PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Ep. 12: When Will the D-backs Contend Next?

Episode Date: August 30, 2019

We discuss David Peralta's season-ending surgery and what it means for his future with the organization. We also try pinpoint when the D-backs' next contention window will be and explain why you should go see an Arizona Fall League game this fall. 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.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 12 of the Rattle podcast. As always, I am your host Jesse Freeman along with Jeff Weiser, the co-host here of the Rattle podcast. And Jeff, we're going to go ahead and lead off here on The Rattle with a very, very interesting tweet that you quote tweeted over to me just several days ago. And it says this, it's by at stats by stats on Twitter. They said the Diamondbacks have been within two games of 500 plus or my mind. every day going back to June 19th.

Their streak of 57 consecutive games played within two games of 500 is the longest in a single season in MLB history, surpassing the 56 straight of the 2007 Oakland Athletics. And I believe, Jeff, if my calculations are correct, this tweet three days ago, I think the Diamondbacks have played two more games since then. So that streak is probably at 59 as we speak right now. and we were talking about this literally on our last show that the Diamondbacks have been, I think I put it this way, I think I said the model of mediocrity. They have been so consistently in the middle for so long this season.

And Jeff, with this tweet that you found, now we have the data to back that up. Yeah, I mean, it was a feeling that I know that you and I both had, And, you know, as we've tracked the team's record throughout the year, it was just kind of something that I think organically came up between us. And it was so funny to see, like, a day and a half later to see it come out as, like, some historical mark. And I was literally like, oh, my God. Like, I had no idea.

It was this big of a deal. But, you know, I've got a lead on the Dodgers right now. I mean, if they win, it's going to put them two games over. Another win would break the streak. So, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know whether it. at this point, you know, with their playoff odds being with it.

I don't know if I root for the streak or do I root for wins. I'm not sure yet. Yeah, you mentioned the playoff odds. We'll get into that real quick. The Washington Nationals, I believe, have been pretty much the best team in baseball going back to the end of May. You know, the three-headed monster of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasbourg, Patrick Corbyn. Pretty obvious. There's no surprise that this team finally found a way to catch fire now that they have some bullpen help as well.

but the diamond backs have really, really struggled to really stay in the thick of this race. You can make the argument that they're still kind of right there in a way. As we speak right now, the diamond backs are five games out of the wild card race. But for me, Jeff, you look at the team that they're chasing as of this moment, the Chicago Cubs. They're 72 and 61. And, you know, we're sitting here joking about how the diamondbacks have been within two games of 500. for longer than any team in baseball history, it is really, really hard to imagine.

Even though five games seems like a surmountable mountain to climb, you know, comparing that with the Cubs being 11 games over 500 and what the Diamondbacks have done to this point this season, you got to feel this feels pretty unlikely at this point for the Diamondbacks. Yeah, they'd certainly need to go on some kind of a run that, you know, throughout this season has been, frankly, unprecedented for them. And it's just been really interesting, you know, we we we as we were talking um you know they've they've gone they've they've had like fits of hot

and cold in years past and it's been hard for us to identify you know what the true talent level of the team was this year they've just gone right down the middle of the road like almost the entire way and so um it's you know in a sense it's it kind of almost provides a little more faith in the in our analysis of of what they are um and our feeling of what they are um and our feeling of what they are. And, you know, if they had been hot and cold, you might say, well, you know, they've been hot before. Maybe they'll get hot at the right time.

Right now, you'd be really asking them to do something that they haven't done all a year, you know, also while they're, you know, frankly, a little bit short-handed. Some big news did come out recently for the Diamondbacks. It was announced that after just seemed like very consistent, kind of off and on, struggles with his shoulder. David Peralta has been determined we'll have shoulders. shoulder surgery that will end his 2019 season. He is, I believe, expected to be ready for spring training 2020. Obviously, a long road ahead for David Peralta in recovery from that

surgery that he's about to have. So, Jeff, it was kind of a tale of two seasons from my standpoint for David Peralta. At the beginning of the year, he was, seemed to be his usual self, you know, the best David Peralta that we've seen coming off a year when he was, won the Silver Slugger Award as an outfielder. But this season in the second half, he started having some shoulder issues off and on throughout the year, and it just seemed like this is something that the Diamondbacks wanted to take care of once and for all. And I know there's also, you know, maybe some potential implications for this as far as the

