's, they know World Series time is sucker time. And they're going to get you. And I got got and I haven't purchased that ticket yet. But just know, if you go to the World Series, it'll cost you an extra $40 to print out your extra fun piece of memorabilia, Frank. Hopefully they win. What's $40 on top of like $600 just to get in the door, right? Yeah, let me memorialize the game that we lost at and lost all the money too. Let's talk about first pitch to Arizona.

We've referenced it a few times already. It is this week. And we've talked about this a lot kind of leading up to this event. And I'll be out in Mesa, Arizona, with a bunch of other fantasy analysts, including the Welsh, from Wednesday, November 1st when you're listening to this to Monday, November 6th. So I'll be there all weekend. First Pitch, Arizona, fantasy baseball conference presented by Baseball HQ, which features panel discussions, live podcasts, way too early drafts, Arizona Fall League games, and the World Series. That's right. The World Series is going on in Arizona. Here's what you need to know about the Welsh and I what we'll be doing out there. If you are going to the event, we're doing a live fantasy baseball today podcast on Saturday, November 4th at 11 a.m. Arizona time. That will be streamed. on the fantasy baseball today YouTube channel at the same time.

So if you're East Coast, that's 2 p.m. Eastern Time. If anyone's around, you're doing nothing this Saturday. Feel free to come watch. It's going to be a ton of fun. What do we have planned? We're going to talk about tough players to rank in 2024. We have two trivia giveaways. More on that in a second.

And we will have a prospect from the Arizona Fall League joining us on the podcast. We will not reveal yet, just yet who it is. Stay tuned on social media. We'll reveal that information. but we're going to have a prospect there. We're doing giveaways, and we're talking about tough players to rank. What are the giveaways?

We have a signed Kyle Manzardo Baseball and a signed Corbyn Carroll photo, which comes from your boy, Sidsgrass, Sidsgrass.com. He has an eBay account as well, so shout out to him. Thank you for those. But man, if you want to flash us up on the screen, Welsh, and let us know a little bit more, Kyle Manzardo baseball, let's go. Yep, this is a sweet spot, Kyle Manzardo baseball right there. That's perfect. That's going to go to somebody.

And I mean, you want to talk about beauty. This bad boy is, this is an officially licensed MLB Corby and Carol photo that has got the gorgeous, like, kind of teal blue pink pin autograph of Corbyn Carol certified from SIDS graphs done in person. I was actually there when it was done. So I can certify it as well. And we are going to be giving both of those things away, courtesy of SIDS graphs, follow him on social as well on SIDS graphs.

Those are some pretty cool giveaways that are going to be two people in the live audience. So pretty sweet. So make sure to come hang out, watch us live. We'll have some kind of trivia questions about whichever players we're talking about. Again, that's this Saturday, November 4th at 11 a.m. If you're out in Arizona and if you want to watch us live on the YouTube channel, that'll be 2 p.m. Eastern time. Let's talk about second base prospects entering 2024.

I noticed we got some 2023 draftees up here at the top, Welsh. Your overall thoughts on the second base prospects entering next year. Yeah, I mean, I like the position in general. When you get into the middle infield, this is where this also gets tricky. It's easier if just for you guys processing. It's like, oh, what does this player qualify at at the site that you play on? But the problem is, is there are short stops that are going to get to second base. There are maybe even corner infielders that are going to move over to there.

I mean, position flexibility goes around, but there's just a lot of. really good guys that are at that second base spot from one guy who actually was a shortstop who made the majors and played more primary second base at the majors and in the minors. We've got a couple AFL guys that made the top 10 list here. I think there's lots of speed. I think there's lots of power. This is where things get more exciting from the betting on standpoint. And one of these guys has become one of my absolute favorite first year player guys that we're going to talk about.

And then the proximity list is actually way more interesting, I think, than what we did with like first base and catcher. Like now we're getting into the juice of the prospects, whether dynasty or proximity, that we're going to be wanting to invest in more. All right. Well, let's start with one of those names, Matt Shaw up at the top with the Chicago Cubs,

13th overall pick in this year's draft. That's right. He was just drafted in 2023. He's 21 years old. And he is one of those names that it looks like he'll have shortstop eligibility on CBS. But you are projecting a long time that he's going to be a second basement, right? Yes.

And I look. at this ahead of time. I knew this was going to come up because he did primarily play shortstop. He played 20 of his games at short, but he also played 10 at second base. So he could, I don't want to say he's not going to play shortstop. And I know MLB pipeline does qualify him at a shortstop. I put him at second base. That's a position I think he's going to play. Sometimes you're going to see that with me, but this isn't a situation where he didn't play second base at all. And I'm just guessing he just did play a little bit more shortstop. And that is very common. Any guy that can play shortstop, they're going to want to keep a shortstop for as long as possible in the minors,

even if we all kind of know that that guy's going to move off at some point. That was kind of like the Nick Gonzalez thing. So this is a little bit more projecting. And I know that doesn't help everybody here, but we just won't talk about him in the shortstop episode. We'll just make sure we focus on him here. And there is a lot to talk about. He played 38 games in the Cubs system after being drafted.

He got 15 of those in a AA. overall, Matt Shaw hit 3.57 with eight home runs, nine doubles, four triples, 15 steals, a 10-10 OPS. I mean, look at this resume. I know it's only 38 games. I don't want to fall for a small sample, but I mean, this guy looks like a legit five-category player in fantasy. Well, your thoughts? I do fall for some of the small sample, but I also paid attention to him in college.

And this was one of those guys in my pre-draft rankings. I fell in love with him. And it was funny because I fell in love with him and Tommy Troy. And I thought those and who the dimebacks took, who were two players that were kind of similar in some nature, both stealing bases. They got some power, maybe a little bit shorter. But I really fell in love with Matt Shaw. He was one of those guys that I had a lot of data from like 90th percentile, exit velocity, contact percentage, zone contact percentage on 92 plus mile hour, all that type of fun max EV. And Matt Shaw was one of those guys that absolutely pop from it.

