PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - PHNX D-backs Draft Day Live

Episode Date: July 18, 2022

On this episode, Derek and Jesse are joined by DNVR's Patrick Lyons to discuss the first round of the MLB Draft, who the D-backs selected with the second overall pick, why this draft is so different from other sports, and so much more!SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeWebsite: https://gophnx.com PHNX Locker: https://phnxlocker.com/Head on over to The PHNX Locker to pick up one of our new PHNX hats!SOCIAL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/PHNX_DbacksInstagram: https://instagram.com/PHNX_Sports Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX. New customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS on either NHL team to win their game, and get ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS IN FREE BETS no matter what.If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez! is dedicated to creating innovative and memorable cannabis infused products that flavor life’s journey. If you’re interested in trying the amazingly delicious variety of flavors that OGeez! Brands has to offer, go to https://ogeezbrands.com.Join over 4 million men worldwide who trust MANSCAPED with this exclusive offer for you…. 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code DBACKS at https://manscaped.com.Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. Just visit https://athleticgreens.com/Diamondbacks 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.

P. HNX. This guy next to me is your vice mayor, PHNX, the one and only thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. Hello, hello, Derek. You're wearing a tie today. What is, what is going on over here? Look at this. I have no explanation for you other than I wanted, this is a very important day. I wanted to be official. And I am excited to be here. We also have our pal from DNVR, Patrick Lyons,

here that's going to be joining us momentarily. But of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook, America's top-rated sportsbook. app. We are excited, guys. This is a huge day for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Obviously, with the number two pick, we cannot wait to see who the Diamondbacks end up with. Speculation has been all over the place, Jesse. It's been an exciting day. We've been watching draft odds. We've been watching all sorts of things. Change fluctuate on different betting apps and things. So as it stands, Tamar Johnson right now is still the odds on betting favorite for

being the number one pick to go to the Baltimore Orioles, which means the Arizona Diamondbacks would have their pick of essentially the best outfielders in all baseball draft to choose from, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, the good news here, everyone, is that whoever the Diamondbacks take at number two is going to be a pretty darn good player. Yes, for sure. At least right now, I mean, the MLB draft is such that we really have no idea who is going to be a darn good player and who's not at the end of the day.

But on paper, this is the type of draft we're being at number two is an excellent spot to be in. And so the Diamondbacks are going to improve their organization drastically here today. There has been a lot of talk. We've actually discussed it a bit between the two of us about if the Diamondbacks would go with any kind of positional need or if they would just go with the best available player. If Drew Jones does come off the board at number one, who would the Diamondbacks go with at that point? There has been talk about it being Jackson Holiday. Jesse over here feels like it would be the next best available player.

I still have a little bit of an issue going with like an infielder with the Diamondbacks. You're just convinced that Jordan Lawler is going to be 100%. 1,000 superstar, which is a totally fair, a totally fair, you know, a totally fair thing to have in your head right now. But I mean, at the end of the day, the time, I think the diamond backs are probably looking for whoever the best player that they feel will be in this draft. And I think that's who they're going to take regardless of, you know, if it's, you know, if they take a Drew Jones, then, you know, you figure you already have Corbyn Carroll as, you know, your center fielder of the future. Or if you, you know, if you take a short stop like Jackson Holiday, you feel like, oh, you already have Jordan Lawler there. But at the end of the day, the Diamondbacks want the best player available. And I think that's what they're going to do.

Yeah, I would agree with that. And I am excited to welcome in now our buddy from DNVR, the one and only, Patrick Lyons, who covers the Rockies for DNR. Patrick, what's up, buddy? What's going on, gents? How are we doing today? I'm doing good. How do you like the tie and glasses combo, first of all? Love the Dwight Shrut look.

Okay. Amazing. Good, good. I'm glad people are picking up on what I was laying down there. Are you guys excited in Denver for this draft, at least as we are here in Arizona? Well, it's not the second overall pick. It's the 10th pick for the Rockies. So not that same kind of general excitement.

But I am getting some vibes of 2020 when Zach Veen was a player who on some draft boards, he was as high as number two. And he ended up sliding all the way down to nine to the Rockies. He obviously being one of their top prospects looked really good in Saturday. Saturday's futures game. Getting those vibes that maybe the guy that I liked, kind of the, the Zach Vene of this draft,

Cam Collier, maybe he ends up sliding to the Rockies at 10. So that's sort of my hope right now. The Diamondbacks have quite a variety of selections, you know, as far as number two goes. And obviously what the Orioles do is going to impact the Diamondbacks. But what are your thoughts on what we might see from the Orioles at number one?

And what do you expect to see from the Diamondbacks in reaction to that? Yeah, other than 2019 when they selected Adley Rutchman first overall, and he was just the obvious one-one pick, they've been cutting these kind of deals, right? Heston Kirstenad in 2020, Colton Kouser last year in 2021, where taking a slightly lesser player

who is still going to make more money than they would have naturally on their own, but yet the Orioles then save some money to use later on in the draft to entice maybe some high school players to forego college, to sign with them. So it allows them a lot of flexibility with having such a lot of, large bonus pool. And as you guys have been pointing out all day long on Twitter at PHNX underscore D-BACs, you've been talking about it on the show here now. Tamar Johnson, maybe even a Brooks Lee. They've been in talks with guys who might be more in that five, six range, but they'll get maybe even a little bit more money than they would have at five or six.