Diamondbacks future goes, because, you know, it's going to be really hard for the Diamondbacks to move David Peralta going into an offseason, you know, when he's coming off shoulder surgery, or at least he will be come the winter. And so frankly, Jeff, it's probably fair to say that David Peralta is still on this roster in 2020 as a Diamondback Southfielder. And on top of that, that's probably not that bad of a thing. Yeah, I would agree with that. I don't think it's, you know, a terrible thing by any means.

I do think it's perhaps, you know, bad timing, and there's never good timing to have the shoulder go. but it's maybe bad timing because this was maybe the time when they could have still moved him I still think his trade value was was going to be quite low I don't know that the market for him ever necessarily really materialized in the way that some thought it might his age just plays such a factor in that and now you add this injury history you know it's just really really challenging he's 32 now it's just this is really tough so I do think that we're probably pretty safe to assume that we can pencil him into left field for opening day of next season for 2020.

And that's a fair consolation prize. But, you know, he was even, you know, a little bit underwhelming. And you made a good point. I mean, it just, you could see it really starting to kind of take a toll on him. And it's, it's unfortunate. You know, David has been such a, you know, vital piece of the engine of the Diamondbacks's offense. and for him to just, you know, kind of go quietly in the night, you know, is kind of sad for him. But, you know, they'll get him back next year and they'll see what he does.

And, you know, they'll always have the option to trade him at the trade deadline if the value grows. But this is kind of a blow for them in the sense that his value is taking, you know, even more of a dip, considering the context that already probably, you know, drug his value down to begin with. on the bright side for the diamond backs as far as their major league roster is concerned this is maybe not something that's been super noticeable lately is you know the diamond backs have been up and then down and then up and then down but one guy who has really stood out for me over the last week or two is christian walker he's coming off over his last seven games he's 10 for 23 only three strikeouts over that span which i think says a lot for him a guy who

obviously he's had a lot of swing and miss in his game ever since coming up. But Christian Walker, Jeff, you know, he's not what Paul Goldschmidt was, nor do we think, you know, did we ever think he would actually become that. But he has turned into a very steady presence for the Diamondbacks offensively, 266 with the average on-base percentage now up over 350, slugging almost 500. He's a, you know, a valuable player to have at your major league roster. and obviously, you know, maybe not a superstar, probably not even an all-star, but for a guy who spent as long as he did in AAA trying to figure things out and get back to the major leagues after several years ago,

he appeared in the majors with the Orioles, which I think a lot of people don't know. He was in the majors way back when he was about 24 years old, I want to say. But for him, it's been a long road, and for the Diamondbacks to get even this kind of production out of him, I think, says a lot about. about just how much he has been able to grow over the last few years. Yeah, I think the hard part with Christian Walker is that he has run hot and cold at times. We've seen some prolonged slumps and we've seen some periods like the one he's in right now where, you know, quite frankly, he's kind of a force to be reckoned with. So, you know, he's 28.

I don't think that that's so old that he can't still improve some. I think he hasn't seen a lot of major league pitching. And while you're right, I mean, he did debut back in 2014, so he's not a rookie now. You know, he didn't play very much. I mean, he played just a hair over 50 games from 2014 through 2018 at the major league level. So I do think there's maybe some room for improvement yet with him. I'm not ready to close the book there. I just think that with more exposure, more excessive.

experience, there might be another gear left for him. And even if there's not, he's a serviceable option to stick at the first base, you know, spot in the lineup and, and play them, you know, fairly often. And you know what you're going to get. I mean, he's going to give you most of the time a pretty good at bat. And there's always the chance that he's going to put one out of the park. So I think he's been kind of a, you know, I don't know, maybe quietly a pleasant surprise.