And then you saw an incredibly dominating performance when he got to professional baseball getting up to AA. He's my number four on my first year player. Like that's how far. And I think if you didn't want to mess around with pitching, you could justify him at three for sure. He's stealing bases at a great clip. He showed big power, got to double A, big hard hit numbers. Also in 29 games in South Bend, he hit 360 against righties. He didn't have a ton of it bats against lefties, but he hit 500 in South Bend.

So, I mean, he is answered every single call. The bat speed's there, the barreling, the contact, the hard hit numbers, and he's running right now. Bumps might be in the road. And if you do look at the future of the Cubs, this is one of those funny instances where it's like Niko is probably their second basement. So he could be their shortstop. And then he would fall at shortstop. I don't know if maybe they would consider maybe Niko being the shortstop and readjusting that. It's all going to be about how they feel about his arm.

His arm's fine. pretty good defender. I think he's a great defender playing all around, but I just have felt that was going to be second base. But I love Matt Shaw, almost top, just right on the edge of a top 15 overall prospect, and he is four on my first year player.

He's a guy that I want to have all the shares of if possible. So it's interesting. The Cubs also have Danesby Swanson, who signed through 2029 and by all accounts. Yeah, Dan, that didn't even occur to me. You didn't even catch my brain when you said that. You're right. So I don't know, maybe Matt Shaw winds up at like third base.

Awesome. I think he played a little third base in the minors too. So it's going to be somewhere in the infield. And of course, what we care about most for fantasy is the offensive production. And right now, Matt Shaw looks like he's going to be an impact player from that perspective. The number two second baseman is Tamar Johnson

with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the fourth overall pick in last year's draft. He's just 19 years old. This season and the minors hit 244 with a 422 on base percentage. That is just one of the more interesting batting average OBP splits that I've seen. 18 home runs, 10 steals, and 860 OPS. That was across 105 games at single A and high A.

Obviously has a crazy good eye at the plate. But Wells, for you, how concerning is it that tomorrow was graded as a potential 60 hit tool, yet he has like a 25% strikeout rate so far in the minors? Yeah, so this is a tough one. This is kind of a me one. This is a me being stubborn one. I bet you, you ask a lot of other people,

it's not going to be him. It's not going to be him at number two. But this is me wanting to kind of stay true to some of the tools. I do believe it is light tower power. Obviously, when he can connect has kind of been more of the problem. This was one of the highest graded contact hitters coming out of high school, and that hasn't quite worked out. But he was able to pull together what was a really bad start. I mean, 244 doesn't look good on paper, of course,

but it was much worse, you know, early on. coming out of April. He had a pretty good May. And then it kind of tapered down in June. He hit 209, just really big, streaky stuff. Then he came back to hitting 260. He was able to finish the year hitting 346, which I love to see. I think there's, I really truly think there's 30 plus Homer Power.

If we can get over 270, the swing and miss is a problem. But it's just very, I think, early on in the stage of development that I think this can be worked on. I actually kind of thought he might be a candidate to come out here to the Fall League. but I think it's going to go full season, cut the strikeouts down, and then you probably see him here next year. Listen, if he has a worse strikeout issue next season, like if the batting average stays kind of inconsistent, but the strikeouts come down,

I'm going to feel all but more validated. If it's the opposite direction, you know, where it's like he's hitting a little bit more, batting average is going up, but his strikeouts are getting worse. I'm going to be really worried about that. I just tend to not like fall off of insanely talented players off of early struggles, but listen, like Jared Kelnick had these issues.

Robert Hassel is kind of an example of some of these issues as well. I'm just banking on some of the developmental changes we saw in season and him being able to pop into some streaks is going to be something he can carry into a full season. And if he does and he hits 275, 280 next year, he's going to hit 25 plus homers. He might push 30 next year and he's a double digit stolen base guy. So I love Tamar Johnson. another one of those shortstoppy second base players that I think he's listed. I'll take a look at his fielding real quick because he's listed as a shortstop on pipeline.

But this year, he played, yeah, I guess that's going to change. Yeah, because it was 87 games at second base. He only played five at shortstop. So that should change for all platforms this year. Yeah. Yeah. He, Terma Johnson will have second base eligibility on CBS entering 24. The same cannot be said for your number three second base prospect,

who is Tommy Troy from the Arizona Diamondbacks, 12th overall pick in this year's draft, just one pick ahead of Matt Shaw, who we just spoke about. Tommy Troy also 21 years old. He got 27 games in, 23 of those at high A, where Tommy Troy overall hit 271 with four homers, nine steals in 843 OPS.

I think this one is a little bit easier to project second base because obviously we're all expecting Jordan Lawler to be the shortstop of the future for the Diamondbacks, right? Well, funny enough, too, is like this is one of those instances where he only played shortstop this year. Again, I just want to point out, like, guys coming out of the draft, unless that arm is completely bad, like, the worst, or they've got, you know, developing short stops that these guys can't push. They're going to push these guys a shortstop early on, see what they have. So I'm not shocked about that all. But he's also listed as second base on MLB pipeline for, you know, baseball's prospect system.

him of MLB Pipeline. They list him as the second basement, though he didn't play there. But yeah, you hit it right on the head. It's like Jordan Lawler, even though he's not playing, he's on the World Series roster, he's not out there playing. They're doing anything they can to not play him. He is the future of this position, and they also have Perdomo.

Ketel Marte is a bigger question, of course, but, you know, Ketel's also played in the outfield in years prior. I just think they'll marinate on Tommy Troy a little bit. I do think second base is his future. He's a bigger, stockier guy, too, listed at 5-10. I wouldn't be surprised If he's 2-10, he's very muscular, kind of has that, like, I don't know.

I don't want to say Dan Ugla and make you think it's Dan Ugla. But, you know, just Dan Ugles like a little bit shorter. But this is like he's thinner, more muscular, and maybe that's just an in-person thing. The power didn't pop off, but he did steal some bases. I think he suffered from an injury. He's still working defensive. He's working with Orlando Hudson. But, again, this is another one of those guys that Diamondbacks, they went out of their way to have a very analytically driven draft this past year.

