Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Seattle Mariners 2024 Preseason Farm System Re-Rank: Prospects 30-21

Episode Date: February 21, 2024

It's Prospect Week here on Locked On Mariners! Ty and Colby kick their preseason re-rank of the Mariners' farm with prospects 30 through 21.WIN COLBY'S STUFF TERMS & CONDITIONS!Ask us questions!Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @TyDaneGonzalez | @CPat11Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BackblazeReceive a fully-featured no risk free trial at Backblaze.com/lockedonmlb. Go there, play with it, start protecting yourself from potential bad times! eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's prospect week here on the Locked on Marriss podcast. Colby and I will kick things off by ranking prospects 30 through 21 in the Marrars Farm System. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Oh, Hoy, Sailors. It is Tuesday, February 20th, 2024.

This is Tining Azalus and Colby Patnaud for the Lockdown Marriss podcast. Brought to you by Fandul. Make every moment more. new customers join today and you'll get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet of $5 or more wins. Visit fan duel.com slash locked on. That's L-O-C-K-D-O-N to get yourself started. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. Subscribe, like and turn on alerts. If you're watching on YouTube or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform, if you like what you hear.

And if you're part of the crew and rock with us every single day, let us know in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you. And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon. You can now get a free seven-day trial to check out the show. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description of this episode. On the show today, we'll be ranking prospects 30 through 21, and the Marys Farm System. We'll do 20 through 11 tomorrow and the top 10 on Thursday. And how this works is, Colby and I create our own individual top 30 lists.

We then combine those lists by using a points-based system where each ranking has a numerical value. And if there is a tie between two or three players, the tiebreaker goes to whoever had the highest ranking. in our individual list. Pretty simple, right? So with that said, here are prospects 30 through 21 in the Mariners Farm System. And we're going to start here,

because we're going to talk about each of these guys individually. We're going to start with Louis Swee Spell, number 30, who, you had ranked Colby. I didn't. I have some concerns about the hit tool. A lot of power here,

but below average defender, below average athlete, not super high on Sweet Spell. I'd say he If we went beyond 30 He's probably like in the 35ish range for me So fairly close

But why did he crack your top 30 list? It's kind of He's a lottery ticket But it has a higher chance of hitting Than a lot of lottery tickets Particularly 20 year olds who have only played in Modesto Sweet spell is a switch hitter And there's really no indication that he has to give that up

Or he would be wise to give that up Can hit well from both sides of the plate Power from both sides of the plate power from both sides of the plate plus bat speed some of the best bat speed in the org the power is legitimate he's not a great athlete but there's still a chance he could play some third he has a very strong arm ultimately probably ends up at first base if he was a little more athletic you might be able to get away with him in a corner outfield spot but he's just he's probably first base dh only but again switch hitter hits well from both sides power from both sides

he drew walks a good amount of walks about 10% i think for or 9% or 9% or 9% or 9% percent at 20 years old in Modesto. That's a good number. The strikeout rate a little high, 26, 27 percent. That's a little high. But again, 20 years old in Modesto. So probably has a pretty good chance to end up in the season in Everett. So he is years away.

He's got some things to work on. Again, he's got to cut down on the strikeouts a little bit, or he's got to get better defensively. But if he stays at 26, 27 percent, strikeout rate throughout the miners, that's going to be fine. Like that, that's a fine number with the amount of power he's given you. It's just that that number tends to, you know, keep rising as you make your way closer to the big leagues unless you make an adjustment to become a better overall hitter.

The fact that Sweet Spell has quick hands, he has plus bat speed, he's already drawing walks at a good rate at this age, makes me think that he could possibly make that tweak and just become a better all-around hitter. I don't know if he's ever going to be a 50 grade bat, league average bat in terms of just average. But I think there's a pretty decent chance that he's hitting 2.30 with, you know, 320-ish on base and, you know, popping 25-30 homers. And he's, again, he's a switch hitter, which is a nice little bonus there.

