PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Is Merrill Kelly the Most UNDERRATED Pitcher in Baseball? MLB Thinks So

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Diamondbacks fans have always known how valuable Merrill Kelly is, but now the rest of MLB is catching up. After being named to MLB’s 2026 All-Underrated Team, we break down where Kelly truly stacks up among the league’s best starters and why he continues to be one of baseball’s most quietly dominant pitchers.We’re also joined by D-backs pitching prospect Kohl Drake, who opens up about his journey through the minors, his pitch mix, and what it’s really like becoming teammates with the player you were traded for just months earlier. Plus, we’ve got the latest World Baseball Classic roster updates and why Damon’s Dominican Republic squad might be the biggest threat to Team USA.0:00 SkeeYee!!! 2:00 Top prospect Kohl Drake joins the show! 11:20 Role of analytics in modern pitching 19:30 First impression of pitching coaches 33:10 Merrill Kelly = most underrated SP 46:15 Horrible bullpen trend in Arizona 49:30 New signing: RP Derek Law 59:50 World Baseball Classic updatesJOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsportsMERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-lockerALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of PhoenixPHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/Phoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order!Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotesbet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

MLB.com is trying to tell us something we already know, which is Merrill Kelly is the most underrated pitcher in baseball. No secret to us, DeBacks fans, but we're going to talk about it. We're also going to be joined by DeBax pitching prospect, Cole Drake, to talk about his journey and essentially being teammates with the man he was traded for. All of this right now, don't you go anywhere. And happy Thursday to you all. Welcome into another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friend. at Circle K. It is I, your mayor of PHMX, occasionally known as Derek Montia.

Happy Thursday to you all. Thrilled to have you guys with us. Thrilled to be joined once again by the jelly to my peanut butter. The one, the only Damon Dogg, aka Damon Farrell on the ones and twos. Bark, bark to you, Damon Dog. Bark, bark. Y' all right today?

Yeah, I'm doing great. How are doing? I'm pumped because we are joined by the Diamondbacks, top Diamondbacks pitching prospect here momentarily. And we're also going to talk about Merrill Kelly. being underrated, like as if that's something we didn't already know, right? So we have more on Merrill being named to the MLB, all underrated team. But first, we are pumped to be joined by Diamondback's pitching prospect and a guy who has a little bit of a connection to one Merrill Kelly.

Cole Drake. Cole, thank you so much for joining us, man. Appreciate you taking the time. Hey, thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here. Hey, I know it's no Astin Martin DB12. I got to see you do an interview driving that car. This is already probably a little bit of a let down, but I promise I'll try to keep the energy up. Hey, you know, all interviews are fun. You know, anywhere you can do them, it's great. You know, that was a fun. Just as fun as this one. I appreciate it, man. So I guess, I know, I know you're a Dallas-Fort Worth guy. I know you kind of grew up in that area. So I imagine that, you know, being a part of the Rangers organization was a bit of a thrill. what was your reaction to, you know, being traded to the Diamondbacks?

Is it, I mean, how did you view that? I think, you know, everyone's initial reaction to being traded, you know, at first you're kind of in a little bit of shock, you know. Your whole world is changing. You're going to go, you know, become teammates with people you haven't met before. So, you know, I think my initial reaction was definitely shock. And then, you know, as soon as I kind of packed up my stuff and packed up my apartment in Round Rock and, you know, was heading to Reno. I think, you know, that's kind of when the excitement of, hey, you know, you're going, you're going somewhere new, a new opportunity, you know, potentially a better

opportunity for me, which is what I think it is. So that's what I, and that's how we feel right now, especially for all these young, talented prospects that are part of this organization. It's not to say the Diamondbacks don't have a direction, but it does feel like, especially when it comes to pitching, that the opportunity is wide open for you guys to have a shot to not only move up through the system, but to have a competitive chance at making the major league roster and being part of the starting rotation. For sure. You know, anything that we can do like in the minor leagues,

we're all trying to, you know, reach the major leagues with the goal to help the big league team win. So, you know, at the end of the day, that is the goal for me is to go up there and help the team win games. When did you realize along your journey that this baseball gig was going to be more than just, an extracurricular activity essentially?

You know, obviously growing up everybody, most baseball players, I should say, have the dream of pitching professionally and getting to the big league level. So I'd always dreamed of that in starting my career at a D2, which was pretty much the only opportunity that I had at a high school. You know, it kind of started the bottom. And I was fortunate enough to go through some training. after my freshman year and kind of saw a jump in some VLO. And so I took a shot and decided to go to Juko with the hopes that I can keep progressing

and potentially get drafted. And that's kind of what ended up happening. And I was very fortunate to say the least to get the time at those Jukos that I was at. Well, we did a little bit of a deep dive into your career when you first got traded over to the Diamondbacks. And I think one thing we were really impressed with was it felt like you continued to kind of bet on yourself as you went along in your career and when you had things kind of stand in your way that was that was essentially going to keep you from from reaching the level you felt you could keep you you made changes and all of that led you to this point yeah I mean uh COVID was kind of a big thing like

the the juco I was in in California I loved it there and I thought you know for sure that that was going to be a stepping stone for me getting into pro ball or potentially division one right um but with with COVID and not having a season I decided that what was best was to transfer to a school where I could play. And that happened to be Walter State. And, yeah, I mean, it was an unbelievable opportunity for me to go there for two years and kind of show my talents. Yeah, it was, it was amazing. Your career, you know, like I said, every time you seem to face some adversity when it comes to that.

And, I mean, that's such a weird thing for so many athletes to have dealt with, right, COVID, because that's not something necessarily that you can go to someone else that experienced it and get advice on. It was something that we, like, as an entire society, we're kind of figuring out as we went along how to get through it. But, like, that felt like that was, again, such a weird experience to have to go through and navigate through for someone, you know, who was still very young in their pitching career. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely kind of like you said, like in the situation I was at. I just had to kind of take a chance and hope that that was the right decision and it turned out to be. So very fortunate.