But he also plays at the league minimum. He's extremely cheap, very affordable for this team. And it's good to see him, you know, continue to show some of that growth, some of that competitiveness throughout the course of the year, where at times things have been difficult for him. He's never, you know, he's never given up. I mean, the guy fought like hell to get here, you know, get back here in the first place. And, you know, it gives me a little bit of hope that there's still a little bit left for him.

If only you could face Clayton Kershaw every single night, right? Yeah, I mean, what was it? It was Goldschmidt was, you know, owned Tim Linsacom and now Christian Walker owns Clayton Kershaw. So there's something going on at first base for the Diamondbacks. Oh, absolutely. Let's go ahead and kind of switch gears here to more of the future outlook with this Diamondbacks team.

We're not, you know, never say never. We're not going to tell you the Diamondbacks in 2019 aren't making the playoffs. But I think at the same time, this is, you know, a good. good time to think about the diamond backs long-term future and when exactly they can hop back into a contention window and jeff you and i were talking before just a few moments ago before we got on the air about how what made the diamond backs a contender a couple years ago was that they had a number of players under team control affordable all at the same time and that seems to be the ticket as far as You know, if you're especially like the Diamondbacks, a relatively small market team, that's what you're going for.

You're looking for a lot of very high-quality players that aren't going to break the bank and that all hit their primes at roughly the same time. And the Diamondbacks seem to have at least a couple guys on their roster right now who can contribute to their long-term future. I'm thinking mostly about Carson Kelly and Catel Marte, Eduardo Escobar. also of course around for a couple more years after this one he's of course had a great season for the diamond backs as well but jeff talk to me a little bit about what you see when you look ahead for the diamond backs maybe it's not 2020 maybe it's not 2021 it's a little bit hard to pinpoint exactly at this point but when do you see if you had to throw a guess out there when do you see the diamond backs jumping back into a position where they really could contend on a consistent basis

Yeah, I think they're in a spot right now. I mean, if we look ahead to 2020, they're in a spot where they're going to, there's, there's going to be a good bit of an exodus of talent, you know, barring some sort of late extensions. They're going to lose, you know, David Peralta. They should lose. They very well may lose Robbie Frey, Taiwan Walker, Jake Lamb, Stephen Sousa, who, you know, unfortunately just hasn't been able to contribute much. Nick Ahmed is there.

you know, Andrew Chafin, you know, and to an extent, even the guy like Archie Bradley. So if we sort of look at that, you know, those are, those are a lot of shoes that are all going to need to be filled right around the same time. And that would really be kind of the transition from the 2020 to the 2021 season. That's going to be really tough for them to supplement. I think there's enough talent coming back when you list those guys and you look at who may be kind of close. to returning either from injury or maybe, you know, coming up from AAA, that they can maybe make another push in 2020. But beyond that, there are going to be a lot of holes to fill.

And I do think that'll take a little bit of time for them. I just, I don't see any way that they can reload that quickly. And just kind of with, you know, their model as an organization under Mike Hazen, trying to turn more into a team that drafts and develops and, you know, really tries to build their strength from within. The only problem with that is that it takes time. And so that makes things a little bit tricky for them, depending on how some of those assets mature, you know, specifically, you know, how some of those players improve and either avoid or struck by injuries and whatnot. So it's a really, really tough, tough business for them that I can be able to. to buy their way back into, you know, being contenders right away. So, you know, as I'm looking at it,

I'm not sure I really haven't answered yet. But as we were kind of feeling it out and just kind of spitballing, I mean, it sort of feels like there may be a little bit of a dip coming, especially after 2020. And it might not be until 2022 that the team is really there. But, you know, we've talked about the minor leagues. We've talked about the talent that's been building. A lot of it is still, you know, a couple years away. And so when you sort of do that math, you think about when some of those guys will be ready. You know, you kind of look, okay. Well, I mean, they've just got Zach Allen who will be under team control.

I mean, Luke Weaver still has a bunch of team control. I mean, there are some things to look at there. And you think, well, maybe by 2022, they're actually pretty good again. So, you know, I do think they can be strong in 2020. But we might see a little bit of a dip here. And then it starts to build again. But, you know, Mike Hazen's not a good job of keeping us guessing. so the fact that I don't have an answer, at least a hard answer, is not as uncomfortable as it may otherwise be.