So I like sweet spell. Again, he's just barely in the top 30. But I think that this is a big year for him. If he can, you know, maintain the strikeout rate even or cut it a little bit. and he's able to do that at Everett. I think it bodes very well for him and he can end up in the top 15 by this time next year.

But there's a lot of work to do here, which is why he's number 30. Yeah, the swing and miss is concerning. And typically that doesn't tend to go down as you rise to the ranks of the miners. But again, he's only 20 years old. Still plenty of time for him to make a tweak or two in his game and eliminate some of that swing and miss.

So we'll see. Coming in at number 29, Logan Evans, right-hand pitcher 12th round pick for the mayor's in 2020. I had him at 27th and my list you did not have him ranked

Evans statistically was bad in college like really really bad don't look up his numbers they'll make you pretty sad but I don't really care about college numbers if you know

you have an interesting tool or two and I think Evans does you know it's the Justin Topa model throws a lot of strikes solid mid to low 90 sinker and what I've heard is a plus slider, which is his bread and butter.

So I'm pretty intrigued. Coming in at number 28, the vanilla missile himself, Walter Ford. He ranked number 28 in your list, Colby, number 29 in mine, so we're pretty much in agreement on there.

Fastball Velo is a real concern because it really dipped at times this year, or this past year, rather. And his secondaries were either a problem or just flat out non-existent. But he's only 19, you know, still got plenty of time. I would say, though, that this is, and this might be a bit hyperbolic, but I think this is a pretty big year for him.

Yeah. You know, last year, when he was drafted, he was up to 97 with a really good slider. He's a good athlete. He's 6.3, about 200 pounds. Like, he's a good athlete who threw strikes and had the potential of two plus pitches. And, you know, some flashing some, you know, pretty decent changeups too. Like this could have been a,

and it still could be a three pitch mid-rotation starter who looks like, you know, a number one for a couple outings a year. Again, he just turned 19. He's still very young. But this is a big year, I think because, again, he has to get the velocity back up. Last year, it was a lot of 87 to 90.

Like, it was way down. That's not a tick or two. That's significant to go from 95 to 97 to low, low 90s or even in the 80s. There was some talk that he was sick for most of the last year. He had a bad illness, so that may have stunted his development a little bit. But, you know, that being said, there's still,

I've seen clips of him, he's back up to 94, 95 so far this spring, which is a good sign. The slider is still generates really good spin rates on that pitch. So I still feel like at worst, he's a solid middle reliever, but I'm not giving up on the starter profile yet. of all the guys we're talking about here, if you're going to tell me one of these guys is going to jump into the top 10 by the end of the year, it's probably Ford.

We'll see if he, you know, starts the year in Modesto. They might hold him back a little bit and extended. But he's got a shot to make a big jump because if he's 95, 96 with his athleticism and his general ability to throw strikes that we've seen in the past, if that returns with that slider, then he's going to,

you know, quickly jump the ranks here because the Mariners don't have a ton of quality pitching. in the system right now. They have a lot of a lot of guys like Ford, honestly, who you're kind of like waiting for them to take that next step and you hope that it comes this year. But Ford certainly has the upside

and just the raw stuff and athleticism to take a huge jump this year. So it is a pretty big year for Ford. All right. We're going to be continuing our rankings of the mayor's prospects 30 through 21. And we'll also give you a status report on our giveaway in just a moment.

but first reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Mariners podcast is brought to you by eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience. What brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. From superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more. Whether you're into speed, power or style, eBay Motors has got you covered. And with over 122 million parts to choose from, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. With eBay guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back.

Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to turn your car into an MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride or die live at eBaymotors.com. Again, that is eBaymotors.com. Eligible items only, exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. And you're listening to the Lockdown Marriss podcast. Thank you again for making us to your first listen. And as a reminder, Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. Lockdown Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Lockdown.

Plus our national shows covering every league. Go to Lockdown Sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. And before we get back into our Mariners' Prize, prospect rankings. Yesterday, we announced our latest giveaway, or rather Colby's latest giveaway, because he's given away some of his stuff. And we've reached one of the goals already. We've eclipsed 10,800 subscribers.