That's awesome. I know in the past you mentioned that there was a little league coach when you were young that also kind of had a big impact on this journey. I mean, was that like the first time that you realized that maybe like this again was going to be something more than just, you know, a fun sport you were playing? I mean, honestly, when I was younger, like, I just played to have fun. and I was fortunate enough to play on pretty good teams and travel bowl over in Texas. And, you know, we all, I think everyone on that team, we all had hopes and dreams of playing professional. And, you know, I was one of the only few that was fortunate enough to make it that far. But, yeah, I mean, all of the coaches that I've played for, I mean, all of them,

and they've all kind of pushed me to be the best pitcher and athlete that I could be for sure. Well, we were, like, we kind of do the sponsorship with big brothers, big sisters, and we were talking about mentorship just the other day. And like, again, like, you never know the impact that you can have on, you know, a young person's life as far as believing them in themselves or, you know, following their dreams. I think we all kind of get encouraged to do that. But at times, it's hard to stay on, on that path. And again, yours wasn't the typical path to this point, but you definitely, it appeared you did what you did what you. you needed to do to make adjustments throughout that time and to get where you're at. So and that's just in the decisions you were making. What was the biggest adjustment you made like that you found success with as you kind of went through these different schools and different programs you were a part of? I mean, for sure, like from my two years at Walters, the biggest adjustment that I knew that I needed to make from year one to year two there was I just needed to.

to strike more guys out and i needed to walk less guys that was that was kind of what i decided after my first year there that i needed to do in order to you know kind of give myself a shot to to get signed and so i was able to uh to achieve that luckily so that's that's awesome well is there a pitch right now that you're currently working on or i mean i go let's talk about your stuff in general let's before we go on tinkering what uh what's your pitch mix like for someone that might have never seen you throw before. Yeah, so just a kind of typical four-seat fastball. I throw a curveball that I just try to throw as hard as I can and then change up.

And a cutter that's always been a tougher pitch for me to throw. But at times, it's really shined and really been helpful. So always working on that pitch, sort of working on trying to get a slider going. But as of right now, the focus has been more on the cutter and kind of, of dialing that in for this season. Is it the grip that makes it difficult for you? Is that what's hard about like learning the different pitches or throwing the different pitch as well? Just for me, it's it's a tougher pitch to me because I'm a big cronator.

And so for me to kind of cut the ball, it kind of goes against what my body naturally wants to do. Right, right. And so fighting that and trying to kind of get it to move to the other side of the plate is what we're trying to do. and I think we're in a good spot with it right now, and we'll continue to work on it. That seems like something that would be effective if it's essentially like the opposite of what your body and your arm wants you to do naturally.

Yeah, I mean, it can definitely be effective, especially if it's just a lot different from the fastball. Right. Do you, I mean, does arm slot, like trying to make sure everything kind of comes out of arm slot the same? Is that also difficult with throwing those different pitches? It can be. for sure. I mean, sometimes

in my position, when you're trying to basically cut a fastball, you might tend to drop your arm a little bit. And so the battle is to try to keep the same arm angle and just kind of position

your wrist in a different way in order to get the cut action. That's interesting. It's interesting to me. I am not nearly as knowledgeable when it comes to pitching as my co-host at times can be, but I definitely dig, like, understanding it more and why it, not only is difficult because I think a lot of fans might just think, why don't you just throw that pitch, or why don't

you just change and do that? And it's much easier said than done. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Is there, like, are you an analytics guy? Do you, do you factor in analytics a lot, or how do you approach a start? I think, I think everybody has to factor in analytics a little bit. I try to go more off of feel and visuals, because that's kind of how coming up through Juko, you know, we didn't have analytics. So it was all feel and visual. So if it looked good and it felt good, you know, we kind of rolled with that and usually it would play good.

So at the end of day, I still go off of what looks and feels good. And then if the metrics line up, then that's just an extra plus. And if they don't, then we'll find a way to kind of try and get it all the lineup. Yeah. Did the analytics kind of just help once you started getting that as part of your game, like just to have that additional information? Yeah. Once I got into Pro Bowl and, you know, I kind of had to take a little bit of a class on analytics because I didn't know anything. Sure. So once I kind of learned all the analytics, it's definitely something that can propel you a little bit if you're, if you can understand all those numbers and everything. Yeah. I mean, we were talking about not too long ago, but it seems like it's one of those things that with baseball, it can be, you know, a, you know, a, you can be. you can have all the analytics on a hitter, but today could be their day.

Right? Like, so you never know when today is going to be the day that the guy's hitting, like, you know, 186 is going to have a four for four day. And I feel like you have to, the biggest thing is being able to adapt, yes, use that information and the knowledge of what their tendencies are, but obviously the feel of the game. And like you said, just being able to kind of, I guess, approach it like that with your experience, kind of gives you at least both ends of it a little more than maybe someone. that have more analytics as they were coming up.

But do you enjoy, I know you're kind of a strikeout guy, low walk. Do you enjoy attacking hitters or do you kind of like try to out think them? No, I definitely kind of just want to go after him. You know, kind of going back into the numbers, but the statistics on getting a batter into an 02 count are very far into the pitcher's favor than they are the hitter. So at the end of the day, that's kind of the goal is to get, strike one and then get strike two and from there just get an out. I mean, you kind of get to a

point where an out is just as valuable as a strikeout. So, I mean, strikeouts are fun, but outs are outs. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I know you also had a six-inning no-hitter. I was, listening to talk about that a little bit. I totally understand your perspective as far as like, it's still just a six-inning, no-hitter, but what did it feel like for you for you to go out there and get the job done that thoroughly at this level? I mean, to be honest, looking back on it, I was just kind of happy to get through the fifth inning. That's something that I haven't really done a lot in my minor league career so far.

So anytime I'm able to get into the sixth or seventh inning, you know, I take that as a plus, whether I've given up three runs or zero or struck out 10 or struck out four. I mean, as long as you're eating innings and taking some pressure off the bullpen. and the team is in the position to win. I mean, it's always a plus. Yeah, no, for sure, for sure. And again, is that due to, like,

you being on a limited pitch count or has it been, like, something you're trying to work down where you're trying to be more efficient? I mean, yeah, during that game specifically, we were on pitch count. I think it was 90 pitch max, something like that. And so, obviously, efficiency-wise,

you probably want to be a little bit less than that through six if you're trying to get deeper into games. which is ultimately a goal as a starter for sure for sure well what's your pre-start routine like do you have a are you a creature of habit where you do kind of the same thing before you start uh yeah i tend to i tend to eat the same thing beforehand um usually i go with a chipoli cassidia just something kind of light yeah nothing any carbs in that yeah you know you get you get some carbs some protein and it's not, you know, not too greasy or anything. Sure.

So that was kind of my go-to and pop an energy drink at some point before the game. Do like the same kind of warm-up mobility routine and the arm care stuff I do beforehand. It's all been the same for three years now. So it's always amazing to me how important that stuff is, but I totally get it, especially. Like when it comes to, we've heard from starting pitchers. that they don't like to get too amped up before a game. Do you find yourself? I know you said energy drink,

but do you try to still keep your like self at a certain kind of middle level? Yeah, I try to do everything to calm myself down. So I try not to listen to some super, you know, rock music or anything. Yeah, like some super hype music. I try to listen to stuff that's kind of going to calm me down because when I'm calm, that's usually when I'm kind of more locked in. Yeah.

