High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - High Hopes Exclusive Interview With Phillies Scouting Director Brian Barber

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

James Seltzer and Jack Fritz sit down with Phillies Scouting Director Brian Barber to discuss the Phillies draft class and minor league system. Presented by Miller Lite. 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

All-star closer, Kenley Jansen, we have a question. What's the best podcast of all time? Baseball Isn't Boring, baby. I'm Rob Bradford, and every single day I'm sitting down with the biggest names to show you this great game is the greatest game. It's my podcast. It's my passion. It's a cause I started more than two years ago and is now the most prolific national daily baseball pod there is.

Another fact, so jump aboard the B.I.B. Express. Follow and listen to Baseball Isn't Boring, presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm just giddy, man. It's great. I'm so giddy. Like, what a night. So should we play the interview?

Yes. And then we'll do take back? And then we'll do take back. So yeah. Yeah, the interview. How about that? I know. Again, we were-

This might be an all-time high hopes podcast. Yeah, it really is. Again, because we were so freaking excited to get to get this guy on. And as anyone who's listened to this pod knows, you know, we have talked a lot about Brian Barber. Bill Barber. Yes. All right.

So I was going to do it after, but so this is recorded at a time, if you can't tell by the way we've talked about. We talked to Barber a couple of days ago. Nothing's changed since then. But at the't tell by the way we've talked about it. We talked to Barbara a couple days ago. Nothing's changed since then. But at the very end of the interview, I'm so embarrassed. I was like, I went beet red. And especially, you'll hear, I don't want to spoil it, but you'll hear the irony of the way that I say Bill Barber instead of Brian Barber.

And of course, Bill Barber, an all-time flyer and all that. We say his name a lot. It was bad. I was incredibly embarrassed. So thank you for reminding me. I was going to do it after. Anyway, other than my snafu at the very end of the interview, I thought a really awesome interview.

And he was kind enough to give us 30 minutes, really had a lot to say. And the smile on Jack's face throughout gave me life. It was a beautiful thing to see. So without further ado, all time high hopes get Mr. Brian Barber. It is our distinct pleasure and honor really to introduce our next guest. This is a dream for high hopes. You know, most podcasts might be out there trying to get Bryce Harper on or Trey Turner on or whoever. Not this podcast.

We have been waiting forever to get this guy on, the director of amateur scouting for the Phillies, a guy who we called for the Phillies to sign on this podcast while he was still in New York. The one, the only, Mr. Brian Barber. Brian, thanks for joining us, man. It's my pleasure to be on the high hopes podcast yeah i would say of our most important campaigns like we've had a lot of important campaigns bryce harper you know we had a big thing going for him uh standing ovations for trey turner i think the most important thing that we did was convince and force the phillies to hire

you a couple years ago so it's been it's long time coming. Well, I appreciate all that. It's coming up on almost four years now, and it's been really my professional honor to have this job that I have now and work for this organization. I think we're doing a lot of things correct now and heading in the right direction the past few years. And like I said, it's completely my honor. Well, Brian, it's definitely our honor.

I mean, to the point where Jack texted me twice last night just to tell me how excited he was to have you on today. So let's dive into it. A lot to get into. And eventually I'm just going to let Jack nerd out with you because, again, twice he texted me last night to say how excited he was to have you on. But for those who don't know Brian Barber as well,

tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got into scouting and kind of your past a little bit. Yeah, I mean, obviously I played professional baseball. I started out of high school and played for about 10 years. And as my career itself, the playing career was winding down, I knew I wanted to stay in the game of baseball. It was just something I grew up, I loved. I loved everything about it and knew I wanted to stay in the game of baseball. It was just something I grew up. I loved everything about it and knew I wanted to do something in the game of baseball to continue doing that.

As a pitcher, you know, going through the minor leagues, especially two or three days a week, you're up in the stands and you're doing, you're charting the game, you're doing radar gun readings, and you're sitting up amongst the scouts that are there watching those games and you start talking to them getting information it was like that's kind of cool what they do and one thing led to another as my playing career ended and knew you know was lucky enough to know a few people in the game that helped me along the way of getting into scouting and that was long the way of getting into scouting. And that was, you know, 22, 23 years ago. And just, you know, have basically enjoyed every single day of what I do. You talk about Jack being a draft nerd.