They probably, I actually talked to Corby Carroll about it. it when I saw him with Sid's Graffs earlier that he acknowledged that they were purposely going after players that had higher contact rates above 90, had higher max EVs. And that was Gino Grover. That was Jack Hurley. And Tommy Troy was one of those players that jumped off of the list of high contact rates, low swing and miss rates, max EV and like the 1 18s instead of 115's or something like that.

So, you know, they think they can get the right traits into a player that already has. has a great baseline. And we love these. Diamondbacks have been more analytically driven. We love players like that. And I think they can optimize Tommy Troy. So maybe he's not counting stat is exciting as Matt Shaw. But I definitely think there's like a 2020.

I mean, there's a lot of guys that are 2020, I guess, at this point. But 2020 in the middle infield will take and, you know, let them run. Let him run with the Diamondbacks. So you mentioned you have Matt Shaw fourth in your first year player draft rankings. Where do you have Tommy Troy? I have Tommy Troy at seven. Yeah, I've got him at seven right now. All right.

So it seems like pretty big upside for both of those guys. Let's take our first break. When we return, we'll get the Welsh's thoughts on Ronnie Maricio here on Fantasy Baseball today. Welcome back in. Let's quickly recap the Welsh's top three second base prospects entering 2024. We have Matt Shaw with the Cubs, Tarrmar Johnson with the Pirates, Tommy Troy with the D-backs. Number four is Ronnie Maricio with the Mets, who Scott and I spoke about on yesterday's podcast. He did get 26 games in with the Mets as a 22-year-old.

He hit 248 with two homers, seven steals, and posted some big exit velocities. 117.3 max exit velocity. That was the hardest hit baseball by a Mets player over the past two seasons. Not just this year with someone named Pete Alonzo, who's one of the best sluggers in the game. Over the past two years,

the hardest hit ball is held by Ronnie Maricio in the Mets organization. In the minors, 20 plus homero, 20 plus deals lowered the strikeout rate down to 18.2%. Welles, are you buying in on these improvements Ronnie and Mauricio made this year? And do you like him as a sleeper for next year? Yeah, there's a lot to like about Ronnie Maricio. It's funny.

I had lots of different conversations about him during the season with like Jeff Pons from baseball America. Like how much do we really believe in the hit tool? The strikeouts can be a concern. I'd be fine. If someone wanted to be like, hey, listen, Ronnie Maricio should be the number two guy here. I mean, I wouldn't completely disagree at number one. But they wanted to say, hey, it's number two. Tamar has a lot to prove. Tommy Troop. Cool. I don't disagree because he's

going to be at the majors. You know, that's a big positive. But I think if you're talking like long term, my ultimate concerns are like the higher strikeout rates. They definitely, he didn't post 5% barrel rate. And a small sample size under 40% hard hit, but it was an almost 30% K rate. I don't really love that. Not a big walker. But he was able to put up a pretty categorically great year. in almost having a 25-25. Ronnie Maricio used to be a higher contact player, like when he was like 19 years old and a smaller player. It was like, oh, will he develop power?

Then he did the turn where the batting average seemed to start to go by the wayside, and then he ended up becoming more of a big power threat, putting up some huge EVs. Max EVs mask inefficiencies, sometimes, not always, but they can mask some inefficiencies. So he's got a lot of upside because he can steal bases if the Mets let him. and that max EV might go from, hey, you're a struggling 220 hitter

to getting a few more balls going your way and hit in 240. And by that standard, he can become very fantasy relevant. So if you care more about proximity, he could be the number two guy here. I think there's going to be a little bit more swing and miss issues this coming year,

which we'll see how we adjust. Maybe he adjust phenomenally. I don't expect some crazy, like, sub 20% turnaround. So I think that's going to hold him back maybe from ever hitting high in the lineup. But anywhere from two to four, for two to five on a prospect list, I think is where he belongs.

All right. Number five, second base prospect is Carlos Jorge with the Reds. He is 20 years old. This season in the minors hit 282 with 12 homers, 32 steals, and an 838 OPS between single A and high A. Massive walk rates here leading up to high A where Carlos Jorge did struggle there. I think it was like 20 games, something like that. So not a huge sample. Posted a 32% strikeout rate at high A. I've seen some concerns over the power too.

He's like kind of a smaller dude at 5 foot 10. Well, your thoughts here on Carlos Jorge. Yeah, I mean, he's a jack for his size. But yeah, he's definitely a little bit smaller.

And like, you could look and be like, what about Tamar? Like, tomorrow is a much thicker home run approach who has tapped into big hard hit numbers. Jorge is not that. That is the worry.

You know, maybe the he had 12 homers this, um, this past year in like 10, nine games. Maybe he is a 10 to 15 homer guy and he's a 30 plus stolen base player. Maybe the ceiling is Nico Horner. You know, maybe that's kind of the ceiling for him ultimately. There's definitely more of a downside. There's a lot of positional stoppage in front of him with this team. So this is one of those guys that the road might take a lot longer. He's actually playing

in Lightham right now in Dominican Winter League, which I haven't checked in on. I got to check in and see how he's doing because I always love that transition from in season, which he missed some time due to injury, getting to play in a very hyper-competitive spot in the Dominican Winter League, and then coming back over. But he's still a high A guy. He's probably going to play most of the year at AA. He's still a bit of a ways away.

But I guess I'm banking on him being a 1530 player. And I think he's really answered a lot of questions. Where there's other Reds players like Cam Collier, who's a bigger name prospect, really has struggled. He just continuously struggled. And that was a guy that from a talent perspective, you would want to physically bet on. But I've seen Jorge a couple times in person.

I've liked what I've seen. The body didn't stand out as something that was going to completely keep me off of them. I think something that could eventually help Carlos Jorge is the fact that he did play 18 games in center field as well. He has second base eligibility on CBS, but eventually when he's trying to earn a job with the Reds, maybe the fact that he could play the outfield will help with some versatility.

Obviously, they have a ton of awesome infield prospects with Matt McLean and L.E. Cruz and Noelvie Marte. So outfield might be the path long term there for Carlos Jorge. The next two, number six and seven in your second base rankings, I'm going to kind of group these two together.