So now, Colby, you are going to be announcing what the next tier of this giveaway is. Sure. So if you guys missed yesterday, we're giving away more of my stuff, not Thai stuff, because I am the man of the people. So yesterday we announced we're giving away two cards no matter what happens. And those were this double patch numbered autographed Mitch Garver card as well as this lovely Jared Kellnick numbered autographed autograph card. Even though he's not on the team anymore, it is a beautiful card. And we mentioned that for every new tier of 100 subs that we get on Twitter or sorry, on YouTube, which is how you enter by the way.

we were going to add more and more and more to this mystery box. So once we got to 10,800, I threw in this Randy Wynn auto and this cool Harry Ford Bowman Chrome non-auto into the mix. So now one of you is walking away with at least these cards. If we get to 10,900, then I'm throwing this numbered Lizarro Montes bonus Bowman Chrome card into the this is number 27 out of 499. And I'm also throwing in this is a really cool card that unfortunately doesn't have a ton of use for my collection anymore. But this is a Perala Barroa card. It is five out of five.

So it is, I mean, it is a gorgeous card. It is five out of five. So that. If you're not watching. Yes. Yes. So some really gorgeous cards going to somebody. Those will be added to the mystery box.

if we get to 10,900, we're about 780 short, I think right now. Right. So how you enter is really simple. You just have to subscribe to the YouTube channel and you just leave a comment on any video between yesterday and the end of this month. We will pick the winner on March 1st. You'll have a week to get back to us. We'll give you instructions on how to confirm and all that stuff. And you have a week to get back to us to claim your prize.

And again, every new set of 100 subs, every new tier that we reach, I'm adding more and more. stuff to this. So we'll reveal, we will reveal the, uh, tier or the prizes for 11,000, uh, when we get to 10,000, 900. But ties heard some of the stuff that I'm thrown in the mix here. Yeah. It's a pretty, it's a pretty good group. You guys want to get us to 10,900. Right. And then 11,000 after that. Yeah. And we'll keep on going. You know, like I said, you guys have until February 29. So if I have to buy more stuff to give you guys, I will. But yeah, it's very simple to, to enter just, subscribe to make sure you subscribe to the channel leave a comment on any of the videos you can enter up to five times before you're cut off um so yeah be be sure you enter be sure you subscribe

and uh all the terms and conditions are going to be in the description in a link make sure you click that if you have any questions and if there's still something you're not sure about you know feel free to reach out to us at locked on mariners at gmail dot com so yeah it's it's nice that we already hit our our first goal but let's keep going i know i know Ty wants me to give away a lot of my stuff. Yes, I do. I do. I very much too. Keep on subscribing to the channel. Yep. So again, terms

of conditions and the description of the show, whether you're watching or listening to it. All right. Let's get back into our Mariners prospect rankings. We left off at number 28. Now we start with number 27. Ben Williamson, third baseman, second round pick of the Mariners this past year.

He was ranked 22nd in our last ranking, so he falls about five spots here. You had 22nd in your respective rankings. I did not have him ranked actually. He was one of the first guys left off of my list. You know, you could consider him like

31, 32 on mine, actually. I like the glove. And he put up some really good numbers in college, of course. But it sounds like there are some real problems with the swing. I could see him being a fast riser, of course.

But I think. that's going to need to be soon like i think he's going to need to hit sooner rather than later since he's already 23 yeah um obviously when you you know draft out of college you have less time as a true prospect so yeah williamson is a guy who kind of needs to move along the system here pretty quick uh to maintain his top prospect type of thing but he's a really good athlete he's actually an above average runner like i could see him stealing 10 to 15 bags um he's a plus defensive third baseman he can he's again he's a very athletic so he can actually handle second

base if you need him to maybe play a little outfit like there's a super utility role here it's just about how much is he going to hit yeah like it it's a lot of work like there's a lot of work to go it's it's a kind of a long swing um there's a lot of work to do uh with the bat but again he is a plus athlete who can play a really good third can also handle pretty much any position on the diamond like he's that good of an athlete going to steal some bag. So if he's even like a 45 hit or 40 hit with 50 power or something like that, then he is a quality, maybe not everyday player,

but he is certainly a role player who can play, you know, who can give you 350 to 400 played appearances. That's a very valuable player. So maybe he's Dylan more, a bit more defense than more gives you, but more probably ends up with more power. But again, there's a long way to go with a swing.