I am as well. I really, I love everything about it. I love finding out information about the players. I love traveling around the country trying to find the best players that we can bring into the organization. And there's just there's not much I don't love about what I do. And you mentioned it a little at the beginning there, but this is your fourth draft, fourth draft in the books. What do you think's been kind of the biggest change since you got here? What do you guys think that, you know, you've taken a step forward in and like the overall health of where you guys are at?

Yeah, well, I mean, one main thing would be, I guess, who I report to and above me. And the biggest change has been with Dave Dombrowski coming over and leading our baseball operations department here. It's been tremendous. And not that I didn't have a whole long time with the regime before, but the past, starting with, I guess, with Andy's draft in 2021, Justin's last year in 2022, and now this year,, you know, great to work with Dave, Sam, everybody that leads the department in Philadelphia that, you know, us individually, there's always little

things that are, that are, you know, you start to employ in your process of trying to figure out who the best players are around the country. There's, there's things that we do on the scouting end or scouts, and there's things that you incorporate analytically, data-wise, and that's probably some of the new realm in that, that there's always new information data-wise, tech-wise, analytically that are coming to the forefront and things that you integrate into your process as far as evaluating players. So I think that's probably, you know, you stay on top of that as much as possible,

and you're ready for the next thing that jumps forward to you there. Brian, I'm happy you mentioned Dave Dombrowski. And, you know, obviously, you know, the history of the Philadelphia Phillies, we haven't done a ton of winning in our time, and certainly in my lifetime. But the thing that Jack and I have been so excited about with Dave coming here is it feels like for the first time, really, since, you know,, 2009, that run, that it feels like there's a winning culture here now that they've created, that it's been a focus of the organization. I know that that's something you believe in a lot as well. And Jack and I, we've been preaching for it, calling for it, and it's so exciting to see it. How does that relate to scouting?

How does that relate to finding players like can you scout winning culture guys can you scout winning players like how do you how do you put that into what you do because i know that's a focus for you guys yeah i think first and foremost and obviously the whole organization has done a tremendous job and dave and the major leagues um major league part and Preston Mattingly in the minor league part building the winning culture you don't necessarily find I guess winning culture type players but you're looking for the correct makeup to bring into your culture that you have and then develop them that way so yes there are winning players on the amateur side there's no doubt about that and how you quantify quantify that is not easy, and it is difficult.

But there are winning players out there, both on the high school end and on the college end, that you're just able to see time and time again. You spend the time and the effort of evaluating these players, and you see they do winning things the right way on the field, and it allows them to be better players so but first and foremost we're trying to identify the right type of makeup that we want to bring into the into the minor league system and then Preston and and it's his job on on the minor league side the player development side to develop that winning culture with those kids you just mentioned Preston uh hired last year and uh

you know it seems like I watched the video that the player development put out of him like you know leading the meeting he's talking about winning culture it started I almost started welling up a little bit it was like wow we're finally here um what's what's it been like working with Preston so far and and the early turns yeah it was amazing I was there for that for that speech that Preston gave. I made it a point to be there, and they call it protecting the standard. And it's really special what is going on in the system, and I think you can see it a lot.

He talks a lot about his first-year guys and the guys that are basically on the Clearwater Club or have been through there. And some of those guys that started there have gone on and been promoted to other teams, but mainly the core is still there from, from the 2022 draft. It's Preston is the right guy to lead our system. And I'm very thankful and grateful that he is there leading that system. So he's done, he's done a tremendous job.

I was lucky enough to be part of the process and the group that went around and interviewed the people that were trying to get that job. And it was clear and evident from day one that Preston was the guy that should be leading the charge. That's awesome. That's very exciting. That is very exciting.