Curtis Mead with the Tampa Bay raise, 23 years old. He got 24 games in with Tampa Bay this year, where he hit 253 with one home run and a 675 OPS in classic Tampa Bay Bay fashion. They basically only played him against left-handed pitching, so how is this guy going to learn? I don't know. It's Tampa Bay.

And then number seven is Connor Norby with the Baltimore Orioles, a former second round pick from 2021. He is also 23 years old. He hit 290 with 21 homers, 10 seals in 842 OPS. Both the power and speed took a step back here. And the Orioles, I mean, much like the Reds, they are loaded. They have so many prospects that are either currently being called up, on the verge of being called up.

I don't know where all these guys are going to play. But Welsh, your thoughts on Curtis Mead and Connor, be potentially making an impact in 2024. Yeah, I mean, this is another one of those. I just want to throw out like, if someone wants to be like, well, Mead is in the majors and Jorge could be two more years. Okay, then you could do it. I just was never quite as big on Curtis Mead as everybody else.

You saw some pretty low barrel numbers in, you know, short-ish sample size in the majors. Hard hit was not even 23% this past year. I just always worried that he was going to hit for good contact. and he would be like a fine counting stats guy. He wasn't going to be a Luis Rise, but there's like Jeff McNeil or something like that. And I don't, I don't like get jacked up about Jeff McNeil.

So that's like I didn't, I didn't get jacked up about Curtis Mead in that instance. And I kind of still think he's that type of guy. Like I'd be surprised if he was able to max out past 20 on both homers and stolen bases in a season. It could go either way. I tend to think he's probably going to be like a 15, 15 guy. if he hits for high average, he might be a cool number two, and he's going to score some runs.

Maybe he steals more and the powers go down. I just never been the biggest Curtis Mead guy, and the short sample size of the majors didn't like do anything to help me because, like I said, low barrel, low hard hit. Conan Norby, I did get kind of excited for for a bit. I do love the power numbers. He can steal some bases. Batting average went up, but everything kind of came back down. But he's like halted.

What I didn't love is Roto Wire's hard hit strength. He did kind of register in the red around 25%. which I want to say from year, let me look in 2020. I think I can actually look at that. But in 2020, no, I can't. 2022, I want to say it was in like the 31. So you had a dip in overall counting stats.

You had the hard hit go down and you're kind of blocked at the major league level. But I'd like him from probably an offensive five-by-five category standpoint, maybe even a little bit more than Mead, but I think Mead's a better hitter. So it's kind of a balance between those two. They're kind of clumped together. You care about proximity, move these guys up a little

bit, but if I'm looking over the like the long stretch, I just think Carlos Jorge speaks more to fantasy than maybe Meadwell. Norby, I don't know, Norby might deserve to go a little bit higher. This is kind of like a tier with those three guys. Connor Norby, by the way, I mentioned where is he going to play? Because the Orioles have all these players, uh, he did get 27 games in and left field. So again, that's the versatility helps. It helps with, you know, the possibility of getting that call. So whether it's second base or somewhere in a corner outfield spot. You know,

that could be the path here for Kahn of Norby in 2024. One thing to add, like, and I don't mean to make more about anything, but like I would have felt he was an option to like be close to breaking camp with that team in left field,

how they send him to the AFL. Because I would make sense, hey, here's more time to play in the outfield. They did that with Heston Kirsta. They didn't do that here. They brought out Billy Cook and T.T. Bowen.

Like those are the players that they brought out here. T.T. Bowen's a first baseman. Billy Cook, I think it plays in the outfield. And those, they might be more rule five guys. So like, why didn't they bring him out here to play more outfield? Are they that comfortable with him? Or do they just not view him as an option there early on?

Or maybe he's a trade piece. You know, you kind of mentioned it. Like, what are the Orioles going to do? Like, the Orioles only have so many players. You need to start capitalizing on maybe moving some stuff. He might be a trade piece, which makes him even more intriguing if he goes to a spot where he can just start playing from day one. Yeah, I mean, if it's not Connor Norby, they could look to move some of their other guys.

again, they have so many other prospects. Guys we haven't even talked about, right? Like Kobe Mayo and, you know, obviously Jordan Westberg got some play in last year too, but I still think, man, if they can move one of these big names for like a second or third starter, that makes a ton of sense for Baltimore right now. So I think that's probably the route that they'll go down. But as of now, it's a pretty crowded team there out there in Baltimore.

The number eight second base prospect is Jace Young. Sound familiar? That's right. He is Josh Young's brother. Jace Young plays for the Detroit Tigers, a first round pick in 2022. He's 23 years old. This season in the minors hit 2.65 with 28 home runs and an 878 OPS. Got 47 games in at AA and actually got quite a bit better, going from high A to double A,

which is a good sign for Jace Young. I know he's played out in the Arizona Fall League. The numbers are not really jumping off the page there. Welsh, what do you think we're going to get here from Jace Young? Yeah, by the way, I mean, it's after the fact, but Jace told a friend of mine that he's going to the game tonight on Halloween. So I hope he had the worst time that he could possibly have and that he's wiping up the tears of his brother, hopefully. You know, Jase is super interesting. I'm just not in love with him.

You know what I hate the most? And I bet a lot of, like, people that critically look at him, I just hate a swing. I hate the, he's got his hand back. It's a very, like, the bat is backwards, like to the side. And he has a very, um, holds a. like an iron almost. You know how like you would just like that? It's a very odd hold that I just like I know he hit 28 homers.

Yeah, 28 homers this past year. It just doesn't feel like it's going to be that. I think he could be tired out here. I don't see him making great swings on pitches. High velocity seems like. I don't know, maybe the swing might be optimized in a way that works best for him to be able to get the bat in the path quickest. I just don't know if the raw power is really truly there.

I did see him run a bit more. He actually stole second and then third on Kevin Parada. He like aggressively did it the other day. And then he had three stolen bases in one game. And he only had five during the entire season. So maybe he's running a little bit more. He's a little bit more slight a body than his brother. I like Josh Young quite a bit more.

That's why I didn't move J-Sup. I've just not in love with some of the mechanics, not in love with some of the approach. I kind of think from a fantasy perspective, he's an average player. And I'll eat those words. If he really is a 28 plus home run guy, okay, I'm wrong. I just don't quite see it.