And the Orioles can pocket that extra cash and then use it later on on one of their second or third picks and maybe even get two of their, you know, two of the, what they consider. the top 20 players on their draft board. What were your thoughts about that? Brooks Lee, for a minute peak there, as being the odds on betting favorite for a while on like drafting sports book and a couple of other apps. What were your thoughts on that? Was that like kind of lined up with what you're thinking the Orioles might end up doing?

Brooksley wouldn't have been that guy, but. Right. That was my thought. Yeah. Yeah. What's interesting is because I remember, gosh, I'm not sure what year it was. Maybe it was 2014 when the, The Astros ended up kind of cutting a deal, maybe it was 2012, with Carlos Correa,

and he didn't seem like he was the top overall player. We look back now and say, oh, they ended up getting one of the best players, but they signed someone below that slot dollar value, and it ended up being a really good player. That very well could be the case on Brooks Lee. No knock on him. Tamar Johnson. I like his bat a little bit more. I like his projectability, Cal Poly, not in a big baseball conference, so to speak,

out there in California. So you're getting a Division I guy versus a high school player. So if I had my jothers, I'd probably go with Tamar Johnson, but Brooksley might provide them a better discount for saving some money for later on. I think that's the thing is we're seeing the Baltimore Orioles have the season they're having. And I wonder if the fact that they are, you know, 500 impacts their decision on who they draft. Like you said, you bring up the aspect of drafting a high school player versus a college player. There's always that danger that the high school player could still commit to college and go back into the draft, right? Plus, you have the fact that there is the advantage of a college player just being that

much closer to being ready for the big league. So if it was up to you, what are you doing with the number of one overall draft pick? If you're, let's say you're sitting as the Baltimore Orioles GM, what are you doing there? Well, first thing, I'm moving left field back to its previous state. That is a graveyard out there in Canada. in yards, Tray Mancini's lost like seven home runs this season because of it. But I'm going to try to cut a deal with one of those players, probably Tamar Johnson. It very much could be you call three or four different guys.

I don't know that you're definitely not getting a discount on with Drew Jones. Sure. But we can let his agency know and his representation know that, look, we'd be willing to give you this number. If you say yes, we would sign on the dotted line. Again, it's going to be less than that actual first overall pick. But I'd almost call, you know, three different players and say the first one who says yes to it, that's who I'm going with. And I'm adjusting from there.

And to your point there, Derek, which is really good. Because most times it doesn't really matter. I don't think as much as far as how long this player is going to need in the minors for their seasoning, if they're high school or college. You really kind of want to take the best player and maybe positional depth-wise maybe isn't as important. But the Orioles have the 33rd overall pick. That's their next pick after 1-1. And perhaps if you got into the ear of Kumar Rocker's representation, you can go ahead and get a really young, talented player like a Tamar Johnson, and then say, you know what? If you're around there at 33, I think we can end up giving you, you know, the 12th overall slot value dollars and pay you like you were a front end first round guy, have their cake and eat it too.

And now they can start him out right away and Bowie playing for the Bay Sox there in AA. and maybe he's a guy that you can bring up in the second half of the season, almost like a trade acquisition in the middle of August after he gets a little bit of seasoning, and all of a sudden, maybe you can catch lightning in a bottle like the Angels did with Francisco Rodriguez in 2002. Rocker is a name we've actually brought up, and we speculated about it. We didn't think that he would be there when the debacks have their competitive balance pick in round A. But you never know with this draft, right? It's like, it's kind of like the way that this discussion about the number one overall pick is.

And it's different than other sports, right? I mean, the whole slot value thing and being penalized for going over slot is, you know, obviously, you know, a different part of this versus the NFL and some of the other teams where they don't, they don't have to really worry about how many picks they have in the first or second round and how that's going to impact them financially with signing all of those picks. Yeah, it's so strange. And you can't trade any of the picks. Just the competitive balance round picks, which don't really seem to have a ton of value. We did see that trade earlier in the week between the Royals and Atlanta. But you're right. It is strange.

Instead of it just being the best player or even drafting for need, you don't know what you're going to need going forward. I mean, I could even see a scenario on which the Rockies draft a catcher this year, of Kevin Parada. A guy like that happens to be available. Well, they got Drew Romo sitting there in high ace, Bokane, and is one of their top prospects. But, you know, hearing the farm director, Chris Forbes talk about it, hey, these things kind of can sort themselves out. Maybe you have two top catchers. I mean, Atlanta's doing all right. They've got two catches in the All-Star game this year.