Yeah, well, it took us quite some time to try to figure out what they were doing at the trade deadline. So, you know, trying to piece together what the Diamondbacks in 2022 will look like is certainly a whole other matter. But one thing I will say, I think maybe something that we can start with is just kind of diving a little, deeper into their farm system from a positional standpoint. You look at the diamondbacks, I guess we'll start in the outfield. Obviously, these guys are far away and prospects are very, very far from a short thing, especially with how many of them the diamondbacks have at the lower levels. But right now, you've got Alec Thomas, Christian Robinson, and Corb and Carroll. According to MLB Pipeline, those are the Diamondbacks, three best prospects all in a row right there. Obviously, those

guys are a number of years away. You're probably looking at 2022 for Thomas and Robinson around there, maybe 2023 for Corbyn Carroll, who was drafted out of high school. So obviously a long ways to go there. But nonetheless, those are some pretty good names that I think scouts think very highly of. You look elsewhere on the team. The Diamondbacks do have Seth Beer, seems to be at least an interesting piece at first base. If he's able to figure some things out defensively, certainly has a big bat that the teams have liked a lot. He might come around maybe even a little sooner, maybe 2020, potentially next year, maybe 2021. We'll have to see how that plays out. Dalton Varshow, I know, is someone that you and I are both very, very high on,

especially with the season he's had this year out at AA Jackson. He could be a catcher. He could be in the outfield. Heck, I've heard some guys even saying he could maybe play some second base at the major league level just due to his athleticism. So Dalton Varshow is a guy who's obviously a little bit closer. Maybe a guy we'll see next year. He's not that far away. Geraldo Pardomo kind of going now around the infield a little bit more. The shortstop potentially a diamond back shortstop of the future.

He's had a great season this year between Cain County and Visalia. 278 average with a 400 on base percentage. He walks a lot. I believe, yeah, in fact, more than he strikes out, he steals bases. He's a good defender. So he certainly has some exciting things to offer. Leo Ver Piguero, who I know is another guy who's pretty far away. He's down at Hillsborough at the moment, but he's an exciting piece that the diamondbacks also have in the middle infield.

And Jeff, I'm really just kind of starting. I'm kind of just scratching the surface. There's Levi Kelly, there's Corbyn Martin, there's Luis Frioss, Blake Walson. there's some interesting pictures. There's Brennan Malone. There's another guy, Matt Tabor, someone who's maybe a little closer. You know, the Diamondbacks, obviously all these names are so far from a short thing. And we have to protect ourselves from getting too carried away with all these names.

And, you know, it's fun to scroll up and down a top prospects list. You can get into it pretty easily, as I well know myself. But at least for nothing else, the Diamondbacks have some. some names that at least offer some intrigue for the future a few years down the road. And that's something they haven't necessarily had a whole lot of as of late. Absolutely. I mean, yeah, you can just keep going. I mean, it's pretty interesting the way the farm system is turned around.

And we know that the attrition rate on all these guys, and especially for the pitchers, is incredibly high, whether that's due to injuries, you know, guys showing up and looking good at a low level and then, you know, figuring out that, hey, it's pretty hard to hit a change up as they get up the ladder. But, you know, I like to think of prospects in some ways. I mean, you know, beyond the human element, but from sort of a team building element as, you know, basically lottery tickets with, with, you know, different odds attached to them. You know, you feel like the odds attached to a Dalton Varshal lottery ticket are pretty good. You can go to Missoula and find like Wildard Petino and say, well, you know, the kid had a good pedigree when he was signed.