But he had a huge hot streak towards the end of the year. I want to say it was like 10 homers or something in that final month. So maybe it'll keep getting adjusted. There's a lot of bloodlines there, but I'm just not in love with J.S. Young. And you know what does not help Jays Young is the fact that if he makes it to the majors with the Tigers, it is a terrible ballpark for home run power. We've seen that with Spencer Torkelson,

even though he just had a 30 home run season. You know, basically if he played anywhere else, he would be like a 35, 40 home run hitter. So that's something that also kind of, I think maybe long term puts a cap on the upside for Jayce Young playing in Comerica Park. Number nine and 10, in the second base prospect rankings,

we see Tyler Black with the Brewers and Ryan Bliss with the Mariners. Now I'm going to put these two together because they're both 23 years old and seemingly had breakout seasons here in 2023. Tyler Black with the Brewers hit 284, with 18 home runs, 55 steals, and 930 OPS. This dude walks a ton.

He actually had more walks than strikeouts at AAA. So he's a little bit older, you know, 23 years old, just kind of getting to AAA. But man, he dominated at every level last year. And then Ryan Bliss, who is a former second round pick with your Diamondbacks Welsh, came over to the Mariners in the Paul Seawald trade. This year in the miners hit 304, 23 homers,

55 steals. So kind of similar in terms of production, right? Like decent power, big speed numbers from both of these guys. How much are you buying the breakout seasons for both Tyler Black and Ryan Bliss? You know, it's interesting. I'm not as high on either one of these guys as I thought I would be. Tyler Black was here last year. And Tyler Black put up a video game season.

So what I'm dealing with a little bit is I didn't love Tyler Black when I saw him in the AFL. Seemed very average player. But this year, I mean, 55 stolen bases. The 88 walks is absurd. 18 homers for an 100 plus difference between batting average and OBP and having a 400 plus OBP.

Like, what are we talking about here? It's ridiculous. I'm just not like, I just don't know if I can go fully in just because I never was impressed with like the bat speed, but also this is after that. This is after the fact. And it looked like,

like his path in decision making was exponentially better than it ever was. And he registered pretty well hard hit was just under 30%, which is the good green marker hard hit strength. Ryan Bliss, not so much in the 25s. And the thing that stood out to me, he definitely is a problem to get out. Contact all the time, absolute doubles hitter. He's a monster if he hits something dribbly on the infield

because he is so fast. I just haven't seen the power at all. And he had like 23 homers this past year. I haven't seen a lick of that power out here in the Arizona Fall League. that could be due to maybe like, you know, just the rigors of an entire season and just getting tired and stuff like that. But I don't, both of these guys could justify from what they did last year being way higher. Here's the one thing that I hold that I kind of like on both is they both, I think, could break camp with their teams. And that's what I kept staring.

I actually wanted to like move them. But I was looking, I was like, is Bryce Terrang going to hold back Tyler Black? Is, God, who I'm forgetting completely who it was. second base with the Mariners right now. It was, it's nobody. It's like nobody. I don't even remember who it is. I was just like Ryan Bliss can absolutely take this job.

Who is it, Frank? Who is the second baseman they even have listed right now? I'm pulling up the Rosser Resource page right now because you kind of caught me off guard too. I know. I caught myself off. Josh Rojas isn't going to hold back Ryan Bliss if he's doing really well. He's Rojas at play. But my point was like both of those guys from a proximity perspective, they're kind of close.

They're both kind of close. And Ryan Bliss, I think Ryan Bliss, I think Ryan Bliss steals more bases than Tyler Black does. But if Tyler Black's ability to barrel is real, there is true power. I think there's room for 20 power. He might be a 20-30 guy. And Milwaukee's a pretty decent place to hit. I think it's more likely that Bliss is a guy that could steal 40, 50 bases and only hits 10 to 15 homers.

You know what? So Ryan Bliss might, the closest comp to him might be like the Nico Horner I talked about. you know, 90 plus runs, 9 to 15 homers, 40 plus stolen bases. Bliss will hit for average. I feel very confident about that, but he's got to be hitting two for a lineup. So I think he can be a three, solid three category player. Tyler Black's upside is probably a five tool player. I think the downside is just an average, you know, three tool player.

So I don't know. I feel like there's a floor with Ryan Bliss that's not there with Black, but his ceiling is. through the roof. Yeah, and I've got to mention this because I know I would be doing Scott White a disservice because he's not here on this podcast, so I got to bring it up. Curtis Meade, who we spoke about earlier, he actually has third base eligibility on CBS. He's probably going to bounce around. That's what the Tampa Bay Rays do. Tyler Black is actually going to have also third base eligibility on CBS. He played most of, not the most, but he played more games at third base than any other

position in the minors last year, which got me thinking. The Brewer's current third baseman, according to roster resource, is Andrew Monasterio. No offense to Andrew Monasterio. But there's a real chance that if the Brewers want Tyler Black up sooner rather than later, they can make that happen very easily here. So as a left-handed hitter with power and speed, they're calling up some of their other prospects at the same time. You know, we saw the South Freelix last year, Bryce Terang, Joey Weamer, those guys. Yeah, I think there's a chance that we could see a lot of times.

Tyler Black with the Brewers organization as soon as 2024. And in that ballpark, that's pretty fun, man. Yeah, and just another thing to reiterate is exactly what we just, you'd mention. Like, Tyler Black was pretty firmly a second baseman last year, played it in the AFL and plays more primary third base. Short stops, second baseman, they move around. Short stops specifically can be the most move aroundee. But between third, short, and second, there's a lot of fluidness between prospects. So I personally do not get hung up in the world of being like,

as I've had people hit me up before and be like, oh, well, you know, I got a little short stops. Would you trade this guy to get this second base? No, I don't, because these guys will, they will change. So I don't get too caught up in that stuff. Knowing where these guys can play, I think is more important than where they do play because these things will change. There's a likelihood, Jordan Lawler as a shortstop and the Diamondbacks doesn't even play there.

You know, third base has been an issue. Next year, Evan Longer, doesn't seem long for this team. How do you get Prodomo and Cotel Marte out of the lineup? You don't. And so what do you do? You have Jordan Lawler work at third base throughout the entire offseason be a third baseman.