So you never really know how these things are going to play out in the next two, three years going forward. So you just have to take, you know, the best player or, again, manage that money. And you say, well, we'd rather have two guys that we like a lot rather than, you know, the player we like the most. And that's been totally different. That's been part of our discussion, too, because I am of the mindset that they don't need to go after a shortstop, you know, like a holiday or like a Charmar Johnson. But, you know, again, with baseball, the impact of that player is so far down the road that you can't really worry right now about what you do and don't have as much as just worrying about making sure that you get the best available pick when you drafted. And there's also a scenario, too, to think about if.

you do take a middle infielder there and you're like well hey jordan lawler we got this guy he's all right uh it'll it'll be a nice bridge uh for the end of the nick ahmed era there uh still waiting for the big nick omed shirt from phoenix that hasn't come yet patrick he he's under control for another season so you never you never know how long nick omen might be around are you saying it's on the way perhaps i'm saying i'm saying it's in the works i'm saying it's in the works okay now you've got me titillated over here it mostly has to do with implement and diet and stuff, but we'll, you know, we'll make sure that we get something that he would like out there for sure.

I love that. And I love the ability for the Diamondbacks who I think are going to be competitive a lot sooner than maybe some people may realize. I mean, look, they've got a lot of good, young, exciting players. And even imagine in two years from now, two years from now could really be when their window starts to open. Right. And you start to really see them win a lot more ball games.

Well, guess what? If you got Jordan Lawler at shortstop and a Tamar Johnson or a Jackson Holiday at shortstop down in AA, then you've got yourself a wonderful trade chip to add a piece in and help keep that window open and really help fortify the roster to possibly win another NLS title. And that seems to be the route that you need to go in order to win, right? Like the Rockies and the Diamondbacks, they're kind of in a position right now where they are basically trying to figure out who their core is, who they're going to build around for the future. I feel like the Rockies are a little bit more defined in who their core is.

The debacks are still kind of establishing that. But, you know, after that, there's steps to take to get to that next level. And sometimes that step is making those trades or making those big free agent signings. That's going to be that thing to get you over the top, especially with us in the NL West. You can't expect to completely do it through your farm system. There's no way you're going to beat the Dodgers without, you know, adding some of those pieces, either through big trades or through free agency. So like you said, those trade chips,

could become very valuable. It's just, I just want, I just want, uh, Drew Jones so bad. And I think at this point, I,

I don't know how I will react. If the diamond, we're pretty worried over here, Patrick. If it's not Drew Jones, then all hell might break loose over here. They started wrapping stuff in bubble wrap and like, waterproofing things.

And I'm like, this is an overreaction. It's not a Gallagher show. Uh, I might lose my shit, but it's mostly because I think Drew Jones is going to be one of those talent that if you don't take,

you're going to regret that. you did. I think the Orioles might have that feeling, even though they might end up with a batch of talent that might be more valuable than just putting all of their eggs in one basket as far as their slot value and everything that they're doing with the draft in Drew Jones. Yeah. Patrick, I want to ask you this. Do you feel like the MLB draft is, we talked earlier about how the MLB draft is just not, it's not really in the same stratosphere as the NBA draft or the NFL draft just in terms of entertainment value and how much interest it draws. Do you think there are easy things that Major League Baseball could do in order to make this

event more marketable and something that draws more coverage than like the show that we're doing and, you know, what you can watch on the MLB Network. There's not that much other coverage out there. Like, why are you undercutting us? Where are you doing the thing? No, I'm saying we're like almost the only ones doing it, right? Whereas all of the other drafts in pro sports draw so much more coverage from basically everyone. No, he's right. It's true. I think baseball is kind of on their way to that. You know,

2020 and in the pandemic season, they're going to have that draft in Omaha during the College World Series. And it might still be something that they look to do because them waiting this long for the, for the All-Star break kind of throws a wrench into the, you know, the summer woodbat leagues and everything that goes into that. But I think they're kind of on their way. They're trying to do the draft combine business a little bit better. You're starting to see more coverage with that. I believe there even have something into in the works where for any of the players who go and take a physical at those combines, they're going to be guaranteed something like 75% of the slot value so that there's not any of those big surprises like Kumar Rocker last year when he was taken 10th by the Mets. The medicals were not great. And so there was there was no deal there or even going back even further with the Texas Rangers at some point in the mid 90s with R.A. Dickey.

And they found out, oh, it turns out, you know, he had blown his ACI. yell out and they didn't realize what they had. And so he went from being a multi-million dollar bonus baby to a guy who just got a couple hundred thousand dollars because there weren't it was medical. So I think baseball is trying to get more eyes on their product. The biggest challenge that they just simply can't overcome is the fact that it takes these players so long to go from being drafted to when they actually get to the majors or even make an impact. And so, you know, that might require a certain change on how might. minor league baseball is covered, particularly on the MLB network and getting more of those games.

Having a, you know, the futures game obviously is a big part of that, but that's something that's been around for 20 years now. So they just got to get more eyes on the younger players, make them more household names, boost it somehow. I mean, I think another one of those kind of logical advancements that they could make to make people more interested and invested in these young players would be they go to the Little League World Series, and they play a game there. We've got the Field of Dreams as one of those alternative site games.

Have a couple games at the College World Series where these college guys can watch the pros. And now people are paying a little bit more attention to the college guys. And it's just this kind of domino effect where people are like, oh, I've heard of this guy already rather than, okay, they took someone. I have no idea who he is. How excited should I be? The fans will actually have their own excitement to the table. Well, and there is that factor that a guy that gets drafted by a team. might go to college instead of going to that team.