So anything to kind of get the heart rate down just because I'm I get pretty pretty nervous for starts. I mean, I figure most most guys do. Sure. For me, anything to kind of get the heart right down and get into like a comfort zone for for me will help for sure. That's amazing. All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break and we're going to have more with Cole Drake on the other side of this break, including we got to talk to them about the Friscoe lazy river because you guys know I'm a big fan of that.

So we're going to do that on the other side of this break. Don't you guys go anywhere. You're watching the PHA next Diamondback Show. I'll tell you, we might not have Corvette money yet, but we'll have Corvette money soon. But if you don't have Corvette money, much like I don't have Corvette money, maybe we can all win one.

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project today. All right, Cole. We got a question from one of our viewers right now. I thought it was a great question from our guy, Books Journey. He said, what is your first impression with the new pitching coaches and the D-BACs organization? Have you had a chance to work with anybody here yet? I know you were obviously there in the minor league system, but what were your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, I got to work with Doug and Badge in Reno, and both of them are awesome. I love them. They, you know, the transition from the Rangers to the D-backs. They made it very, very easy, and they didn't put any pressure on me.

And the pitching coordinator at the time, he also made it a good, smooth transition. And right now, working with Cap and Dew, big league pitching coaches. I mean, they're awesome as well. They've been helping me dial in everything in these early kind of pre-spring bullpins and stuff. So I love all the pitching coaches so far that I met.

They're all super helpful. That's awesome. And I'm sure you're well aware of the PCL and Reno and the elevation and all of that. How do you approach kind of that challenge and do you just find yourself kind of mentally knowing that it's just a more difficult environment to pitch in? Yeah, I mean, you kind of have to understand it's going to be tough to pitch in certain stadiums in the league. It's just the way it is. You can't let it get to your head. you just got to go out there and pitch how you normally pitch, and usually you'll end up just fine.

I mean, if you let yourself get all worked up about pitching in Albuquerque or Reno or Salt Lake, wherever it is, like, you're not going to be able to perform well. I think my last outing was in Salt Lake last year before I went on the aisle, but, you know, that's 4,000 feet of elevation. You know, the performance was still there, so. Yeah. I mean, again, we, I think fans that, you know, keep an eye on the results or mostly the statistics kind of understand that as well

from Reno. We've kind of joked here that like a five ERA there is, you might as well be like a sub two in Major League Baseball. So, but again, this is just a fun time for the Diamondbacks, considering that you guys came over here and really you, Mitch Bratt and David Hagamon all have just substantially helped this system look so much better when you. when it comes to pitching. But I got to ask, what is it like to now potentially end up as a teammate with the guy that you were traded for here in Merrill Kelly? It feels like it could be possibility very soon for you.

Yeah, I mean, it'll be, you know, I think it'll be exciting. It's not very often that, you know, a guy gets traded and then ends up with the opportunity to be a teammate with him. Right. I actually met Merrill Kelly last week and, you know, he's a super nice guy. It seems like a guy maybe I could potentially get a few. tips from here in spring so we'll see for sure yeah he's a great guy and i don't know why but i definitely see you guys getting along very well but merrill's just a great teammate and a great dude to

talk to uh and overall i mean again this is a team where you know we've talked about the opportunity being wide open but uh you know from from your perspective uh it does it does it feel like you know joining the diamondbacks has kind of moved you that much closer to to the majors and being part of the starting rotation? I wouldn't necessarily say that it, you know, gave me a better opportunity. I mean, the opportunities are all the same. Everything is performing the least. You know what I mean?

So I'm sure now maybe if I perform well at the beginning of the season, if I'm back in Reno, then, you know, maybe I'll get a shot. I hope that I'm, you know, a guy that they can look to to hopefully come up and help win games. But, yeah, at the end of the day, like everything has performance. based so got to take care of what you got to take care of on your end essentially right yeah well i know we we talked a little bit about frisco and texas we visited uh friscoe as part of our trip over for the all-star game in 2024 it was a beautiful ballpark but my favorite part was the lazy river have

you ever had a chance to get into the lazy river there at frisco i mean i've definitely had the chance i can't say that i ever have um i know guys on his money days are off in the minor leagues. I know guys would go into the stadium and throw and then go sit out by the leg to that's right. I was fortunate enough that I got to live at home when I was in Friscoe so

I wasn't as close to the stadium as everybody else was. Right, right. But, you know, looking back, I kind of wish that I would have taken up on that opportunity at least one time. It was definitely a unique way to watch a baseball game. Luckily enough, Chase Field has a pull in it. So we can

we can maybe still make some sort of aquatic activity happen for you here soon. But just in regards to like you as a fan, is, is there anybody that you like kind of, I guess, not necessarily emulated, but was there a pitcher that you kind of looked up to and saw as a big inspiration in your career and just somebody that you were a fan of? I mean, I think in the time frame that I really grew up and loved baseball, that was like riding Clayton Kershaw's prime, you know, seeing him kind of dominate in those early 2010s and winning the MVP and the Siyang, I think, in 2014. I mean, it's hard to say that you don't want to be like that guy when you're 14 years old.

You know what I mean? But yeah, watching him dominate was awesome, especially because, I mean, I grew up. My parents are from the Bay Area. We grew up as Giants fans and watching him always dominate the Giants. sucked, but it was also fun to watch. Yeah. Yeah, it's like you hate it, but you got to respect it as well when he's as exactly. Yeah.

All right. Well, I got to ask you some fun questions just about the minor leagues overall. Did you have anybody that was like your funniest teammate? Has there been anybody that you have had that just kept the clubhouse kind of in stitches with their behavior? I can give you two answers. you one from the D-backs and one from the Rangers. All right, let's go. I would say for the D-backs, probably Dylan Ray.

He's pretty funny. He's just a big old goober. He loves that fun. And then with the Rangers, there was a guy, Gavin Collier, he was always, him and him and Ryan Lovis, they're probably tied. Ryan Lovis is one of my best friends, and he's just an absolute, like, they're both just goobers. They love to have fun, make everything fun.

Everybody around them has fun. So these are the people that help keep like, things into perspective, right? Like where you're sometimes just there's a lot, like you said, you got a lot of anxiety, perhaps, a lot of, you know, nerves and it's just good to have guys like that around that help lighten the mood. For sure. You know, anytime there's a tense situation, usually they can say something, and I'll just get a little chuckle out of everybody. That's my favorite. You're going to have a great time in the Diamondbacks Clubhouse. I'll tell you that much because there's a few of those guys. But if you weren't pitching, I know you've

played other positions, but maybe if you weren't pitching currently, what position you would you want to play or what position do you think you would be good at playing? Well, the only position I really grew up playing, especially once I got to high school, it's first base. I tried to say first base, although I would be a very bad hitter. I was a very bad hitter in high school. I'd probably just have to put a bunt down and hope that I could beat it out, to be honest. Were you glad the days of pitchers hitting went away? For me, yes. I always felt way more stressed, way more anxious about hitting. I felt like there was a lot more pressure to perform in that aspect than there was for pitching.