So this year's draft, I mean, I know the threshers are now known as pressureville you know which is which is a nice thing to have and that's exciting uh maybe because you drafted like i don't know the fastest players in the league last year and justin crawford and a marion boyd so um you know it's it's been a really really fun turnaround and just like watching from afar of that team i mean like they have the best winning percentage in all of baseball right now, the Clearwater Threshers. So earlier in the tournament, it seemed like it's going pretty well down in Clearwater. Yeah, I think they did an article, and I can't remember if it was Preston's quote or Marty Malloy's quote about they play fast and free down there.

And they're doing it for the right type of players that are down there. So I think it was wasn't necessarily like our strategy last year to go and take the, you know, two or three of the faster players that are in our organization. Now, if you want to include Kate Fergus, that was there as well, along with Justin Crawford and Mari Boyd. But, you know, it's it is an exciting thing that you look up and you look at box scores after the games and it's, you know, besides the defensive part and stolen bases. And I tried to tell people from day one, I thought, you know, we thought these kids could hit as well. And they've gone in and done that from day one. And they're just going to continue to get better there. So, yeah, you take athletes with tools that have a good feel for playing the game that have an ability to utilize their tools on the field, and I think those are a lot of things that you're looking for in players

that you bring into the system. Hey, fantasy football owners, the road to winning your fantasy football championship starts now. I'm Matt Harmon from Reception Perception. Join me and James Coe as we take a deep dive into the position that's going to make or break your fantasy roster. Wide receivers. We analyze route running, target share, and all the metrics that matter,

giving you the insights you need to draft the best wide receivers. As you prep for your draft, let us give you the coverage you need. Follow and listen to Reception Perception on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, one guy that I think is going to be in Clearwater soon or maybe this time next year we'll be talking about how he's going off and carrying them offensively is Aiden Miller. I just – I couldn't believe he was there.

He's giddy. He's giddy, right? I couldn't believe he was there. I honestly feel like I get three texts a day just watching Maureen Miller film. It's like his favorite person. Well, full disclosure, I was off the week from work right after the draft, which is a problem because I just watched all the USA stuff. And I was like, I kept coming back to Brian. The kid just hits.

I know they have the handmaid bone, and he barely played his senior year, but he's a pedigree kid that's played on Team USA since, what, he was like 10? 12. 12. And he's been in all that stuff. Aiden Miller, what can you tell us about him and how excited were you to be able to get him at 27? far off jack i mean that was part of the things that you start to you start to identify nate miller was a 12 u a 15 u and 18 u team usa uh player and has just always hit from day one and there's a saying that you know we as scouts use that hitters hit and and they always have and and you've tried to find ways now we're a little bit more advanced than that just being able to say hitters hit that you quantify how much they hit and we do a good job of of basically charting almost every single game

they played we're able to dive into you know not just team usa but some of the tournaments that i'm actually out scouting right now whether it's east coast pro showcase or area codes all the different tournaments and travel team ball travel ball teams that they play in over the summer and we accumulated 150 at bats with aiden Miller last summer and he was it was just clear he was one of the top hitters in the country it was just I mean it was clear to us so you know those days of just identifying players the summer before over and you're actually starting your scouting and evaluating process on those players so when you get to a point that Aiden Miller only plays in two games because he broke his handmaid, it's like, we've done the job.

We're ready for him in the event that he falls to us. So I felt super comfortable there. And yeah, you never know what happens in the draft and why certain guys go where or how or why a certain player. I know there were scenarios that, you know, Aiden Miller doesn't come close to our pick. You know, I've talked to enough scouting directors,

and, yeah, he was in our mix 15 picks before. You know, I'm just making up a number there, so I'm not calling out a team. But, yeah, I mean, we were lucky enough that he fell to us, and when he did, we were ready to bring him into the system. Yeah, and I'm just curious because, you know, the MLB draft, it's hard to explain to a lot of people. It's hard to explain.

I know. It's ridiculous. Yeah, like we'll be doing our draft preview, and Jack will be going through about guys could be there. He's like, well, this guy should go like second or third, but he's probably going to go 20th. And I'm just like, wait, what is happening right now? So I'm curious, like, because I was a casual sports fan,

like they watch the NFL draft, NBA draft, and it's like, oh, the best guys go first. It doesn't always happen in the NBA draft. Like what kind of, for as much as you can say, you don't have to reveal all the secrets, but like in the early 20s when it seems like Aiden might be there, what's that process like? Are you calling the agent?