I think baseball's draft is a bit confusing, and it even plays into sometimes the draft itself, right? I think one of the reasons why the Diamondbacks were able to get Jordan Lawler when they did was because he was signed to Vanderbilt, and there was concern that he might go, you know, go to Vanderbilt, right? So there's things like that that are just so vastly different about the MLB draft than all the other drafts because of that kind of, you know, like, oh, I can commit and then I can kind of pull out if I didn't.

you know, if I didn't go high enough or if I don't really like the situation I'm being drafted into. Yeah. Yeah, they could create different changes in future CBAs so that, again, it somehow guarantees it where I heard a football player recently sharing a story about how after the draft combine, he was slated to go in around these rounds. And so you had an idea where you're going. And so if they did something like that where these high school players were going to the combine, they would say, hey, we feel you're probably going to go around this. pick or in this round, that's the consensus. So we can guarantee that you're going to get 75% of that money in that spot if you sign on the dotted line. So going into the draft, there really aren't those signability concerns. It's just, are you going to sign the guy for 75% of that

figure or the full 100%? Now, again, those high school players, those amateur players have to now give up their rights to do that. But it is something that the Players Association, they're kind of working on. It's something that they're discussing right now with an international draft and kind of, you know, giving up someone else's rights that aren't theirs necessarily to give away. But, you know, we see that in other sports. And so I think overall, Major League Baseball realizes that they have a little bit of an issue with this. I don't think there's a perfect way where the MLB draft is the same as the NFL or the NBA draft, but I still think overall they definitely can do a better job. How about not having it during

the middle of the season? How about not having it while baseball games are actually going on during in the middle of the day. Would that be at least one way to rectify that? That's such a great point. But I don't know how you do that. They don't play baseball. I mean, they do have like kind of like a fall season. Right.

So just but it's a little bit different. That obviously is difficult, right? I think so. I think so. But Patrick, I know you have prep to do for your show. I know you guys do a great job with the DNVR Rockies. So make sure to follow Patrick on Twitter at Patrick D.Lions. We thank you, sir, so much for joining us and bringing your announcement.

I also appreciate your Dwight Shrewt comment. That was, again, the exact thing I was going for. So I'm glad you were picking it up. I get you, Derek. Don't worry. I know you do. I know you do. You get me more than most people do, Patrick, and I love that about you.

Thank you, sir. I appreciate you and have a great one. Thank you, guys. Thanks. I would say Go Rockies to him, but that doesn't feel like, no, I'm not. That's not the right thing to say at all. Anyway, we are locked in. The Baltimore Orioles are now on the clock.

And again, what the Baltimore Orioles do, have. such a, has such a huge impact on what the diamond backs do, right? It does. It does. And I think it's pretty clear at this point, Derek. I mean, if, if the Baltimore Orioles do not take Drew Jones, I think it's not, it's not for sure. I'm making any guarantees.

I feel like you're guaranteeing me. I'm not trying to, I know I'm setting myself up poorly for your reaction if Drew Jones does not enter the Diamondbacks organization today. But, but I think we can be fairly confident that that's likely what the Diamondbacks are doing. So this pick is, this pick is. This pick is very big. What the Orioles do, obviously, with them having the number one overall pick is going to be a very large factor in what the diamond backs are able to do with their pick.

And it could reverse my entire anger about that last game of the season. Maybe I won't be mad at Josh Van Meter anymore. Who knows, right? What's funny here is that Elijah Green was the big name that was drawing out back then. And Elijah Green, he's still, you know, he's still in the mix for the top 10 for sure. But it is far from a consensus that Elijah Green will be in the top three. or even top five in this draft. We got Rob Manfred at a podium, Jesse, so I think the pick is in.

I think it's about to happen. The draft is about to kick off. So this is exciting. The anticipation is killing me. I can't wait to see you the Diamondbacks select. Who do you think is the best fit? I mean, do you really think it's an outfielder at this point for this team? The draft is suspiciously low on pitching talent, which I think would be a primary focus for the D-backs.

If there was more elite pitching talent available in this draft. but it doesn't seem like that's the case. Yeah, I mean, the Diamondbacks, as far as their future is concerned, they're in a pretty good spot on the position player side of things, right? With Corbyn Carroll, with Alec Thomas, you know, with Dalton Varsho doing what he's doing. And of course, Jordan Lawler, the list goes on. We're in a pretty good spot as far as the position player future of this team is concerned. There are more questions on the pitching side.

And on that front, it would be nice in some ways if the Diamondbacks had a better group of pitchers to choose from. But that is very, very unlikely to happen in their first for their first overall pick. It's pretty rough because the Diamondbacks once again have this farm system where the two stops on your way to the major leagues aren't exactly pitcher-friendly ballparks. Things tend to fall apart a bit for certain guys. Tommy Henry continues to have a great season for the Diamondbacks for the Reno Aces. So he's a bright spot, I think pitching wise for this team right now. But I really think at this point the Diamondbacks, like you said, I'm kind of coming around on them just drafting the best available player, I just think that's going to still end up being Drew Jones.