Maybe that's just because pitching became easier to me. Sure, sure. Yeah, as soon as I got to college and I was done hitting, I was just like, oh, thank goodness. Yeah, I can understand that. Well, what's one thing that DeBax fan should know about you that probably wouldn't show up on a stat sheet? Oh, I don't know. I think the guys at DLLS asked me this question, and I didn't, I didn't have an answer for him right away. But now, it's more of like a fun fact.

I don't have a cat, but I love cats. Like, I keep telling my girlfriend, you get a cat. I just, I don't know what it is about cats. I love them. They are game changers. Cats are amazing. We didn't own, like my wife and I, we've been together for a very long time, and we didn't have cats forever. And then once we got a cat, it's like we can't stop having.

We need them in our lives. And like, our current cat right now is honestly the coolest. cat I've ever owned just as far as like he comes to his name when you call him he almost acts exactly like a dog because he hangs out with the dogs all day long but what about baxter oh baxter yeah we got a cat as a mascot around here it doesn't make much sense but he is a cat and he is awesome as well so we're friends i'll introduce you don't worry about he's a bob cat he's a bob cat and it goes back to just to just to just to give you the history the ballpark here used to be called bank one ballpark So to shorten it, we called it Bob.

And they decided that instead of having a snake mascot, we would have a Bob cat, which in no way could be confusing at a later time when there's not that particular sponsor for the building. But we will never give up Baxter as our house cat around here. So we love him. Speaking of Chase Field, when you picture yourself pitching there, is anything come to mind? Like, is that something that like now that you're a part of this organization? you've kind of taken a look at that ballpark? You know, I've never gotten the opportunity to go there yet, but I do imagine hopefully if and when I debut,

I do get to do it at home. I think that would be awesome. Yeah. First I'm seeing Chase Field will probably during your debut be surreal, I think. They're making some electric changes over there, so it should be beautiful when the season starts. Well, before we let you get out of here, I just wanted to ask, what message would you give to young pitchers,

young players that are, you know, maybe end up following a similar path as you, not the same path, but a path that's non-conventional and at times involves some tough decisions for you to make it through and make it to where you're at. I mean, I'd kind of say what my dad would tell me during those times is, you know, trust your gut, work hard, and bet on yourself. Yeah. You know, those are those, that's all you can really do is trust your gut, bet on yourself and make sure you work hard.

Well, we appreciate you, man. Thank you for the advice and go adopt a cat. Let's get a cat in your life so that we can solve that thing. But again, man, Cole Drake, appreciate you joining us. Looking forward to watching your pitch in 2026, sir. Hey, thank you for having me. I look forward to it. Excellent, man.

Thank you again. All right. Well, that's amazing. And again, great to have somebody who is going to, you know, be such a big part of the Diamondbacks future. Hopefully. I know that, again, this farm system at times did not have. have, you know, maybe the prospects we were hoping it would, but that Merrill Kelly helped bring three solid players over, including Cole, as well as Mitch Bratt and David Hagamund.

So, but we are going to talk about another pitcher, a guy who we also brought back, and that was also part of that trade. One Merrill Kelly, he was named as part of the 2026 MLB, all underrated team as the starting pitcher, and of course he was, because Merrill Kelly is totally underrated. We're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHA next time in Beck Show. I never get through an episode of this show without being thirsty. And thanks to our friends at Circle K, I stopped by and wet my whistle because it is America's Thirst Stop.

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Love to play with Arizona lottery. Must be 21 or over to play. Well, Damon, we got news. and it's, I guess, I don't know how you want to consider it. I don't know if you want to say that it's surprising news. Probably not, but Anthony Castrovince released his annual, all underrated team for MLB.com. And these are the best players in baseball, essentially,

that did not appear on the MLB network's top 100 player list. So, of course, Nico Horner should be on there, right? Right? I don't think he is. But anyway, any of those guys on the top 100 list, they are eliminated from contention for this team. And while there are players on the list that could be higher or lower, you can't be considered a top 100 player and also underrated. Those things, as Anthony Castrovince would point out, would defy the Earth's metaphysical principles. So when we look at this list, there are some familiar names, names that Damon definitely wanted to add to this team during the offseason like Taylor Ward.

but the starting pitcher of choice for the all underrated team is Merrill Kelly. And of course, we know, we know Merrill Kelly is underrated. We know we here in Arizona underrate Merrill Kelly. Am I wrong about that, Damon? Like, I'm not saying we don't love him and appreciate him and embrace him as our own, considering how long his career, you know, has been here in the Valley. But like, even when talking about bringing Merrill Kelly back, I would say that a lot of people don't even know how good Merrill's numbers were with the Diamondbacks last year and where they compared to essentially the best pitchers in baseball.

Yeah, I mean, I think that maybe what we're talking about there, Derek, is in particular that, you know, people are not necessarily thrilled to just run back a team that didn't make the playoffs the last two seasons with high expectations. And I said that a lot. And that's not really fair to Merrill Kelly in particular. It's not. but I did say that that was going to be a factor quite a bit. I warned people that the biggest flaw with bringing Merrill Kelly back isn't his performance or it's not the concept of bringing him back, Damon, but it's the idea here that you're running it back with the same guys.

And I think he kind of gets thrown in to being a mediocre subpar pitcher with the rest of this staff when with the Diamondbacks he was quite excellent in 2025 with his 3.22 ERA and 22 starts, his 3.58 FIP, his 1.057 whip. These are all like incredible numbers. And Anthony Castrovince said, you know, that Kelly's long and winding road has him back in the desert. And that that's a good thing. This guy was drafted three times, David and I, three times out of different Arizona schools. First, he was drafted out of high school. Didn't like that. idea because he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 37th round of the MLB amateur draft. I didn't even know it had 37 rounds, Damon.

That's crazy. 37 rounds drafted by the Orioles from Desert Mountain High School. Isn't there 40? There is 40. Yeah. And then he was did a little better the next year. He was drafted by the Cleveland Guardians. I'm not going to say the name they have listed here in the 22nd round of the 2009.

The horror. Amateur draft out of Yavapai Carlin. college, which Damon was telling me before the show, actually does produce some pretty good ball players up there. Not a bad team for it being a community college. Yeah, look it up. Gavapai College has some pretty solid baseball program in history. Yeah. And then he was drafted once again in the eighth round of the 2010 amateur draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. So yes, Merrill has had a weird career, including playing in Korea and then coming over here for the Diamondbacks at a fairly late age in his career.