We'll sign him for this money, something like that, as much as you can say. But I'm curious what goes into the last 20 minutes before the pick. I'll give you a little breakdown. It was as best as I can remember because you got the fog of war, I guess, at the time. It was about as Seattle was selecting at 22 there that all of a sudden pieces started to fall into what was actually going to happen.

We found out, you know, we have enough friends in this industry that we found out exactly who Cleveland, Atlanta, San Diego, and then the Yankees right before us, we knew who their selections were. So it was about, so you've got four teams, three minutes in between each pick. Maybe that takes us a couple minutes after Seattle selects. So we have about ten minutes before it's our time to select that we know who is going to go in front of us. And it's just clear.

You've done the work beforehand, and you look up at the board, and it's like, okay, Aiden Miller's our top guy. Let's get after it. And really one of our secret weapons during the draft is Ned Rice, beforehand and you look up at the board and it's like okay Aiden Miller's our top guy let's let's get after it and really one of our secret weapons during the draft is Ned Rice who's one of our assistant GMs and he does he does a lot of the calls with agents and advisors of these kids and and um you know makes a few phone calls and lets lets their representative know that Aiden's going to be our guy so I mean we sat, we sat there just, you know, all of a sudden you sit there and you wait.

San Diego actually makes their selection. New York makes a selection that they let us know that they were going to make, and then it's just our time. And Philadelphia Phillies select Aiden Miller. Do you ever concern, like, when you pick a guy like Miller there or someone in that situation who could go to college, like, how sure are you you guys are going to be able to sign him when you make that type of pick? Is it always like it could go one way or the other?

Are you guys very confident you're going to be able to sign that guy? Yeah, I mean, you go in with confidence, but not everybody. I mean, we've gone, obviously, every pick we've made in the first round since I've been here has been a high school player. And some of the times you had basically the deal wrapped up before you selected them. And, and other times you hadn't, we hadn't had this one completely done when we selected Aiden Miller, but we just knew it was the right guy and the, and the, and the player we wanted, we knew Aiden wanted to be a professional baseball player.

So I think that's part of the work that you do. There are certain kids that are out there that they're just not 100% sure, and it would have to be the right situation or the right money to make them not go to college. And Aiden was just one of those players that wanted to play. And we knew that beforehand. Yeah, all the stories you read about. It's fascinating, man.

It's fascinating. Everything you read about, you know, like he has his own personal workout facility. Presbyterian homes it. Yeah, exactly. It's a perfect story. So beyond giddy that he's a Philly. You also, I mean, I know you don't like being labeled as the high school guy,

but you did draft two more after that in Devin Sotheby and Tayshaun Walton, who I was very very very excited about very excited i mean listen when you see the next yandi diaz and all he's gonna do is just lift the ball i mean and he's he's ripped like he's ripped um what can you tell us about uh saltaban and tayshaun walton yeah i mean two exciting kids and and it starts with you know like we talked we talked about the makeup and winning culture. Both of those guys are just tremendous people to start with and want to be the best players that they can be.

And, you know, just talking about Devin, Devin especially, that was a different process because you don't scout kids from Hawaii a ton. There's one or two every year. But we did a good job. Demarius Pittman is our area scout. We scout kids from Hawaii a ton. There's one or two every year. But we did a good job. Demarius Pittman is our area scout. And Shane Bowers is our West Coast cross checker. They went out early and identified them.

We sent Darrell Connor, who's one of my national cross checkers, went out to see him. And then we were lucky enough that Devin played in the Major League Draft League this past summer. He was on the West Virginia team. And we sent myself for two games. David Krausen, who's one of our other. And we sent myself for two games. David Krausen, who's one of our other national cross-checkers, for two games. And then Luke Merton, who's our director of hitting, went up there for a game and got to see him. So, you know, we're seeing an 18-year-old versus mainly 21,

22-year-old competition from Hawaii that had never seen 90 miles an hour on the island out there before and hit and and i go back to what i just said before hitters hit and he didn't he didn't miss a beat up there in the league it's not like he went out and hit 400 but as an 18 year old from hawaii facing 20 21 22 year olds really knew what he was doing at bat to a bat and he has tools and he's athletic he can run he can throw he impacts the ball we see power down the future it was just one of those things that we thought if he was from the la area or from florida or from georgia it's like this guy's not making out of the top couple rounds and and so when it was there at pick 98 for us it was just a no brainer.