This is a big year for Williamson. He really has to kind of show pretty significant growth with the swing to kind of maintain his position in my ranks. Yeah. At the very least, he just turned 23. So he'll be 23 the entire season. It's not like he's going to be turning 24 midseason or something like that. And we're going to be looking at him, you know, playing and high A heading into what could be considered his age 25 season. So at least he has that going for him in terms of the age.

but I'm still a little bit concerned about, you know, a couple of years down the road, he's kind of just now starting to figure it out in AA and he's 26 years old. Yeah, right. He really needs to be knocking on the door of double A by the end of this year. Yeah. Like, it doesn't have to get there necessarily, but if he's really struggling in Modesto or he's,

he, you know, gets promoted to Everett and then really struggles for a couple months, it's a bit of a red flag. But he is, he is interesting. Yeah. Now, it was only like 10 games, but he did not have a good time in his little cup of coffee of ProBall. I think it was a 73 WRC plus in Modesto.

But again, 10 games. Very, very, very small sample size, but still. All right. Number 26 here is Jimmy Joyce, who I know Jerry Depoto likes a lot. And there's a non-zero chance. We could see him at the big league level this year. but to me you know i see a number five um maybe middle relief for swingman profile solid three pitch mix good sinker uh you know good peripherals on the sinker um you know really helps him keep the ball

on the ground i think joyce ends up being one of those guys who you know obviously doesn't have particularly overwhelming stuff but he throws enough quality strikes and ends up carving himself out a roll on the back end of a few rosters for like, I don't know, half a decade or so. I would say this. And this is probably something that's going to generate some discussion. Joyce might have better stuff than Emerson Hancock. Like, I mean, it's not great. And keep on it, it's not great stuff.

But it's 92 to 94 with some sync. He actually gets value out of his fastball. Yep. He gets a ton of ground balls. He's at least 53% at every stop in the miners. he throws strikes, you know, he's going to get a lot of weak contact, generate a lot of, you know, not a ton of swing and misses, but enough to be relevant. He's probably number five.

He's probably that swing man type of guy. But, you know, there could be a tweak here. Again, we're not talking about a great ceiling guy. Like, he is here because he is a major leaguer. Like, that is why he's in the top 30. Like, he is going to pitch in the big leagues at some point. And he's probably going to be fine. like usable.

But I don't think he's going to be a stud or anything. I don't think there's much ceiling here, but there's a lot of floor. And I think you like the ceiling is like, is he, could he be like Nick Martinez or could he be like, um, Chris Devinsky could start a little bit,

but also probably belongs in the middle relief. Like it's, it's a sinker slider combo, right? Who throw a guy who sinker slider who throws strikes. Yeah. That's a major leader. So,

um, yeah, there's not a ton to be excited about, but Joyce is, totally fine prospect. All right. Number 25, Cole Phillips. So he easily would have been somewhere in the teens for the both of us. But of course, you know, the news came out about a week ago about his second elbow procedure. And because of that, I almost considered leaving him off entirely. You know, it's a huge bummer. And I really, really feel for the guy. But the reality is,

his last full season was all the way back in 2019 and he likely won't pitch another full season until 2026 at the earliest. Yeah. That said, he was already in the high 90s with his fastball at such a young age

and it's a really good athlete by all accounts. He'll be an interesting ball of clay for the mirrors. But the big question is, will they ever get the chance to mold him? Will they ever get the chance to actually you know, find out what he is. And also will his profile be the same

by the time that he gets back? There's just so many question marks now with Phillips and obviously there's just, you know, the history of guys that have had Tommy John twice. Yeah, I feel like again, I really feel for the guy. There's a lot of talent here.