You know, he came back here at 30 in 2019 and gave him. the Diamondbacks, seven seasons. This will be his eighth season or six and a half seasons, if you want to count of being traded at the deadline there. Essentially, Merrill has only really been the Merrill that we've come to know in either the state of Arizona or in Korea. Correct. Like, that's his second home. That's the only place he's going to be good. Yeah. And he's good here, whether it's high school, community college, college, pros, but anywhere else in the United States, not, no, boy, no. No. No. No. No. But then you go to Korea and he's him again.

So, you know, Merrill Kelly, Korea and in Arizona, that's his, that's his winter, his summer home, Derek. In the last three seasons, Merrill Kelly has been right up there with Frambervaldez, Freddie Peralta, Logan Webb, and Ranger Suarez, as far as ERA Plus. Wow. In three seasons compiled, his data compiled here, it's a record of 29 and 18, 3.51 ERA and an ERA plus, it's 21% better than league average. His ERA plus ranks 12th in all of MLB in that span.

So over the last three seasons, Merrill Kelly essentially has been the 12th best pitcher in baseball. And yes, I mean, again, if you want to say an unsung hero, you know, guy that's just constantly been living in Zach Gowland's shadow as the ace of this team, when he was secretly the true ace over the past three seasons and did it in the way that I've described it, like the least sexy way possible, you know? Merrill just does his job. He's just a blue-collar worker that goes out there and his job is creating pitches and making outs.

That's his job. And like, I don't know. I think that maybe the fact that he is a bit older doing this at an older age, he doesn't have that like younger superstar status, right, where it's like, you know, a Justin Verlander or even a Max Scherzer where, you know, now at this age of their career, if they were still doing it at 37, you're like, damn, this guy's timeless. Like, when you look at Merrill stats, he's almost been getting better as the years have gone on.

And that's probably the most impressive thing about him, you know? Yeah. I mean, well, he doesn't have the miles on that arm that a lot of people would at that age, right? So I think that that does contribute a little bit. where like maybe he, his arm is more that of like a 34 year olds, 35 year olds than it is of, you know, a 38 year old at this point. And, you know, the Diamondbacks like, he's the success story of the Mike Hazen era, I think, when it comes to pitching. Like there is no other, like, I guess you could say trading for Zach Allen, you know, but you did give away a really good player in Jazz Chisholm as, you know, maybe as as frustrating of a player he can be at times. he is still a quality MLB player.

So, you know, I think Merrill Kelly, like, in terms of, like, savvy signings, like guys that worked out, you can't say that anyone even comes close to touching what he's accomplished. And so, yeah, we bring him back. I, you know, that stat that you said about the, you know, the, what was it, the, the, the ERA plus, or was it? ERA plus, yeah, yeah, wherever he was tied with Framber and Ranger Sores, that was extremely impressive. I mean, that's a quality company to be keeping. He's just, yeah, he's just in there

with all of those guys. And like, those are the guys that are receiving these huge contracts. Merrill Kelly just got $20 million a year for two seasons. Obviously, his age plays a huge factor there. You know what I mean? And also, so does the fact that perhaps he does have a shorter track record of success. But that's only because he has a far more limited career, like you said, less miles on his arm in the in major league baseball than these other guys do, right? But again, over his career, His statistics have been amazing. We pulled his career stats overall, and, like, Merrill just finds a way to get it done.

I mean, this ERA that he had for the Diamondbacks of 2025 is his second best in his career, but I don't know if you really want to factor in the 2.59 ERA he had in 2020, which was the COVID shortened season, where he only made, what was it, five starts. So I don't think that that's necessarily, you know, what we're going to do here. But Merrill's just had incredible numbers his entire time as a diamond back. And again, he continues to find ways at this point of his career to get better.

This is his career in seven seasons, a 3.77 ERA, a 3.99 FIP, 1.197 whip. And all of this is in 1008 and a third innings pitched. He's accumulated 15.8, 15.9 baseball reference war. And he has done this where he has averaged, you know, close to four war or close to three and a half war per season. So I mean. And as I put it on the picture, Derek, he pitched an absolute gem in game two of the World Series. And here's him walking off the mound, if you remember, where he smacked his glove when he's walking into it. I mean, and he just, it was a master class.

And who other than Merrill Kelly after that game won that you blow to go out there and just shove and win that game for you? the Rangers just didn't put up any offense. And I know the Diamondbacks offense also was undeniable in that game, but that was just such a Merrill Kelly performance of like back against the wall. Who else do you want out there on the mound? And he just continues to be the steadiest pitcher that we've had in a really, really long time in this organization. I do think that like, you know, it's, it should be more exciting than it is to get him back

when you kind of think about all of these things. When you look at the numbers and what he's done in his career for the, this team, right? But like you said, that's, that was my biggest concern this whole time. Bringing back Merrill Kelly to me was the heist of the century. We got that guy, Cole Drake, that we just talked to on top of two other solid, you know, pitching prospects. And Merrill Kelly is still a member of this team, right? It did cause us to, uh, upset the Rangers organization and go out and cause them to get McKenzie Gore, but that's neither here nor there. I can only, I only have control over so much on this program, right?

By the way, Ocean View Coffee Shop says Merrill Kelly, aka Chris Peterson. It's Chris Elliott is the answer we were looking for. Chris Elliott and his, you could also call him Woogey and you could also make all the Groundhogs Day jokes you want to about him. I've been doing that now for seven years. And I'm going to continue to do that.

And Merrill's in on the jokes and sometimes he does the little scratch that Chris Elliott does in that movie when we're interviewing him on purpose just for fun. But again, we should be very thankful to have Merrill Kelly, not only as a part of the Diamondbacks, but kind of as a part of this Valley baseball history. You know, I mean, he is one of the most successful professional baseball players that Arizona has ever produced.

When you look at the history we talked about, the teams he's played for, and again, even this, coming back to this team when given a choice to play, essentially for a number of organizations across baseball, Arizona was home for him and he wanted to come back here, and be a part of the next few years with this team, right? That does show that, I mean, I know money was probably a big part of it and coming back home also a part of it, but it has to show that Merrill still believes maybe more in running this team back

than we do, perhaps. I mean, I've been trying to get everybody hyped up and say that this season's not done before it starts forever. Then Kyle Tucker happened. And now I'm sitting here and I'm like, what's even the freaking point? What's the point of it? Why are we even doing this show? We can make a wildcard, though.

We need positive regression, Derek. I'm going to keep saying it. We need positive regression. The luck has been unreal levels of bad the last couple of seasons. You've had insane amounts of injuries that have held you back. We deserve it. We deserve people to stay healthy. We deserve them to have the best seasons of their career.