Must be a nice call for those scouts to be like, oh, you're going to Hawaii. You got it, boss. Yes. Sounds great. It's really not as great. You're going out there. You're taking the five hour flight out there from California. Maybe you're out there a day or two and you're seeing it. No, it's not the worst. But it's not exactly laying on the beach either for a week. Now,

Tayshaun Walton goes from high school in Virginia, I believe, Maryland, to IMG, which you talk about Saltaban and Hawaii. It's a little different. Everyone knows about IMG. And everything I've read about him hits the ball really hard, doesn't hit it for power yet. talk about saltaban and and hawaii it's a little different everyone knows about img and everything i've read about him like hits the ball really hard doesn't hit it for power yet um fair to think

hopefully that power comes and you might have gotten another you know really solid player in the third round yeah yeah in the fourth round for taishan and you nailed it there i mean that's what and you nailed it before taishan might come in day one as maybe the strongest player in our entire organization, and that might include the big leagues. Wow. We do physical assessment. Wow, that is a – yeah. That's a strong kid.

No, I mean, his peak power is just – it's up there with anybody that we have in our entire organization. That's from an 18-year-old that still has room to grow. And, yes, you talked about impacting the ball and hitting it hard and it's he's gone out to the combine. He's come to our workout force in Clearwater and it's exit velocity that 18 of 108, 109 miles an hour. And yet he hits the ball more on the line right now.

So do you try to take that 5, percent launch angle and make it you know eventually that it's in the 15 20 25 percent range and now he's all of a sudden hitting a bunch of home runs yeah i i think that's what you're looking for on a type of player like that you're not you're not just talking a big slugger he can run he can grow he can play defense he's an athlete as well so um i i for us it was an exciting pick there in the fourth round. Talking about these high school kids, Brian, just as a macro philosophical thing, like looking at them, I've always wondered, and we saw it with Mickey Moniak.

I know you weren't here for that, but when Moniak was drafted first, 17-year-old kid, slight, whatever. But, you know, how do you look at these kids at 17, 18, whatever, and project them as a 24, 25, 27-year-old big leader with their body? They're not fully grown. They're not fully developed, all that stuff. How hard is that? And are there tricks that you guys use to like, was it frame?

I'll look at the frame. I'll go into that. How do you guys go about it? I've always wondered because of all the drafts, it seems the hardest to do that. Yeah, it's not a science that's nailed yet i can tell you that james it's it's there is some conjecture of of what is going to end up happening to a player in five years and and we did the the opposite last year with justin where it was like we knew number one priority for him once he came in was trying to put on weight trying to put on strength you

know he comes in at 165 pounds at 6'3 and we knew that was the number one priority but yeah you get up i'm close to the player and you're able to do some type of physical testing on there um and it gives you an idea that this person has the ability to put on 20 25 pounds so I'm not sure that we're looking at like a taishan to put on another 25 might already be 230 but but but that he's trying to project in the correct way with that body as well that he has has ability to you know develop your man strength as well because no matter how strong you are at 18, you should be stronger at 22 to 25 as well. So it's an inexact science still, but it's definitely a huge part of our process.

Well, I just got back from my four-month-old check-in, and he's 70% on height and 90% on weight. So if you need to start looking for a future here, Walker Fritz is ready to go in about 20 40 something well hopefully he's still around doing work by yeah yeah his training regimen all set he's got like year by year he's like year one to three is this you're yeah yeah no pressure i don't think we've gone that far out in the future with guys but but we need a five-year range. That's probably good. Yeah, we try to be experts in that.