He looks physical. His stats are great. But he's also just 18. So maybe you don't like those odds so much. But there's so much there. You just have to figure that, you know, the law of averages and the way the dime backs have, frankly, have been pretty good at identifying talent. Some of this is going to pay off. And so there's just so much there now that they did.

didn't exist, you know, frankly here a couple of years ago that it is really encouraging. The hard part is knowing which of the guys, you know, which of those bets pay off and which of them don't. One guy I'd like to just kind of throw on the radar that even I've been maybe under, you know, underlooking a little bit is Andy Young, who's been at Reno was part of the Paul Gulchman trade. And his season has been really strong. He got promoted to, he got promoted to Reno here a couple of months.

back has played just over 60 games in Reno and already has almost 20 home runs. I know the AAA baseball has, you know, followed the trends of the Major League Baseball because it's the same ball. He plays a lot of his games in Reno, places like Albuquerque, but the kids clearly doing something right. And so, yeah, you have to start, you know, kind of feeling good about it. And all that really, you know, informs the levels or the decisions that will be made at the major league level, it all has an impact. So we're sort of, you know, at least in my time

covering the team, sort of almost in uncharted territory because I've never really covered the team when the farm system has been, quite frankly, this deep and this strong. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I guess part of that is that the Diamondbacks farm system has been, you know, less than desirable for quite some time. You're so polite. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, we could use other words. but yeah but i mean it also speaks to how good it is right now like you know this is not just you know an improvement over the days at the diamondbacks having the worst farm system in

baseball this is a top five at least top 10 a farm system depending on who you talk to and there's certainly some excitement uh with this team down in the farm than then there has been as of late uh jeff kind of switching gears back to the majors who are maybe a guy maybe you maybe you two guys that you think have something to prove or play for down the stretch. It could be a guy who's already has a major league job or it could be someone who could potentially get called up from the minors. I'm curious if there's anyone who comes to your mind who you think is someone that the listeners should really be paying attention to down the stretch.

You know, for me, there's two guys that came to mind most immediately. I know there's more than that. But the two that came to mind for me is one we've mentioned, Christian Walker. I don't think the team has any real firm grasp on who's going to own the first base position. You know, is that Christian Walker? I don't know that it's Kevin Carillon, but his name and brother remains in the mix. But Pavin Smith has quietly been better. Seth Beer, you mentioned, you know, there are going to be a lot of candidates here ready to take that position over come, you know, mid-2020.

So I think if, you know, I know what Christian Wall is. Walker's been through to get to this point. I think if he wants to hold on to it, he really needs to continue to impress. He's done well thus far, but the more he can show, the better for him. The other guy I'll mention is Jake Lamb. And Jake Lamb has missed a lot of time. He's just, there's frankly been, you know, just a lack of it bats with all the time that he's missed. And in his return, he hasn't looked especially good.

He's entering his third arbitration season, and I just see him. as a guy that with Eduardo Escobar doing what he's doing on the contract that he's on, I think Lamb could find himself non-tendered, you know, this offseason. And, you know, that's unfortunate. You know, it looked like he was going to be a cornerstone at one point in time. But, you know, some of the struggles against lefties coupled with the injuries and, you know, it just may not work out for him long-term in Arizona. Yeah, it's crazy to think that Jake.

Lame was an all-star for the Diamond Games just a couple of years ago, just how quickly things can change for a guy like Jake Lamb. I'm sure, you know, a huge part of that is obviously that he's been a little bit one-dimensional since being called up from the minor leagues a few years back. He's the kind of guy who hits right-handed hitting or right-handed pitchers, excuse me, really well. But the lefties, as you mentioned, have been a problem. The defense gets you by, I guess, but it's never been something.

spectacular. So obviously Jake Lamb is the kind of guy who really has to be pounding the ball against Ritees in order to really be able to stick on a major league roster for any length of time. So that'll definitely be interesting to see play out down the stretch. I think for me, I don't know if it's really a name necessarily. It's kind of a lot of names. I think it's very interesting to, it's going to be very interesting just to see what this. diamond backs to do with this pitching staff come next season because they have certainly no shortage of options in the mix if luke weaver can get healthy and taiwan walker can get healthy now you've got zach gallant and marl kelly and mike leek and uh and the list just goes on beyond that

robbie ray of course still with another year of team control the diamond backs have a lot of options with this pitching staff and i think there are some guys uh who are who are really going to be for their spot next year down the stretch. We saw Mike Leak have a really good outing against the Giants the other day, which I think in our last show we were talking about just how much he struggled since joining the team, but seven in the third innings of one-run ball from Mike Leak. That was certainly impressive to see Merrill Kelly. I think Tori Lavello is last time out.