Good injury luck. And relief pitchers that don't all suck. Like if we could just bat 50%, or I'm sorry, bat 500, But hit on 50% of the relievers that Hazen traded for at the deadline last year will be all right. If we can hit on 50% of them. But I mean, it's just hard to feel that that's necessarily going to be the case when you're just a fan of this organization. You watch them roll out bad bullpen after bad bullpen. But seriously, if the bullpen can be a league average close to it in the top 20, I think we're talking about a team that has a chance to really make

a wild card run and then there's no telling what that leads to i i put out the stats the other day when sir anthony signed with the the white socks right which just still it just like yeah a heartbreaking moment my soul happened in that moment yeah uh but when i was when i was looking through it i was like these are our last five bullpins that we've had and and derrick it's it's it's disgusting it's baffling what what the numbers that are and the you want to know the one year that it wasn't just absolutely horrific. 2023. And guess what the,

guess what the bullpen was? What do you mean? What the ERA? Yeah. 3.75. It was, or I'm sorry, like the ranking in the league. Oh,

ranking in the league. 17th. 18th. All it required was a close to league average, but slightly below league average bullpen. It's what I saw Jesse on yesterday show.

The goddamn world series. That's all we need. 2025, 27th, 2024, 25th, 2023, 18th, 222, 25th, 221, 28th, an average finish of 24.6 among, you know, all MLB teams the last five seasons. And I just said that, like, if you're going to go out there and you're not going to make moves, which Mike Hazen did not do this year, that he bears that criticism for me over the entire course of the season. and when people want to come into our post games and be like, and story sucks, his bullpeds are the worst. I'm going to sit there and I'm going to go,

you're a moron, you don't know anything about baseball, leave this chat and never come back. Don't actually. Don't. We don't. Please come back. We need all of you.

Please come back and argue with us. I love it. But also at the same time, it's just, it's baffling. Like Mike Hazen has, he's put it to the side. He's believing in these guys that he's traded for.

And now there is no excuse, I think, if this bullpen sucks. again, it's entirely on him after five straight years of bad bullpets. And it's the reason why we've discussed so many players being added to this team. We just went out on a limb and we're crazy talking about Fram Braldez being added to this team. We know we don't have money for that. We know there's no money in the banana stand.

But what we know, Damon, is that they will just have this weird, out of nowhere, desire to add somebody. And that could be any player at any point during the offseason, and especially as these big-name free agents stay available on the market and aren't getting picked up by other teams. The reason why it's a problem at any point is if the Diamondbacks do spend, even on a Zach Gowan, even if they bring Zach Gowan back on a deal very similar to what they got Merrill Kelly on, two-year, $40 million, let's say $45 million, there is still going to be a huge part of me and of you and of a lot of people in this chat. They're like, why couldn't we have spent some of that money on relief pitching when that's really what we needed?

That's what's going to be the result of adding anybody to this team that is a, you know, $15 million plus dollar deal for 2026. You might be able to structure it a different way or whatever to save some money this year. But at the end of the day, it is going to feel like they didn't do enough this offseason to add to the bullpun. Now, there was an underrated relief pitcher on this same list that Merrill Kelly appeared on. And we are going to talk about him perhaps being our last hope tomorrow. That's Danny Kulum. and I know this is the bottom of the bottom of the barrel.

This is a veteran relief pitcher. We have no idea how much he has left in the tank, but he is an option potentially, and we're going to talk about him tomorrow. The Diamondbacks did add an arm, Damon, to this team, and it's a guy that knows how to spell his goddamn name right. Derek Law, spelled D-E-R-E-K, signs a minor league deal with the D-Backs.

And if that name sounds familiar to you, yes, it is the guy that absolutely shoved, in Major League Baseball just a few years ago, Damon. In fact, you have his baseball savant page from 2024. And this is the guy we just added on. Does that not fire you up a little bit? How could it not fire me up when we're sitting, you're talking about how much we are in need of any kind of help

when it comes to the bullpen? And again, this is like signing these guys to minor league deals. It's a savvy way to at least get them in the organization and give them an opportunity. They also protected the players that they needed to protect from the Rule 5 draft. So when it comes to the 40-man roster, there's still moves that they could make here. Some of them might be unfortunate for guys that are part of the 40-man roster. But, I mean, Cole hit the nail on the head earlier when he said he has to perform.

Everybody has to perform. And that includes any guy that currently is on the 40-man roster that's in the bullpen. Because the Diamondbacks have two of these guys now who, quite frankly, have put up very good numbers in the past, but Derek Lowe missed the entirety of the 2025 season. So at this point, this guy is putting up some big numbers, has quite the arsenal of pitches, and really could be a game changer. I mean, he's been an effective reliever, 2.60 ERA in 90 innings pitched in 2024. He had a 1.9B war, which is pretty dang good for a non-close.

closing reliever. Yeah. Yeah. Recovering from a flexor tendon injury which caused him to miss the entirety of the 20, 25 season. So that's a scary. It sounds scary. It does. And again, that's the reason why they're signing him to a low risk minor league deal, right?

It doesn't mean that he's going to stay healthy the entire year. Doesn't mean that things couldn't go bad, but this once again, this is the risk that the debacks needed to take in order to improve this team. None of these players right now are going to be players that, again, get you excited.

It's the reason why we said that earlier about Merrill Kelly. Like even with the numbers Merrill Kelly put up, even with the, I guess the caliber of starting pitchers that he's part of that class as far as ERA Plus is concerned and results, it's just still hard to not feel like we're doing the exact same thing, which did not yield the results we wanted. It did not yield a, you know, a playoff run in any way. shape or form. But again, the Diamondbacks bullpen, as we saw last year, was all over the place.

I mean, they set a franchise record for the number of guys that got an opportunity to save. So not a good thing. Yeah, not a good thing to have. I'm looking at his, not a good record to be said. I'm looking at his baseball reference right now, Derek. I mean, this is not a guy that has only had, you know, one good season. He has had a few good seasons in his career. I mean, his first season in 2016 and when he did.

debuted for the Giants. He pitched in 61 games, had a 2-13 ERA, 1.4 war, and that was obviously a long time ago. But then he, you know, he kind of struggled a little bit, you know, in the following years, had a couple ERAs in the fours, one that was 7.4, which is just awful in seven games. But then when he kind of reached 30 years old and he went to the Cincinnati Reds in 2022, he was 31. He had a 4.08 ERA. and he did so in 15 games pitched, then followed that up, 54 games pitched with a 3.6 ERA in Cincinnati,

which is pretty darn good. Isn't that ballpark notorious for being a hitter's ballpark as well? 1.0 war in that season. And then last year, you know, he follows that up with that 1.9, or I'm sorry, the 2024 year, he has that 1.9 war season in 75 appearances with 2.6 ERA. Yeah, his two finals,

his two last seasons before the injury. where maybe his best two seasons that he's had, and you could argue. And I think that, you know, if he can get anywhere close to that, he will 100% be in this bullpen next season. I mean, he even started three games for the Reds in 2023. So, again, not something that we want. I'm sure it's probably an opener situation or something like that. But regardless, he could definitely be somebody that makes this roster

and can contribute at a major league level with his experience. So the moves aren't the moves we wanted to see them make. It's no Pete Fairbanks. It's no Sir Anthony Dominguez. And it might not even be a Danny Kulam. But again, we are going to explore that tomorrow. One other note before we move on is that Dominic Canzone, old friend alert, also made the list as DH in a very limited capacity last year. The former Dback slash 300, 358, 481, and 269 plate appearances, and 82.