I think it likely will. Oh, man, I don't know what I'm going to do if they don't. I'm going to be so angry. But speaking of our farm system and how good it's been, Corbyn Carroll had an incredible game in the futures game. He went one for one for one with a double and a walk. But as good as you can hope from a young guy in a game like that. Come on. I guess we'll let that slide.

Come on. We're letting that slide. We're absolutely letting that slide. Jordan Lawler also added that bat in the All-Star Futures game. So things are exciting for this team. And these guys are close. Corby and Carroll, more than anything, looked like major league ready in that game. I think that's one thing I took away from his appearance in that futures game.

It was just, I don't know. It's hard to describe. It's like how I felt about Alec Thomas. I had seen a lot of footage of Alec Thomas, but sometimes with MLB prospects, you're looking at five-year-old footage of them in high school, three-year-old footage of them at single A or whatever, right? So when I saw Alec Thomas at the Debex minor league camp, when the lockout was still going on, he looked like major league ready. You know what I mean?

He just physically, he looked like he was ready to be here and be a part of this team. And now I feel the same thing watching Corby and Carroll. It's exciting. He's getting close. Oh, it's so close. And, you know, it's entirely possible that before the end of this season, we see Corbyn Carroll dawning a Diamondback. You're going there. You're going there.

I'm going there. I'm saying it's possible. It's not a guarantee. You're getting my hopes up in several ways, Jesse. I am. I'm really setting us up for disappointment. This could get ugly, but we'll hope you take it easy on us today, dear. Yeah, but anyway, if you guys haven't signed up already,

make sure to sign up for a membership at our website over at go phtnx.com. Of course, if you get an annual membership, you will get a free t-shirt at the PHNX locker.com Like this guy's wearing over here. They're incredible. beautiful. Emma's got our Seth Beer shirt on. It's, it's just a bevy of beautiful shirts. And you get your selection if you're an annual member. Of course, if you get the month-to-month membership, you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. So we're hooking you up either way. Regardless of your membership status, you get access to our members-only Discord, which is always a fun place to be.

I want to be in there right now. I'm like, I'm sitting here wondering what's going on in the Discord as we talk. I wonder what they think about my glasses. These aren't real glasses, you guys. I don't wear glasses, but I thought they made me look. smart for this. Also, make sure if you sign up, you get your free, or excuse me, not free, but members-only discounts over at the PHNX Locker.com. So even if you go with the month-to-month option, you will still get those discounts over at the PHNX Locker. Also, if you're watching us right now on YouTube, so many of you are, thank you guys for joining us. Make sure to subscribe to the PHNX YouTube channel, as well as sign up for notifications. That way you don't

miss whenever we go live, as well as listening to our podcast. This show is available on audio. If you want to listen to it while you're driving, flying, doing whatever, you can get us. And make sure if you download us on your favorite audio podcasting app, subscribe and leave us a five-star review if you feel that Jesse deserves it. I don't know about me. But of course, you know, I think I'm a pretty all right guy. It's not a hard decision. It's not a hard decision. But the picks are starting, Jesse.

And I'm, I'm, I'm, the Orioles have like less than a minute now at this point. So the Diamondbacks fate is just about to be a little bit. bit clearer, but I don't know. I think that this draft, we've talked about how good this draft is. And of course, we, I love watching Jacob cry. It's one of my favorite pastimes. Wow. So I love it. It's great. His sadness brings me so much joy. In this case, though, I don't want him to cry. I want the Diamondbacks to get Drew Jones. There's a lot of children of professional athletes in this draft. There's a lot of top-tier talent. There's a lot of top-tier talent. misdraft. There's a lot of names being thrown around. I've seen some people want the Diamondbacks

to draft Jackson Holiday over Drew Jones, even if he's available. So it's a weird draft where really it feels like, you know, with so many good picks, you can't really go wrong with you draft. But there's still going to be some scrutiny tied to it based on who goes after the Diamondbacks and how successful those players are if they don't take them, right? Yeah, I mean, we we asked people on Twitter today, Derek, who, and it looks like the pick is in. The pick is in. And it is to Mar Johnson. It is Tamar Johnson to the Baltimore Orioles. Again, the odds-on favorite, Tamar Johnson.

The number one overall pick in the MLB draft goes to the Baltimore Orioles. So they still have four picks tonight. First 33rd, a lot of picks. But Tamar Johnson, I'm not surprised by that at all. I think that's a name that's been tied to the Baltimore Orioles now for months and months, right? Yeah. Well, once again, the odds on the drafting sports book app, right? spot on here.

Tamar Johnson was the odds on favorite. Those folks know what they're doing over there. They know what they're doing. Yeah. So as far as Tamar Johnson is concerned, this kid is said to have potentially the best hit tool of any high schooler that has been in the draft for about a decade. And so. No.

No. It didn't happen. It didn't happen. It did not happen. They took Jackson Holiday. Holy crap. Oh my gosh. Wow.