But I just, I don't know if he'll ever be able to realize it because of how much time he's going to miss. It's again, between full seasons pitch, it's going to be seven years at the earliest. Right. And like the reason Phillips is still on the list, though, is it speaks to how good his stuff is. His raw stuff is talking upper 90s with a fastball, good breaking ball, good change up through strikes. Like he was a first round pick before the first injury.

It's just a bummer because had he not had the second, like if we were going to assume that he was going to pitch most of this year, he was going to be inside my top 15. Like I really like the stuff here. And now it's just a game where we have to wait and see, you know, how he, you know, how he rebounds. But after we do our re-ranks in July, he's probably not going to be on this list. He's probably going to get pushed off by a lot of the guys in this upcoming draft class. Or if he is on this list, it'll be, obviously he's not going up if you're not pitching. So it's a real bummer for Phillips.

And it's a bummer for the marriage too because the stuff, the raw stuff this guy has is, definitely it might be the best in the organization. Yeah. But we just haven't seen it and we won't see it until the earliest in the middle of 2025. All right. So we are going to be going over a few more prospects here. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Locktime Airs podcast is brought to you by Fandul. With football officially in the books and some time before baseball gets underway, why don't

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Just visit fenduel.com slash locked on and shoot your shot. That's fendual.com slash LOC, KD-O-N. Fanduel, official sportsbook partner of the NBA. And you're listening to the Locktime Airs podcast. Thank you again for making us your first. listen as we ranked Mariner's Prospects 30 through 21 and we continue things here with Alberto Rodriguez who is fine I think that's the best way to describe Alberto Rodriguez he's very clearly a fourth or fifth outfield type at this point you know he's going to

play average defense in a corner outfield spot he'll get on base a fair amount it's more doubles power than homers I feel pretty good about him being a major leaguer at some point. I just, you know, it's not a very impactful one. Yeah. He's interesting because he's produced.

Like, you know, he produced a Modesto. He went to Everett last year, produced a little bit there, not a ton of power yet, but he's probably going to end the year at double A, maybe even AAA,

maybe takes a big, a big jump. But he's a fringy defender in the outfield. Like, he's fine. Yeah. But he's pretty fringe out there. and like he's not going to kill you, but left-handed power,

it's a lot of 45 and 50s on the tools, which fine, like you're a good player of your 50 across the board, but he's got enough 45 in his profile, and it's a question about how much power he's going to hit for. And he's not going to hit with enough average and on base to not have any power coming to play. So he's kind of a tweeter a little bit right now.

This is a big year for him because basically either he's going to, you know, be a major leaguer after this year or he's going to be you know Jake Shiner right outfield Jake Shiner like he's just going to be a minor league 4A type of guy who maybe gets a cup of coffee in the big leagues this is a big year for him so I think he needs to finish at least in but or at least in Arkansas and he needs to have a good year in Arkansas otherwise the Mariners probably going to move on and and he's just worked out if he doesn't take a big jump this year but again he's produced everywhere he's played the last few years.

If he keeps on that track, he's probably going to get some big league time. It's just the idea that maybe the Mariners have found themselves an everyday starter or an everyday player in Rodriguez. It's just, it's not there. All right. Coming in at number 23,

Michael Morales. Morales, his secondaries have gotten a bit better, but he's still not getting much value out of that fastball. And this stuff as a whole really hasn't improved much since he entered the organization a couple years ago. He's just another one of those guys who's just kind of running in place right now. And that has me a bit torn on where to put him exactly,