It kind of alluded that Merrill Kelly might lose his job potentially at some point. But he, for whatever reason, still started the game against the Dodgers. as we speak today. So that's certainly going to be interesting to follow. Jeff, I'm curious what your thoughts are on this. The Diamondback certainly lots of options going into 2020 with the pitching staff. And it's not real clear how exactly this is going to shake out. Yeah, I don't know.

It is tricky. I mean, there's just so many questions to be answered around how a guy like Taiwan Walker comes back. I mean, it looks like Luke Weaver is still intent on trying to pitch this. season. I'm surprised that the Diamondbacks haven't like just shut that down entirely. Yeah. But they, you know, I guess in some sense

you want to keep the guy motivated in his rehab. So that's interesting. There's a lot of names and I just, I don't know, you know, kind of who's going to survive that. There just are a lot more questions and answers and, you know,

it's probably going to be spring training next March filled with, you know, conversations of who's going to make the opening day rotation. I was looking recently, and, you know, John DePontiers really had a hard time in AAA. He's been walking quite a few batters. And they've kind of moved him into a shorter relief role. And they're letting him, it looks like maybe pitch a little more often in that shorter, shorter role. I don't think that means the organization is converting him to a relief pitcher.

But based on his health and kind of, you know, know the question marks there it looks like they're comfortable letting him just kind of work in that shorter role probably for the rest of the season so I don't have a lot of answers I'm really perplexed I mean I think it's a situation where though you know there's room for someone to step up and really kind of impose their will you know on on the rotation and really claim claim their spot. I do think sometimes that competition does breed excellence, but sometimes there's a competition and it just doesn't look like there are any great candidates. So you just kind of need to really hope that someone takes a big step forward because they have a lot of quantity, but the

quality may lack a little bit. Last thing here on the Rattle that we definitely want to touch on is that just a few days ago, the rosters for the Arizona Fall League were officially announced for the Diamondbacks. I'll go ahead and read the names that will be joining the Arizona Fall League from the Diamondbacks here. First baseman Seth Beer, who we discussed earlier, Geraldo Pardomo, the shortstop, Jake McCarthy, the Diamondbacks outfielder. They drafted several years back and pretty high up in the draft. Miguel Aguilar, left-handed pitcher Matt Brill, a righty, Matt Peacock, also a right-handed pitcher, and then Cody. Reed, who the Diamondbacks drafted way back in 2014, the Lefty. He's also going to be in the Fall League for the Diamondback. So, Jeff, altogether, we've got seven names here.

Probably the headliners, you'd say, are probably Seth Beer and Geraldo Perdomo, who we've discussed and who certainly have a chance to contribute at the Major League level here in probably just maybe a couple years. But go ahead and Jeff, just take us through this list and who kind of sticks out to you? Yeah, I mean, I do think Pardomo is probably the guy that, you know, folks will have their eye on between him and beer. I think those are, you know, you're accurate. Those are probably the two guys that, you know, will make the biggest waves.

I'm just looking at the roster. I mean, Pardomo is, I believe, the youngest player on the roster. He was born in late October of 1999. If that doesn't make you feel old and should. Um, but yes, I mean, he's about a full year younger than me. Yeah. I like to think I'm pretty young, you know, hosting a podcast and everything, but Eraldo is about a couple years away from the major leagues right now.

I know. I think he's only, uh, two years younger than me. So I'll just keep telling myself that. Um, yeah, no, uh, I think those are the two, the two biggest guys there. Um, and there seems to be, you know, there's, there really is kind of a pattern for who ends up in the fall league. there tend to be sort of themes, trends, you know, whatever you want to call it, that lead people, you know, to the fall league.