We're off to a great start here, Derek. We are off to great. They showed Tamar Johnson getting up and walking to the stage. But no, the Diamondbacks go or the Orioles go Jackson Holiday. This is incredible, you guys, because, again, somebody we thought that wasn't tied to the Orioles at all, right? I don't think we've heard, we saw several names. But yeah, obviously Jackson Holiday has been considered the best available shortstop. Tamar Johnson was considered the best bat actively, right, in the draft.

But Jackson Holiday, son of Matt Halliday. Holiday. This is incredible. And we are off. What an incredible start. We already got the first pick wrong, but the Diamondbacks are now on the, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. You know who they didn't take? They didn't take Drew Jones. He's still on the board. That's all that matters. So now we have the Arizona Diamondbacks just over two minutes on the clock. Jackson Holiday, very excited. He is watching, it looks like from his home in Oklahoma, which is something we talked about with this draft. There's actually a lot of, a lot of players in this draft are at home versus what we see with the NFL draft.

It's usually how the MLB draft works. Right. Guys are at home rather than being there on site. Right. So this is interesting, Derek. I know that you want Drew Jones and people in the chat, I think, largely want Drew Jones. Jacob's going to cry if we don't get Drew Jones.

Are you shitting me? I don't think Jacob will be the only one. So the argument in favor of Tamar Johnson, I just want to make this out here while we have a moment. If you draft Tamar Johnson, then you probably can get him for a little bit under slot value. Right. Which theoretically could give the diamond backs an opportunity to spend a little bit more

on their competitive balance pick at number 34 and then in the second round at number 43. Which is kind of how the Baltimore Orioles picks kind of are trending. Which is how the Orioles have a similar situation as the debacks. They actually have more picks in the top 50 than the debacks. Right. So they do have the ability to have their money go a bit further and if they can save it on the overall pick. But they're not saving on Jackson Holiday.

They're not. He's the number two overall pick. Aren't they going like pretty much in slot value when it comes to somebody that was ranked in the top three like that? Pretty much slot value. Yeah. I mean, maybe you get him for just a little bit less. But, but yeah, I mean, he's totally deserving of being number one. He's definitely not the not the guy that a lot of people expected, I think.

This is a bit of a surprise in some ways. Props to those of you who bet on Jackson Holiday going number one. You probably got really good odds on it. Plus 800 or something, right? Yeah, you probably really well on that. But yeah, now the Diamondbacks have about 35 seconds left on the. clock before their pick is in. You ready for this day? I am not ready for this. Jesse Bredman. Are you shitting me? Oh, this is exciting. So we're saying, we're saying probably Drew Jones or

Tamar Johnson and probably Jew Jones of this. Jesse is saying probably Tamar Johnson. Don't get it twisted. I'm not saying, I'm not saying probably anybody but Drew Jones at this point, anybody but Drew Jones, I think is a disappointment for for me at least. But 10 seconds, folks, 10 seconds. And then we will know who the Arizona Diamondbacks have selected. So again, this. This is extremely important, I think, for the future of the franchise. It's just so weird because baseball players take so long for them to actually impact the franchise. And I think especially right now, no matter the direction they go, there's a good chance it's going to be a high school player. And it's a good chance it's going to be somebody that's going to take a while before we see them in major leagues.

But the pick is in. We're ready to go. I'm excited for this. Here we go. They're interviewing Jackson Holiday at home right now. but I really need to see who the Diamondbacks pick. In the meanwhile, it's interesting to see exactly what they have going on. His dad's with him, Matt, and of course, we know about his MLB career.

We know a thing or two about Matt. Yeah, we're familiar with that guy. Of course, I'm sure Patrick is very familiar with him. But like, here we go. The Diamondbacks, whatever they do here, is going to, be huge. This is exciting. Is it aggravating for you, Derek, that it says the pick is in? It's killing me.

And we're just sitting here. Again, we talked about ways that they can improve the draft. I think to get all the hype up and now to be interviewing the first overall pick, like, I get it. The first overall pick is a big deal. But again, this is why the players being there, I think, is such a big deal, right? You get to get them up on the stage, hat on, jersey on, the photo op with Manfred. And then, you know, a couple of quick questions before we move on to the. next pick in the draft. In this case, it's pretty agonizing to me right now. Jesse, I'm dying inside.

And I don't know, Jacob Franklin asks in the chat, what if they went with Elijah? And I think I'd be pretty torn at this point. I don't know. Wow, you of all people torn about Elijah Green. I'll tell you, I think the Thanos Elijah Green meme by me from last season is dead forever now because obviously I am leaning mostly in the direction of Drew Jones. The one thing about Elijah Green that they've said quite a bit has been his especially at the combine his is swing and miss was right was exposed a bit they still classify him as having the highest upside at potential in the draft but I mean right what does that mean sometimes potential right like I mean I get it seen there are so many like toolsy like well-built outfielders that we've seen get taken high in the

MLB draft that just don't pan out the way that people think that they will right I mean hitting the ball is so in such an important part of Hitting the ball is a pretty important part. It is, Derek. Hashtag analysis. You should put the glasses back on, Derek. That was good. A little bit of sighting the tie up.