So it's fluid to be more focused on where they can play than where they are. But I do understand like position eligibility on sites is important for people to at least know where they're going to be slotting guys. Yeah, for what it's worth. I mean, on Tyler Black's minor league baseball profile page, he's listed as a second baseman. But if you look at,

his games played by position last year was 97 at 3rd base, 16 at first base, 10 at DH. He didn't even play a game at second base last year in the minors, which is just crazy. But maybe that also helps his chances with the Brewers, is that kind of versatility, where he can bounce around and play wherever they need him. So again, recapping the top 10 second base prospects up at the top, Matt Shaw with the Cubs, Tremar Johnson with the Pirates, Tommy Troy with the D-backs, Ronnie Maricio with the Mets, Carlos Jorge with the Reds, Curtis Mead, with the Rays, Connor Norby with the Orioles,

Jace Young with the Tigers, Tyler Black, with the Brewers, and Ryan Bliss with the Mariners. Among the names that we talked about, the proximity prospects, the ones you need to know, that could impact 2024. Obviously, Ronnie Maricio is up at the top.

His early 80P over at the NFBC, five drafts have been done, 250.2. So, that's kind of like, you're probably drafting Ronnie Maricio as a starting middle infielder at that point in draft. So keep that in mind. Curtis Mead, his early ADP is 391.2, followed by Connor Norby, Matt Shaw, and then both Tyler Black and Ryan Bliss.

I think Tyler Black is actually like in the 400s. So if you do those like draft champions or any type of early draft and hold league, Tyler Black is a name that you might actually want to look at. Real quick, well, so I wanted to ask you about one more name that you did not have listed. So I'm kind of throwing you a curveball here. But Thomas Sejisi, who was traded from the Cardinals, traded to the Cardinals, rather, in the Jordan Montgomery trade. He came from the Texas Rangers. The dude just mashed everywhere he was last year. Every level, any team, it did not matter. Do you have any hope in Thomas Sejisi? Was he close to being in this top 10?

Yeah. So I haven't listened to as a shortstop. So that's the only reason here. I did look. He played shortstop, but his primary this past year, what ended up being second base. I haven't gone through and done all my positional changes. I also,

I tend to kind of stick with the natural position unless it has a firmly change, but it did kind of firmly change. They also played him at third. Here's the thing with the Cardinals, which makes that more interesting. Cardinals love guys to be able to move around. So that position,

he's very likely to be a guy that will have multi-position eligibility. He did play a decent amount of, I think third base as well. I think Jay, is a legit dude. Now, you look at the, blockage in front of him though. And if you've got the Edmonds and the Gormons,

like I think that could make it a little bit tougher, but he's on the precipice. So I mean, if I did slot him in here, I would have had him right under Mauricio. And I think I had Maricio at what, four. So he would have been five if I had just designated him as a second basement. And, you know, if you're talking about proximity, I would have probably put, I probably would have put him right under Maricio as well, just because I think he's like right there. You know, maybe, I think I had, what, Maricio at one? Yeah, proximity. Yep.

Maybe I would have had him at three, just knowing like, we know Mead is going to, like, be up there. So I would have had him between two and three. Love Thomas and J.C. I think he led minor leagues and hits this past year. He can steal, makes a ton of contact, hit over 300. And the power output was one of the biggest surprises that you could have possibly imagined. So I love the Cardinals organization for developing him. I think they'd let him run a little bit more.

and it's, I know I say a lot and it's kind of like a tropey, but like 2020, man, like he's a 2020 guy with a ton of batting average. And if he, you know what? If he broke camp, I think he would be deserved to be one of those quiet conversation pieces for a rookie of the year next year. I think Evan Carter is like the guy that we're all going to be hyper focused on. But if C.J.C. was up the entire year, I wouldn't discount. I might throw a little NL bid on a guy like him because I think the way the Cardinals would use him.

and if he could hit higher in the lineup, I think he'd be a dude, man. Yeah, he kind of gives me like Matt McLean vibes a little bit, right? Thomas C.C., like smaller dude, but he packs a punch. This past season hit 306, 26 homers, 101 runs, 111 RBI, 12 steals, a 904 OPS, did it at every level, got 13 games in at AAA. We could talk about him more on, you know,

shortstop top prospects, but Thomas Sejisi, definitely a name that you need to know heading into 2024 as well. Let's take our final break. When we return, we'll do some dynasty trade targets for the second base position. And some Arizona Fall League updates. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Let's get into some dynasty trade targets at the second base position. And first up, Welsh, a second basement to buy. We were kind of, you and I were talking off air about there's some really interesting names out there. The guy that jumped out to me as a player that I think I'd want to buy.

And it really helped. I think once you gave me the. the early NFBC data where he was going outside the top 100. A buy I'm looking at is Bryson Stott this offseason. Stealing 31 bases this past year, 15 homers, 150 games, would have loved the run total to be a little bit better, solid playoff run hitting five. We're really oddly how they were constructing their lineup where Bone was hitting four. And sometimes you would see Stott, I think, between five and six.

Maybe Remuto was at five. You know, decent RBI spot. And I've always loved Bryson Stott. I love the batting average being up there. I love the lack of strikeouts, 15% this past year. That was like a super welcome surprise. That he looks like a cheaper Nico Horner version of someone I'm going to talk about here in a second where didn't we say that there was like a 30?

Where did you say Nico was compared to Bryson Stott on NFPC? I think he's going like 30, 35 picks higher. Yeah, I think that's so. I mean, that's relatively significant. I love the offense for Stott. I think he could hit higher in the lineup going into the season with the lack of strikeouts and the contact that he made too. So I'm a big Bryson-Stott guy.

And I would love for the power numbers to pop a little bit more. I would love for the hard hit numbers to come up a little bit more. I'd love for the barrel to come up because he doesn't necessarily register in some of those things that I really get hyper-focused on. But hit 280, expected batting average around 267, which is still really good, fully optimized everything that you could get out of him. so I suppose you could also see some potential downside, but we're talking 1530 outside the top 100.