games played. So even though it's a short season, it's still enough to maybe break your heart that that guy once wore an Arizona Diamondbacks uniform and is hitting 300. So I just, I like to give you guys reasons to be sad about stuff. One reason not to be sad is that I don't know if you guys heard or saw, but we're all huge Blake Shelton fans around here now. And that's because Blake Shelton is apparently fans of us, or at least the Cardinal show. Damon and I would like to believe that he also watches this podcast or at least like Gwen does. Bo told me and I know this doesn't this isn't really about you Derek so if you mind just to be like you can just pop off the screen for a second.

I refuse to do that. I'll take it from here. No, no, no. I don't like this. Bo told me that they heard, I heard from someone in a box at a Cardinals game that Blake Shelton had previously mentioned that he that he loves Johnny and Bo and listens to PH and X Cardinals.

And that was about a year ago. Now, one, Damon Dog, Damon Farrell, I don't know if you remember, producer of the PHNX Cardinals show nine months ago for a good two years. So like right when they changed over to Noah,

things started to get good and he liked the show is what you're saying? No, I'm saying that he knows me. I don't know if he knows who the mayor is, but he knows the dog. I don't love that. I mean, he does. I don't love that.

Apparently Johnny and both said that they didn't believe it when they heard that. They were like, whatever, that's BS. That's not a thing. And then this happened and they're like, oh, I guess, I guess that was a thing that did happen back in the day. I don't know. I'm with Mark on this one. He said the state of Arizona has a professional football team.

Never heard of them. Never heard of them. In fact, the sons are giving away football jerseys, I believe, at tonight's game. And I told them that they're our football team now. They take over. Did you see the villain shirts that they're doing? Oh, I need a dill in the villain's shirt. Somebody give me a dill in the villain's shirt.

I need it. Why is he not an MF Doom mask? That's my biggest problem is why is he not in an MF Doom mask? They went Dr. Doom and they could have gone MF Doom, but that's just neither here nor there. Those are so fired, dude. The point of this is that Blake Shelton is trying to get us to 50,000 subscribers on YouTube. He's doing his part. You should be too.

So if you could at least tell a friend about us or, I don't know, make a fake account and follow us. We would appreciate beyond what you know. Like we are so close to 50K. I think we're 600 subscribers away. We've never been closer. It feels like it's going to happen, and we can do it with your help. So, again, appreciate you guys that have already subscribed. And again, if you're here and you have not subscribed, I don't know how you found us.

I know a guy yesterday came in clowning my mustache. I hope he subscribed. And I hope you subscribed as well. What was he saying? Oh, he said that he asked AI to give him a podcast with two bad mustaches. And then it was me and Jesse on the screen. Oh, I thought it was me and you. No, it was me and Jesse.

Darn it. I was really hoping it was me. If it was me alone, I would accept it, but I will not stand for you insulting Jesse's must-off. No, no, no Jesse Slander allowed on this podcast. Absolutely not. But I thought he was talking about me and you. And I was like, that's fantastic. We should make that our banner.

Like our endorsement. Yeah, like here's our endorsement. We should screenshot that comment and make it the literal banner of our, of our, our Twitter account that says if I had two awful mustaches. But I'm sad it wasn't about me. Well, you shouldn't be sad because I love it when I actually live for it when grown men make comments about my appearance because that's what they're concerned about. You know? Yeah.

Isn't that like, I always find it extremely funny when you're like, what? That's what you went to right now? I called myself a short round on the show not too long ago and people poured in compliments. about calling me a cutie patootie Damon so it's like my confidence level in my mind i i've never it's never been higher since that episode my confidence is through the roof going around flirting with people for you know discounts at stores and stuff making it happen usually i mean it just sucks because i personally i i get my all of my self-confidence from random people that i've never met on twitter before so a hundred percent it's just my self-esteem is based on the number of views

this episode well that actually that's actually a fact that's a that's a genuine fact that's a I'm being tongue in cheek when I say the other thing. I genuinely couldn't care less what some troll dork account that doesn't show their face thinks about what I look like. But when it comes to our numbers, yes, absolutely. I will, there are times where, you know, Derek and I will walk up to each other and just after a not so good show and go, what's even the, what's the point? What's the point? What are we doing? I mean, it's like after Kyle Tucker signed, we did the same thing for two straight hours.

Is this it? Is this the pod? Me and David just wandered around aimlessly downtown areas. Arizona, empty coffee cups in our hand, just devoid of any kind of... Ringing some... Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We were asking for money because we thought it was a rap.

We might as well end the show with what the Dodgers have done financially. But before we get out of here, Damon, I do have some good news for you. Your Dominican Republic team continues to give Team USA a run for their money. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. announced officially that he will return to international competition for the Dominican Republic. D.H. joining, probably D.H. He's joining Fernando Tatis Jr. O'Neill Cruz, Christopher Sanchez, and Sandy Alcantra, all committed.

And starting pitcher four? I mean, Sandy, come on. Yeah, that's fine. I mean, it's not a bad starting picture four. I won't lie. But meanwhile, we've had some other notable additions as well. Ernie Clement joins Team USA. We got Earn Dog.

We're going to give people's, we're going to make it all the way to the championship and come up just short with Earn Dog on the team. We also got Liam Hendricks and Travis Bazzana both joining Australia. So that's cool. Like I like the fact that this MLB participation is growing. And it's even it's like it's even guys that people might not be super familiar with, but they're representing their country and getting out there. I mean, it feels like we made fun of Great Britain with their font and their letters falling off their jersey.

But they're out here recruiting. They're trying to find any kind of like, was it an island we owed at one point? You're part of the great friend. Come on. We had an expansive kingdom at one point. We can have all of you guys on this team. I love Australian international events because I just love how their flag is blue and red and they wear green and yellow. And it just fires me up.

It's like, what are the two colors that are nowhere near the ones we just chose? Oh, yeah, that's the ones we wear. Electric. For sure. Also, Electric Randy or Rosarina is back on Team Mexico. That is electric. He's going to be wearing cowboy boots and his freaking hat, bro. I can't wait for that.