I'm going to sit down a little bit, so maybe you can't see my shorts so much. I don't know. I'm not, it's 105 degrees in this office right now, folks. It is a little warm in here. The glasses are a little bit foggy, and we've been looking at a thing saying the Arizona Diamondbacks pick is in for close to, close to two minutes now. So they're just towing with us. But this, again, is part of the MLB draft where it does move a little bit slower, right, than the regular draft.

We can't get as hyped up and as excited about these picks and moving on because it's dragging on now. I'm just thankful that we don't have all 20 rounds in one day. Oh, God. Can you imagine? Oh, God. I can only imagine how long these two rounds are going to take today. But Jacob asks if we got any good jokes. I do not right now.

here's another thing is that the diamondbacks also have a lot of picks like the Baltimore Orioles. Yeah, Mark asked how many picks do we have tonight and it is three. We have three picks. We have the compensation, right? The compensation draft round A or competitive. I'm sorry, competitive balance. Competitive balance round A. Words are hard.

We have one in there and then we also have the 43rd pick. So the diamondbacks are actually in a good position. But again, it begs the question like would they try to save money to potentially get better players later. We talked about Kumar Rocker and he's somebody that could potentially maybe be available in that competitive balance round a. Yeah, Kumar Rocker is a fascinating case. We talked about it with Patrick Lyons as well as I'm over here refreshing Jeff Passon's Twitter account every two seconds. Yeah, what is he, what is Jeff saying? We have, we have nothing. Jeff's got nothing. Jeff, where are you? Where's our woge? We need somebody giving us these picks like five minutes before they

hit the screen. He did get the Jackson holiday pick beforehand. So I think he'll probably have it before the TV does. But yeah, I don't know. It's going to be the Kumar Rocker situation is really interesting. He's been pitching in an independent league. He pitched just a few games there to kind of show off what he could do. He didn't go to college. And he unveiled the teams what his medical background actually was.

And that was sort of the reason that things fell apart with the Mets last year. He had a procedure over the fall. But apparently people were pretty impressed with him. So I don't know if he'll be there at number 31st. by the time the Diamondbacks opportunity rolls around, but you never, you never know. It's wild with the draft, the predictions, because some guys are as low,

like they're in the like early 20s or the late 50s, as far as the draft pick is concerned. But the Diamondbacks second overall pick, 34th and 43rd. So again, baseball America has the best available prospects. Jackson Holiday was third for them coming off the board. Drew Jones still ranked first.

Brooks Lee has kind of slid it. His name's kind of come up a bit out of nowhere as of late. Do you? Brooks Lee. Yeah, do you have any information? I mean, I think Brooks Lee was more about the Baltimore Orioles than it was, than it was anyone else. We might be getting pretty close here, though.

Yeah, there's some focusing in. I think that's Drew Jones right there. Yeah, let's get him on stage. Oh, Passing. Jeff Passon dropped it. Did he drop it? Jesse, refresh. I believe it is happening.

Is it happening? It's happening. It's happening. Oh, thank you, Jeff Passon. Here comes Rob Manfred to tell us the good news that the Arizona Diamondbacks have drafted essentially the number one overall pick. This is a pretty cool moment. This is incredible.

Jeff Passon has tweeted it out. We have Rob Manfred on the stage right now. It's not official. Let's fucking go. Let's go. Baxter's excited. I didn't know Baxter was there. Let's go.

Drew Jones, baby. I didn't know they let Baxter into L.A. of all places. I'm sure he's up to date on all of his cat vaccinations and whatnot. Drew Jones, the Diamondbacks somehow walk away. And again, not,

I guess not that unexpected, but just exciting to see this. And I don't want any of your shit. Don't start fucking tweeting me about how they're going to trade him away before we're past that. We're better than that now. Let's come on. Let's get together as a group in focus.

This is exciting. The Diamondbacks with the second overall pick still walk away with essentially the experts consensus best overall pick. Yeah. Yeah. This is a, I mean, this is a huge moment for the franchise. Drew Jones on the vast majority of draft boards. If you haven't been, you know, looking at all of the different draft boards that have been put out,

Drew Jones, Derek is on the top of basically all of them. Look at his weaknesses. Swing isn't always fluid. Are you shitting me? That's his only weakness. Defense, all the tools, all the tools. Oh, you better, you better believe. No offense to Dalton Varshow.

No offense to Dalton Varshow. Some people also have all the tools. Pitch recognition, very big for Drew Jones, obviously, very athletic, very powerful. He's got a substantial amount of power. I think one thing that's been very impressive about watching him has been his defense, right? The thought about having him, Corbyn, Carol, and Alec Thomas together in an outfield. an absolutely insane defense is fucking wild it's mind blowing right so i mean again the the outfield that the diamondbacks could have of the future is literally like giving me goosebumps right now

thinking about it and that's not even like at the dish that's just thinking of them defensively and what we've seen so far out of corbin carol is that this guy is legit right so i mean let's cover some of the basics here with drew jones so he's the son of of andrew jones fairly fairly well-known Fairly well-known, Andrew with a U. There's not a lot of Andrews with a U. 10 gold gloves, I want to say, for his father. So he comes by his defensive ability pretty honestly. And Patrick Lyons is right.