To me, that's a buy. So I'm going to buy Embrace and stop. I don't have a great name here that I'm looking to buy, but somebody I am pretty excited about some of the things you said during today's show. I was like, uh, maybe I, I don't know, kind of made me a little bit more queasy to do it. But Ronnie Maricio, I'm just enamored with like the max EVs coupled with the potential for speed here. So I think there's a 2020 bat, uh, you know, 2020 player in there.

Does he wind up hitting like 240, 250? That's probably the most realistic outcome here. But I don't want to sell him short. He's obviously still super young. I think he's loaded with upside. So I don't want to spend too much to get him if someone has him who's like in love with Ronnie Maricio or they're a Mets fan. It's like, okay, don't kind of like go out of your way.

But, you know, if you can get him out of fair value, I'd be looking to buy on Ronnie Maricio. Welsh, a second baseman you were looking to sell in Dynasty. I didn't love doing this, but just kind of thinking about the cost, Nico Horner, who we just talked about. Nico stole all the bases this past year. So I hate to take credit away from that. 98 runs, big power numbers, not there.

RBI, not there. But one of the things you take a look at and you and I were talking about is like, look at the offense that's going to be potentially surrounded this Cubs team. I don't feel super optimistic about the guys that are going to be hitting him in. And I think he was very, very stolen base and run-centric. I mean, really without that, he's an incredibly average player.

So if you still get the stolen base, that's great. But if those runs come down into the 80s, you're taking quite a bit off. He's an absolute nothing burger on power. Put it up a 100 ISO this past year, which I know, it's not like Bryson Stott was,

you know, breaking the mold or anything like that, but, you know, he had touched 200s in the minor leagues. I just, I think it's, we're devoid of power with Nico Horner, and I think it's very,

very stolen base run-centric, where I just don't, I think there's the potential, Bryson Stott could be a 20-homer guy, and the stolen bases can come down, and he's being put in situations where he can have more RBI. And if we're talking about a 30 to 40 spot difference in just NFBC drafts, not even talking about Dynasty, I don't know.

I think we're in an era of overrating stolen bases potentially by a pretty wide margin. And I don't think like a 100 ISO 40 stolen base guy, even though like great season, I want to take away from it, if I can maximize that, I think I'd be looking to sell off of Niko Horner. Plus, there is an expected batting average difference. It gets him down into like the 270s. I think it was 272. Expected slug quite a bit worse than his actual. So it's like the expected numbers tell a worse story with the bat.

And he needs to get absolutely everything out of what he is currently outputting. Yeah, I like that call a lot too. No offense to Cubs fans out there. But I think there's a chance this Cubs lineup takes a step back as well, which would hurt the counting stats for Nico Horner. And then what are we looking at? A good batting average. And look, maybe he hits like 280 again.

That is a good batting average, no doubt about it. But it's not like it's like 330 or like three, you know, something like that over 300. That's like winning you the category. It's not like that. And I think there's a chance those counting stats come down. The speed should obviously be great once again for Nico Horner. The dynasty cell for me is actually Marcus Semy. He's getting up there in age.

He's 33, 34 years old. And even if he has another great season next year, I won't feel. bad if I sold off on him as long as I'm getting completely fair value for Marcus Semyon. I'd rather be one year early rather than one year late. He's one of these guys who is a volume play. So at some point, if he doesn't get as much volume, if he happens to miss some games, I think that's going to affect the counting stats. He's not someone who puts up like big exit velocities or stat cast numbers either. He is a fine player. He is a great redraft player. But in Dynasty, I'd be looking to get out now on Marcus Semen if I could.

Sell him today. Sell him right now. World Series. Get them out of there. Right before the World Series game. Just get them out of the World Series is what I'm saying. Let's make them go away. Let's wrap up with some Arizona Fall League updates and no surprise. We've already talked about this name once before, but we've seen, especially last year, even the year before that. I feel like there are names that get off to these hot starts at the Arizona Fall League, but they don't keep it up, right? Eventually they kind of slow down a little bit. Jacob Marcy, Outfield Prospect with the Padres, has not slowed down. In fact, he's actually gotten better as of Halloween when we're

we're recording this, he is batting 420 with four home runs, 14 steals, a 1287 OPS, which now leads the Arizona Fall League. He also has 17 walks in 86 plate appearances. Well, also I know a couple of weeks ago you gave us your thoughts on Jacob Marcy, but I think this is something that's only further reinforcing that, maybe giving the Padre some more confidence that we could potentially see Marcy in San Diego at some point in 2024. That's what I, that's what I said, I think, early on a couple weeks ago. I think that seemed unrealistic, but like, listen, not only does he lead in OPS,

he leads in hits, he leads in doubles, he leads in stolen bases. He has the second most walks out here. He's a monster. And one of the drags on him, I think, was like lower minor league, um, average exit velocities and stuff like that.

I just kind of take that is one of the things I love about him most is he can punch it to all fields as a lefty. And he continues to hit off a I had this video. I didn't know if you're going to play any of them, but this really weird thing, Daniel Lynch with the Royals just randomly got added to the AFL. That's what happens sometimes. Just out of nowhere for one start, Daniel Lynch, lefty, he comes in and Jacob Marcy took him deep. And that was another, that's like the least the second. I think I've seen he had a double.

I think I've seen three of Marcy's four homer so far. And I think, I think all three actually that I've seen have all been off of lefties. So that is lefty on lefty crime. He can and punch it to all fields. He is the best base dealer out here. He feels, he seems very comfortable. Athletically, he's got a major league body right now. He's not looking to develop more into it. He makes good decisions.

He's not striking out a ton. He's walking. I mean, he's doing everything. So maybe they've created the ultimate sell high that they could ever have at the Padres. They love to trade prospects and stuff. But if you are looking at this team unloading maybe some major league talent, I just don't think it's out of, out of sight to say that he couldn't make the major. him and Trent Grisham,

I don't know, man. I don't know if Marcy's that far off from being a guy that could replace a guy like Trent Grisham, and I think he can put up bigger counting stats overall. So from a fantasy perspective, the problem is like everybody's going to be buzzing about him and if he does something this weekend,

everyone's going to get more excited. He is a very popular postseason AFL prospect. If people are not paying attention, you can pounce. If people are paying attention, there's an argument to say, maybe he's kind of a cell hot, I'm into it.