because he's still very young, 21 years old, and he has plenty of time to take the steps he needs to, but it just hasn't happened yet for whatever reason. So right now I'm kind of just like he's a number five maybe. At best. Yeah. Like the idea when the Mariners took him is that he's young. He's got a good delivery. It's clean. Like he's going to throw strikes and he's already 88 to 91. Like, yeah, we're going to add a good weight. We're going to get the fastball velo up. We're going to maintain the athleticism and he's going to be a number four starter. Yeah. No. It's not been the case. He's been fine. But again, he repeated Modesto last year. And he didn't warrant a call. up to Everett at any point. So, you know, he probably starts this year in Everett, would be my guess. But the ceiling here is probably that of a number five starter, unless something happens. Does the slider get sharper? Does he actually finally add the fastball velo? He's 6-2-205. So it's not like he's got a ton of, you know, good weight left to add. So we'll see what happens with Morales. You know, again, this, we said this a lot. This is a big year for Morales in terms of prospect status. It's a running theme here in the back end of the top 30. Yeah. So Morales, to me, he's got to find a way to get to Arkansas this year.

Yeah. Because if he's not pitching in AA because he's earned it, then he's stagnated in the low miners. And it's unfortunate, but that's a guy you move on from. Like that. Yeah, you can't just, you can't have another season, a third season of not making any progress of not taking a significant step forward. You can't, you can't stagnate three years in a row. Yeah. Like, and so, you know, if he does again this year, then he's going to find himself in a different organization next year. And, you know, again, the idea behind drafting him was solid. And again, he's only 20.

I think he just turned 21. I'm like, so there's time, but he's not 17. He's not 18. He's not, he's 21. Like, it's time for him to start progressing in his career and he just hasn't yet. So he's on notice to fall off this list. But again, the size. repeatability of the delivery, the general ability to throw strikes.

Like it's all still there. Yeah. It's just, it's kind of put up or shut up time for Michael Morales. It's coming in at number 22, Brody Hopkins. Yeah. Yeah. I've talked to quite a few people who've told me Hopkins is the best athlete in the entire Marriars Farm system.

There's obviously the, you know, the viral clip of him jumping over the catcher. It's a score, which is sick. he played center field at Winthrop. He is very, very fun. Now, I don't think he's going to be doing all of that in Pro Bowl. It will likely focus solely on pitching. But if it was up to me, he would be doing all of that. He'd essentially be like a souped up version of early days Michael Lorenzen.

But that's probably not going to happen. He's probably just going to pitch. And while he's still new to pitching, there's some exciting stuff there upper 90s sinker with a real devastating slider I think there's a real shot for him to be a high leverage reliever one day and if anything I'm more than willing to bet on someone that athletic

to figure out some sort of role for themselves at the big league level yeah you know and you shouldn't you shouldn't discount the change up either like that also flash like he is yeah yeah he's relatively speaking very new to pitching and his numbers at Winthrop. Don't look at the numbers. Okay.

But like you're talking about a guy just from raw projection. Freak athlete, maybe the best in the organization. And keep in mind, this organization has guys like Tai Pete and Julio and like freaks, like literal freak athletes. And he's probably the best of the group. Who's already in the mid-90s with two different fastballs might get into

the hundreds with a 91 mile an hour slider sweeper, whatever you want to call it in a change up that shows real promise. Like if this, if Brody Hopkins had success in college as a pitcher, he was a first round pick. Like that is a first round great, easy. He just didn't. So you kind of have to teach him how to pitch.

And you're kind of starting from, from square one a little bit. So he's a guy that I'm going to have a lot of fun tracking this year. Because if he pops, like if it just clicks right away, like he could rock it to the majors as a high leverage reliever. and you shouldn't rule out the possibility that he can be a starter who with his raw stuff and his athleticism, he might be a number two starter. Like,

it's, it's in there. Now, can the Mariners get it out of them? I don't know. Like, I'd rather the Mariners take that shot than anybody else. But Hopkins is the guy who,

I mean, if he looks like he's figured something out, like on the mound. Right. And we do this in August again. Like, he might be top 10. Yeah, yeah.

If it starts to look like, oh, he can start, then yeah, everything changes. Everything changes. I'm more so see a high leverage reliever here, though, as the ceiling, but. Right. I mean, no reason to start him there. Like, let him start. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let him start.