I love how, I love how, like, you know, Mexican Americans and just Mexicans in general, just they are so fired up by that dude joining their team. Oh, yeah. It just, I don't know what it is, but they're like, it's the best. He's, he's, he's been, he was born to be a Mexican. We, we love, we love people that don't necessarily look like the norm, you know, like, that's why my wife was shocked when we went to Puerto Rico because what do Puerto Ricans like, look like? guess what? Americans. When you go to Puerto Rico, there are people of every, like every race,

every color, everything. Like, it's amazing, right? And so, yeah, no, I mean, in certain countries, you know, there's things where adding those players, especially guys that definitely don't look like they would be part of the team necessarily, but are definitely, you know,

representatives, they are part of that country's history. Jaron Duran, also a guy that's going to play for Team Mexico. Francisco. Francisco. Yeah, Jared Duran playing for Team Mexico. Francisco Lindor is playing for Team Puerto Rico. And of course, Vinny Pascatino playing for Team Italy.

So standout MLB lineup. We have some guys that aren't participating. Jose Al-Tube will not play for Venezuela. Despite expressing interests publicly online at one point, the Astros have asked him to sit out to prepare for the MLB season. I understand that a little bit more given Altuve's age than other big players. Like when you start having guys that are veterans in the league, as much as it might be beneficial for them to go out there and get extra playing time,

you kind of do want them to get their bodies ready for the 162 game season. Could be his last chance at a world baseball class. That's true. No, that's definitely true. And that's where I kind of sit there and I go, I don't know if I love that for your franchise legend. I mean, it's possible that Jose Altube and they know this, that they would, I mean, they would be way more privy than we would.

It's possible he's like, yeah, I don't really, it doesn't, it won't bother me to not play in it. But I know that like, you know, for World Cup, for example, like that's the biggest tournament you can win. And I think, you know, it's not like the World Baseball Classic is bigger than the World Series. But I feel like it's trying to elevate to a level of importance that like, you know, playing for your country means even more than playing for your club. And that's where I'm like, especially in a time where it feels like maybe Venezuela, could use some like cultural you know like pride to

something to hang their hat on it feels like that that would be a cool thing for him to get to play in his last world baseball classic and captain the team and whatnot but that's a great point Mike Trout also not in a similar situation but again health impacting his decision as well

he has a lingering knee issue and he hasn't ruled it out but it looks like again there's a good chance that he might not get to play on team you say and then Carlos Correa officially opted out of helping my tiny island. I was a traitor. Yeah, it's helping my tiny island win a championship. We need to do, Carlos Correa.

Lindor is in. Lindor's in. Carlos Correa is out. So the Astros are just scumbacks. I mean, you can come to whatever conclusion you want to come to when it comes to that. I am not here to change your mind when it comes to how you feel about these teams. I think there's a lot of teams in baseball that already, or a lot of fans of baseball that already agree with that, Damon. Is there any news on Gabby or Alec playing for Gabby playing for Venezuela or Alex playing for Mexico?

I didn't see anything official about Alec, but I do know that I saw already some inklings that Alec Thomas would be returning for Team Mexico. I like that for Alec. Let's get some high pressure ABs going early on and just see if we can get. him into a decent rhythm because I think this is kind of maybe Alec Thomas's like last stand yeah like I think it's like like you better hit this year and not be just a complete nothing at the plate or else we're probably looking at upgrades potentially for you at least down the road so um I I think that could be a good start for him a good little runway well and we also know Japan is doing their thing and as much as we talk about this being Dominican republic versus

team USA let's not count out the champs because showy otani yoshan Nobu Yamamoto, Sayas Suzuki, final decisions are still to come, but they will all most likely be part of Team Japan. And they will scratch, claw, cheat to get anything that they want. There it is. Lie, gamble. Defer payments for world baseball classic players. Well, I will say this, Damon. As I'm trying to just gloss over the salacious comments you're making, I will say that.

You know, World Baseball Classic is so amazingly unique and cool that it's become this. I think that's what it comes down to at the end of the day is the participation from the top players, no matter what country they currently play for or whatever, like coming together. It almost feels like it means so much more than if this was just part of the Olympics. You talk about playing for pride of country. That's the other thing I think of is the Olympics. However, here with this, World Baseball Classic gets like the stage to, themselves instead of being part of, you know, the summer games and just kind of being another

sport included in all of that. Yeah. And I think, you know, baseball was never that big in the Olympics. That's why they got rid of it. Right. Right. But again, it's participation. Like, having guys play for a team in the middle of a baseball season, kind of hard, kind of hard to get the best in the world to participate when it's June or whatever. And they're trying to get, you know, get their team to a championship. Absolutely. Yeah. That's probably why you saw a lot of like, team Japan winning gold medals and stuff in the Olympics because they could kind of plan a little bit more around the season happening and they had like a high level professional league whereas the you know the MLB is midseason during the Olympics and you're not leaving your team so yeah but the World Baseball Classic is sick I can't wait for it I cannot wait for you I really hope that there's a place I can buy a Geraldo Prudomo Dominican Republic jersey because I don't I'll tell you what Derek money's money's you know money short right now but it's no object That's something that like I need like water like oxygen like food. Yeah.

It is sustenance. That jersey is my sustenance. It's what will keep me showing up here sitting in this seat, hitting the buttons, talking with you on this podcast. I need to be wearing that blue DR jersey on my chest. We need to make that happen. We need to make that happen, folks, because this man was distraught over items from Chelsea's new collection being already sold out without him even getting a shot. released this morning. They were released this morning.

They were already sold out of the hoodies. It doesn't make any sense. What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened to the team we loved? What happened to the...

No, I actually probably wouldn't have spent money on that because it was a lot of money, but like, I don't care how much money that the yard Perdomo jersey is. I'm going to buy it. It is just like, I've already factored it in. It's like, well, I got this much for rent and 200 for my Dominican Republic perdomo jersey. And like, it's just going to be a bill. It's going to be a bill.

Tell you what. We'll get Perdomo on this show. then maybe we'll convince him just to give you a game worn one. I don't know. We'll figure it out. We've got to do something. Damon needs a win. We've got to get,

Damon needs a win. I would frame that and it would be my prize possession in life. Life. All right. Well, we'll start working on that tomorrow. Hopefully you guys should join us for that 12 p.m. show tomorrow on Friday. Until then, you can follow us on social media. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K.

Damon is at Damon Dog with a D-A-W-G. and we are all Damon's dogs, bark, bark. Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys for your time. We appreciate you stopping by. We love you.

We appreciate you. And we will see you back here tomorrow. Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful evening and afternoon and come back here and chat with us for a fun baseball episode before. I disappear off to Los Angeles, possibly forever. I refuse to root for the Dodgers while I'm there, but I am going to go to Universal Studios as many times as I humanly can.

So until then, like I said, have a wonderful evening. Remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you have your top pitching prospects stop by to give you the lowdown on who they are.