Hopefully you're as lucky as me with my daughter being a lefty. Now, if Walker can be a lefty, he's just going to leg up right there and boom. Yeah, listen, we'll figure it all out. But if he's hitting BP off me, he's probably going to be a pretty good hitter because that's all I specialized in in college. I want to ask you about some of the pitchers you took. You know, a lot of, kind of group them all together, because it seems like you're taking shots on guys that throw really hard, have pro stuff, like maybe one pro pitch right now.

Like I heard the George Glasson slider was described as one of the best in the Midwest or whatever. So, like, what's your kind of philosophy on going for these guys that are definitely stuffed over command? And what gives you the confidence of those guys, you know, eventually finding command? Yeah, I mean, you're putting a lot of faith in the player development there because it's not an easy thing. You know, we talk about hitters hit.

A lot of the pitchers that have ended up being, you know, the best pitchers in the big leagues came up and threw strikes the whole way. But you get to a point in the draft, especially there this year, with whether it's George or whether it's Jake Eddington or Cam Brown, Marty Gare, as you go down. And you're trying to find things that allow these other players that you bring in to separate themselves from the rest of the players that are on the board. And when you're talking to George Clawson, he might have had some of the best stuff in the entire draft.

The break and ball, he's been up to 102 and averaging 97, 98. You know, you get to a point in the draft where that 6th or 10th round range, you're really looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to 30 percent of the guys ever play a day in the big leagues at that point in the draft. So what allows these players to separate themselves gives them a chance to get in the big leagues. Not only that, but once they get to the big leagues, do they have something that allows them to have some impact in the big leagues? You're not just trying to look for a guy that comes up and, you know, for a week or, or, or even, even if it's a couple months and create zero war, you're trying to get somebody that, that actually impacts the major league team and helps them win games.

And that, you know, stuff is one of the things where you guys watch big league games all the time, big leagues, throw hellacious stuff nowadays and trying to even the playing field. That was one of the things when I first came over here, that was one of my first priorities is to bring in and trying to even the playing field that was one of the things when i first came over here that was one of my first priorities is to bring in and trying to bring the stuff throughout the minor league system that it was that that it fit in with with the rest of the where baseball was going and i think we're continuing to do that obviously we're in a draft now and it's only 20 rounds not 40 or 50 so you have a limited amount of time to do that.

But yeah, George, Jake, Cam Brown, Marty Garrett, going down the list, it's like they have things that allow them to separate themselves from the other players that you might see on a minor league team. Yeah, and I lied. It was Jake Eddington. That was the best slider in the Midwest. And I've already comped Marty Garrett

to Lucas G Alito. So it might be all right with that last super nerdy draft one for you um and i'm super intrigued by the kid is the avaria awuso asaido asaido um all the i guess the model dark he's like a model darling hits the ball hard he's really young. I mean, what do you think? I mean, a possible chance at another kind of steal late in the draft? Yeah, I mean, you hope so.

That's what we were looking at. And we had the opportunity to get to know Avery really well, and we got to bring him into Philadelphia and not just do some of the on-the-field stuff but some of the off-the-field assessment as well with him, whether that's makeup or whether that's physical assessment testing. And yeah, you take a 20 year old who basically didn't start playing baseball full time until he was in the ninth grade high school. So development wise, he's way beyond or way behind where everybody else is on a baseball

field. But you take a 20 year old college guy who more than held his own in the college game and the physical tools are out of this world, the physical assessment. One of the things I don't think we even knew when we brought him into Philadelphia is how good a runner he was. He's going to go head-to-head with Tayshaun as far as strength, athleticism, and some of the physical assessment testing that we did. So you take those combination of things of age of performance at the college

game knowing he's behind behind the eight ball in his development process and then the physical assessment testing and makeup testing that we that we did with them it was just a no-brainer at that point to you know sort of roll the dice but but roll it with the for the right reasons last one for me and again b, can't tell you how much, like how appreciative we are for you taking this time with us. Again, like you can see Jack's face. Like he's been smiling here and there the entire time.

And I know for our audience, like we have mentioned the name Bill Barber on our podcast a thousand times. Brian Barber, excuse me. I was thinking of the flyers. We're not 70s flyers over here. We don't do hockey. Yes, Brian Barber, excuse me.