They'll start the ear Modesto, I'm sure. But this guy, if the mariner's decide sometime, you know, to make him a reliever, they just make that transition. non zero chance he could pitch in the big leagues this year like he's like just in terms of raw stuff it's top three or four in the organization to go on top of being like the best athlete in the org like there's a lot of helium here there's also a huge floor oh yeah yeah so that's why he's back here um until we see him actually perform like we have a pitch jet yeah we have to heavily weigh the floor here until we actually see him do something but the fact that

he's this high at all with no pitching background essentially and no my no professional experience speaks to how like much of a freak he actually is so yeah hopkins is the guy that you guys are going to want to watch quite a bit this uh this spring and summer yeah i've heard nothing but great things about brony hopkins i everyone i've talked to you that would know just loves the guy thinks he's legitimately special. So it's very exciting. It's just he's so raw. I don't know what he's going to end up being if he's going to end up being.

If he's going to end up being anything. Before you trust it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But when you hear people talk about Brody Hopkins, it's hard not to get very excited about it. Yeah. All right.

Lastly on our list here for today, number 21, Levi Stout, who's back in the organization. Of course, was involved in the, Luis Castillo trade. And since that trade, he's been awful. Very, very, very, very bad.

He's really struggled to throw strikes. But the stuff is still pretty interesting. I think the Mariners right now view him as starting depth, but I think the way you're ultimately going to maximize his value is by sticking him in a bullpen. It's possible if all goes right, he falls somewhere in between, you know, a mid to high leverage reliever in the majors. It's kind of where I'm at with him. What about you?

Yeah, you know, it's 93 to 95 as a starter, kind of a mediocre slider and a really good splitter that he just doesn't throw that off. And I don't know if it's a feel thing or if it's, you know, maybe it's a health issue that he's worried about there. But to me, if he's going to reach his ceiling, he's got to find a way to find that split because the split is the one pitch he has that can actually generate whiffs. And if you're going to be a high leverage reliever, you have to strike guys out. like so you have to strike it and you have to throw enough strikes like he was awful last year at both like just that isn't it's not an exaggeration we're not you know hyping it up for a fact like he was bad garbage last year and he agrees so you hope by him coming back to the mariners an organization with a great reputation for developing pitching uh including stout who had some really good years for Seattle Stout's very happy to be back here apparently. It's where he wanted to go when he found out he got DFA. Like this is where his wife wanted him to go apparently.

Right. This is kind of the spot where he felt like these guys have a plan for me that I believe in. I can get back on track here. So we'll see. You know, he's no sure thing to even survive the next few weeks on the Ford of Man. So this is a real kind of, you know, J.B. Bukakis.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I remember how hyped I was about him. Like it's kind of like that where it's like, yeah, I like the stuff here. And, you know, he's kind of a sneaky prospect people are forgetting about. But it's got to click here pretty quick for him. But yeah, I do think he's going to end up in Tacoma in the rotation.

And I think at some point, you know, hopefully the walks get figured out. Hopefully they figure out how to get the splitter. And maybe they sharpen up the slider a little bit. There's enough here to look at and say, like, he could be a number four starter. Yeah, maybe. So I'm not as hyped on him, you know, as compared to like Brody Hopkins. but, right. Proximity has something to do with us.

Sure. But yeah, I mean, proximity, bad proximity is still bad. Right, right. So we'll see. Stout is definitely going to open up some eyes in spring training, though. So we'll see how it goes for him.

Yeah, we'll see. I totally understand why the mayor has made the claim and why they think they can help him because they already have once. So why not try it again? Right now, though, I kind of feel like, it's he he's much needed starting depth in their eyes you know he's probably the the second guy

after Hancock if someone goes down so yeah that's a whole other conversation but uh but yeah all right so that's going to do it for us uh again we'll be back tomorrow with prospects 20 through 11 some really interesting names in there so uh look forward to that uh thank you so much for joining us here on the lockdown mirrors podcast for colby pat note i'm tiding his allus be sure to give us follow on Twitter at L0 underscore mirrors. You can follow me at Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby at C-Pad 11. That's C-B-A-T-1-1. You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode.

Thank you again for making us to your first. Listen, have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you next time. Peace.