On the pitching side, quite often, it's guys that have missed a significant amount of time during the season and the organization simply wants them to be able to make up some innings. So that's one of the things I always look for. And you talk about a guy like Aguilar or, um, You know, maybe a guy like Matt Peacock, maybe didn't quite get the workload they were looking for, although he did set an innings high this year. You know, maybe they're just just looking for a little more. But Matt Brill certainly has missed some time.

So a lot of the arms seem to kind of fall into that category of guys are just trying to stretch out. I do think Peacock is kind of a sneaky prospect. He's quite the ground ball machine. Not a ton of strikeouts, but manages the walks and gets a ton of ground balls probably is a release. leave prospect long term, but very well may have a major league future. I do like Jake McCarthy. You know, he missed a lot of time to injury this season. I missed him when I was in Vaisalia. He had just gotten hurt and I didn't get a chance to see him, but I do remember watching him in Hillsborough. So he looks like he's making up for lost time to some degree. So I think that that kind

of makes sense. One thing I'm very interested in seeing work out with Pardomo on the roster, is the roster also features Royce Lewis, who is, you know, arguably probably the twins' best prospect or one of them, and it's one of the very best prospects in baseball. So I'm not quite sure how they're going to manage that workload. It might be interesting to see Geraldo Pardomo line up at some other positions, but, you know, some sort of timeshare will have to take place there because those are, frankly, two of the best prospects on the entire roster. Yeah, one thing I certainly,

would say to all of our listeners out there is these games are absolutely worth going to. You can attend all of these games. They're basically just hosted at various spring training facilities around the Phoenix metro area. So these games are not hard to get to. They're extremely cheap. I think a ticket is probably not more than about $10. So go out and watch these games. You know, Seth Beer, Geraldo Perdomo, Jake McCarthy. Some of these guys are players the Diamondbacks really could legitimately be looking to here in just a few years down the road. And it's certainly a cool opportunity to be able to see them in action a couple years ahead of time. Jeff, I know both you and me have had an opportunity to be out there at different times.

I had a credential a few years ago back when I was still in the Arizona area during the fall and I wasn't at college yet. But it was a fantastic experience. It's a very intimate environment. There's really not a lot of people that go for whatever reason. And from my standpoint, I think the Arizona Fall League might be one of the best kept secrets in all of baseball because it really is fun to watch and it's really, really easy on your wallet as well. Yeah, I totally agree. I think it's the most intimate baseball experience you can have with players of this caliber.

You're never going to get to see some of these players this up close and personal. I mean, you know, it's it's so quiet. You can sit pretty much anywhere in the ballpark and, you know, hear the, you know, hear the pitcher grunt when he delivers the ball. You can, you know, you can hear the catcher talking to the umpire between pitches. I mean, it's incredible. And now I'll never forget my first AFL experience. I was at the time when Javier Baez was kind of like peak, peak prospect Javier Baez. and I settled into my seat.

I showed up just a few minutes late, and the very first pitch that I saw throw to him, he hit way up the batter's eye, you know, 410 feet plus to dead center field. And I was just like, oh, my God, like all those things that I've been reading about this guy for years. I just saw it with my own eyes, and it was an amazing experience to see that. Now, I mean, Javier Vias is clearly a very special player at the major league level. but I'll never forget seeing it when he was still just a kid in the minors. And I would certainly encourage everyone to get out there.

You know, go see the Diamondbacks prospects, but, you know, don't be afraid to stray from that roster. I mean, they're a great guys playing all over the place, and it's really, really enjoyable. Yeah, I would really encourage it. Ladies and gentlemen, that's all that we have here for this 12th edition of the Rattle Podcast. Thank you so much as always for listening. If you haven't already, be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at the Rattle-A-Z. You can also, we don't normally mention this, but you can find me on Twitter personally at at Jesse and Friedman.

Jeff, if I'm not mistaken, at Outfield Grass 24. You got it. There it is. So be sure to go ahead and give us all a follow on Twitter. We'd love to interact with you there following the show. Be sure to as well check out our website, www. the rattle.net.

Jeff just wrote a great article there as well, so be sure to go ahead and check that out. Once again, we say thank you so much for listening, and we'll be back next week to talk more about the Arizona Diamondbacks.