On the podcast, as I, honestly, it's very High Hopes fashion there. But this is something I think you're the perfect person to ask because it's something I've been wondering about a lot lately with the influx. It feels like an influx. We've always had them. But an influx of – and Justin Crawford, based on him, talking about him, an influx of former players' kids.

It feels like there's a real like boon of it. You know, Boba Shett, Black Guerrero, Matt Holliday's got the top prospect in baseball's kid and the top pick in the next draft, all that stuff. Is there something to that? Like, obviously genetics is part of it, but do you think there's something to these kids growing up around the sport or being more comfortable around the sport or whatever? Like, is it, is there something more i've always i've long been wondering is there something more to this than just the genetics of it yeah i think with with a lot of the players like that that you're talking about is is obviously

you've taken the higher um higher talented players and then you add in the background that they have being around the game knowing how the game is played and and then you add in the background that they have being around the game knowing how the game is played and and then watching the game from from an early age and and you're taking the players that are highly talented and then and then adding in the baseball skill and those are just the best players that are out there and those kids that have had that that you know not every major league players kid is as talented as those players that you mentioned. But when you take the talent added in with the baseball skill and the knowledge of the game, it gives them a leg up on everybody else.

In the world that we're in, the different showcases that we go to on the amateur side, you're looking at a lot of talented kids, whether that's position players, pitchers that throw hard, arm talent, and that's basically where their gameers that throw hard, arm talent. And that's basically where their game ends is the talent that they have. They don't know how to play the game. They don't know how to utilize their talent. And these kids that you're talking about and mentioned, they can combine all of it.

So when you get that, that was sort of the thing with Justin. We didn't like Justin just because he was Carl's son. We liked him because of the talent that he brought on the field, who he was as a person. And then he had been around the game his entire life, watching major league games and studied it. And that's what a lot of those kids that you just mentioned, they're students of the game as well as being, you know, uber talented. Last one for me, you know, it's already been a a great four years i guess i was just curious

where you see the department you know even like five years from now like goals you have or um just kind of the future of you and preston and and how this whole thing is kind of trending i mean the thing with our our world is it just never stops the minute you you think you you know you hit on you hit on player, it's basically start for next year and find the next one and continue to add that. I think we've done some good things here. We're not nearly where we want to be as an organization on the minor league side. We need to keep working.

I told you we're basically a little bit behind. I'd be putting addition on the fly right here, but we've brought in somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 players draft wise over four years so 2020 and then 2020 it was only five rounds so um you know you're not turning around an entire organization overnight it takes time it takes multiple years to do that and I think we're heading in the right direction, trying to bring in guys that are not just have the talent on the field, but have the baseball skill to utilize those talents, put it into performance, bring in the right type of kids with the makeup that develop a winning culture, that are athletes. You have your group of things

that you as a scout want to try to find. You need player development to help mold those players into becoming the best players that they can be and hopefully getting the right situation for those players to get up to the big leagues and impact the game there and create wins in a World Series. I mean, it doesn't happen overnight. You know, Dave is able to do some of the things that change the major league system overnight by making a trade or a free agent. But on the minor league side, it just takes time. And I think we're heading in the right direction with some of the players that we brought in and Preston and his group developing them. Well, we do too, Brian. I mean, honestly, you know, again, the history of the Philadelphia Phillies drafting and developing. I mean, even John Middleton said it.

Like, it's been tough, man. And to see this, you know, organization where they're at right now with the winning culture and you and Preston and Dave and the whole thing, like, at least for us, it's all we've wanted. You know, this type of setup. So we're thrilled. We're thrilled you took the time for us. And just keep doing what you're doing, man man you're making a lot of people really happy right

now well i appreciate it like i said our job never stops here you know as soon as the draft was over as as you guys know i'm out in san diego at a tournament right now trying to find kids for next year so that's all we can do is keep working and trying to bring in the best players that we can that we can bring in just taking. Just taking more high school kids. Yep, there he is. Brian Farber. What a pleasure. Thanks again, Brian.

Appreciate the time, guys. Really do. Yep. All right. So, you know.