I just don't think he has cracked enough of the top 100. So I think the cost is still very affordable. And I'm not saying this because I'm a homer. I'm wearing my Peoria Havolinas hat on. Jacob Marcy plays for the Havillinas. I just learned that right now looking at his minor league baseball page. But just a quick look at his splits in the minors this year. He had 84 at bats against lefties.

He hit 250 with four of his 13 home runs and 807 OPS. I mean, that plays. I like seeing that, man. Left-handed hitters who can hit lefties in the minors, too, showing it out there in the Arizona Fall League. I think there's a lot to like. I think he's probably a name that's just out there on waiver wires in Dynasty League, too.

Like, you don't really have to pay much to get him. And in leagues like the Scott White Dynasty League, our first year player draft is really just a minor league draft. It's any minor leaguer that's not, you know, on a team already rostered. You can just draft and you can put in a minor league spot. Which, by the way, is not a lot because it's 24 teams. So it takes a lot for a guy to not be there. But I think what you're leading to is Jacob Marcy is not there.

He's not owned. Yeah. So if you play in some kind of draft like that, then I would say, again, just kind of keep that name in mind. And maybe he's someone that you're looking to pick up in those drafts. Another name I want to mention here is Aaron Sabato, who is a first base prospect in the Twins organization, a first round pick from 2020.

He actually hit a double dong on Monday, both of those coming off of Darius Vines, who we saw with the Atlanta Braves this year. Sabato only hitting 222 with a 36% strikeout rate, but he leads the AFL with seven home runs. We haven't really seen much in the minors so far, but he has that pedigree. He was a first round pick.

Welsh, is there any hope for Aaron Sabato? I mean, the problem is he's doing exactly what the issue has been. He's hitting like 220, that he's done it the entire time. There was this video that came out before he was drafted where he was putting up like 1.15 max EVs. I mean, he's a big boy. He hits the ball really, really hard.

No shocker. There's a couple of guys you could have listed for me that said, hey, this guy's going to lead to the AFL. You could have said Aaron Sabato, West Clark, and Ivan Melendez. And he said, one of these guys is going to lead. And I'd been like, yeah, 100%. But Sabato's not showing any of the other stuff that you would want to see. Strikeouts.

Have those cut down? No. He's second in most strikeouts here in the AFL. He's hitting 222. Those are, that's not good. He's got a couple doubles. Obviously,

he's destroying mistakes. I've seen him strike out a bunch. It's kind of classic like hole in your swing. As soon as pitchers get some type of a read. I've noticed one thing that's happened here in the NFL. I didn't notice as much in previous years. There's been an uptick and iPad use during games where coaches and players are going through video. Because sometimes this place is just treated like,

hey, just having fun. We're out here playing some baseball. It's into the season. No one really cares. There's like a little bit more of a hyper focus on like analytics and figuring out like, what does this guy pitch and how can we take advantage of them? Players being more focused and talking with each other. So that's a good thing.

But I also think what that is is you get more of a read on hitters like Aaron Sabato for pitchers. And he's still not adjusting. So is there hope? Sure. It's a guy that could hit 30 plus homers. I'm not holding out. He might get a shot at some point. I also think he's kind of a DH only type of.

a player. So the bat has to boost up. And the only thing that's gone up here is the homers. So I kind of don't think so. All right. A big name that's out there. We haven't heard much about is Colson Montgomery with the White Sox. He is hitting 254 with three home runs of 755 OPS.

He has 20 strikeouts to just three walks. It's a 28 and a half percent strikeout rate for Colson Montgomery. We know he's a big name. First round pick in 2021. Well, so I want to ask you about him. and I guess it's kind of a, I don't know, a more grand scheme type of question is like, with guys that are,

that have this name value, right? Like, maybe they don't take it as seriously. And I don't want to say that's the case, but like, is that a possibility or is there something here that maybe we actually should be worried about with Colson Montgomery?

No, I don't think so. I mean, it's a definite possibility. And you just don't want to attach that to any players specifically. You don't want to be like, oh, you know, this guy is not taking it seriously,

though there are 100, like, I know of guys that are just kind of like, like sitting back and not caring. I think part of maybe what you're referring to to is like he's not walking, but this is a place that guys get hyper-aggressive. I've seen this happen four times. It's not Colson.

And this is one of the best humans here. I just want to point out, Eric Brown Jr. with the Brewers is just one of the best people. I'd love him. He'd be a guy. I'd love to get on a podcast, you know,

do that type of stuff. But he is here to hit. He is here to improve on his bat. I have seen him ground out and or get walked. then when he gets to the dugout, slam the bat. And he's a nice guy. He's not an angry guy or anything like that. And he's mad because he wants to make contact. He wants to work on his game.

I'm leading that with a guy that Colson Montgomery. Coles Montgomery, I don't think is here to walk. I think he is here to be kind of like hyper-aggressive, try to get the ball in play, try to put up some big stats. It's led to a sub-300 OBP, which you don't love to see. But he's still kind of doing everything else. He's still got the swing. It's not Corey Seeger, by the way, which everybody keeps wanting it to be,

though there's plenty of similarities. he's a very exciting prospect. He's got huge, huge power. He's just been fine here. Even though he missed some time, I do kind of think, like, he's probably ready for this to be over. So sometimes this is also the point,

unfortunately, when you guys are all coming out here, these guys, their heads are starting to get out of this, and they're kind of thinking about the following week when they're going to be done with this. So it's, as long as I think you do average here, I think that's solid. It's the guys that really, really struggle

or really, really do well, that you kind of open your eyes a little bit more. about nothing to worry about with Colson Montgomery in my eyes. All right. We're going to wrap there. Welsh, by the time people are listening or watching this episode, I'm on my way, baby. I'm on the plane. Let's go. Let's go. Let's do it.

All right, 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 on Saturday. If you're out in First Pitch, Arizona, come watch us live. If you're at home, watch us on YouTube. that. Bye-bye.