I'm absolutely going to be hanging out with Andrew Jones. I think Andrew Jones will like my shirts very much. That's what I think. But yes, Jesse, the reverse psychology work. There you go. There you go. This is all me. Yeah, he did it.

That's a big win. As far as, as far as Drew Jones is a player, though, just covering kind of more of the, the fundamental. of who he is and just kind of the some of the concerns and some of the strengths for him moving forward. Mark Salar is right, by the way. We lead the league in great hair right now. That is also true. That is also true.

Yeah. Yeah. Jacob Franklin says nothing will get in the gaps with the future outfield. He's absolutely right. It could be absolutely insane. Clutch Canucks says I can now happily watch. There you go. I'm with you on that a little bit.

You'll just assume that you'll basically be watching Drew. Jones. He'll basically be watching his son when you watch his father's highlights. So, but no, so Drew Jones, as far as the way that he's viewed by scouts moving forward, the one concern here, Derek, is how well he'll hit, basically the hit tool. So, you know, is he a guy who hits the majors and his power is for real, but, you know, maybe he's more of a 240 sort of hitter, right? But the good news with him is that he's a plus plus runner. His speed on the base paths is for real. He can steal bases. And the fact that he plays about as good of a center field as you're ever going to find in a high school kid, I mean, makes him about as exciting of a

prospect as there is. If you look at MLB Pipelines list for top prospects available in this draft, some people might be familiar with the 20 to 80 scale that scouts generally use where 50 is right smack dab in the middle. And then, of course, 80 would be the upper bound and then 20 would be the lower bound. Andrew Jones is, or Drew Jones, is the only player who comes in at a 65 on that list. After him, it is all 60 or below. So he is viewed as being in some ways kind of a tier above every other prospect in this draft, even though I think the first six or seven guys, you really can't go wrong here. But the Diamondbacks did about as well as they possibly could with this pick. Son of Andrew, five-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove winner.

Five-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove. Again, another guy that was committed to Vanderbilt Vanderbilt, Arizona State. These are schools that are very good college schools or as far as creating, you know, future top prospects and things like that. But I'm very excited about the idea of Andrew Jones, or excuse me, Andrew Jones being around the field. I'm excited about that. No, I mean, overall, I think the Diamondbacks obviously got exactly what they wanted,

which was the best available position player regardless of the position. but I do think this is significant. I mean, it really is. We joked about the loss with Josh Van Meter and giving the Orioles the overall number one overall pick, but in the end it doesn't matter because they're still going to go based on, you know, things like this, like positional needs,

you know, slot value, all of this other stuff, right? The chat is going crazy right now, Derek, because something very unexpected has happened. Kumar Rocker. The Texas Rangers at number three. have selected Kumar Rocker at number three. Kumar Rocker was taken at number 10 last year and was not signed due to health concerns. And this year, as I talked about a few minutes ago, we did a sort of showcase in the

Frontier League, which is an independent league. He pitched a few games there, kind of showed off what he could do. He had some pretty good stuff. This is wild. This is unprecedented, though. Kumar Rocker, most people had going between 20 and 35. We were even talking about the Diamondbacks, maybe having a shot at getting him. And the competitive balance round about 30 picks from now.

Oh, my God. So this is a big, bold move by the Texas Rangers passing on Tamar Johnson, passing on some of these other guys who are available near the top, Elijah Green. This is a big, big move for them. Here's the thing about Kumar Rocker is it actually makes a little bit of sense for the Texas Rangers because they feel like they've kind of expedited their timeline. And Kumar Rocker is probably theoretically closer to the big leagues than a lot of the other options. than they had available at this pick.

But, I mean, there's plenty of guys in between now and Rocker that were college players that would be considered to be a higher, at least a higher draft pick selection than Rocker. That's mind-blowing. Again, this is the excitement of the MLB draft. You literally have no idea what's going to happen because teams have different game plans. And those game plans can really be impacted by what timeline they're looking at, right? It's like the Orioles, I feel like got their timeline has been. expedited just a little bit by the way they're playing this year.

I mean, I'm sure they're just kind of playing with house money, kind of like the Diamondbacks were at one point. Are you retracting your Diamondbacks playing with House money comments from earlier in the season, Derek? I mean, at this point, I mean, yes, at this point, I would say that the debacks are. The Diamondbacks just beat the San Diego Padres, by the way.

Not that that feels particularly relevant right now, but. Right. They're 40 and 52 now. So they're 12 games below. 500. I guess a big part of that is that, yeah, with them being 12 games below 500, they're not playing with house money as much anymore. They're still a little bit ahead of the curve as far as where we expected them to be. But at this point, if they're going to finish the season well below 500 and probably right in between that range of 70 to 80 wins this season. But again,

I think that that's why they have a different timeline. That's why Drew Jones fits with their timeline, right? It is pretty crazy of the first two picks. I mean, you've literally got son of Matt Holiday, son of Ander Jones, like two baseball legends, you know, their offspring are being ushered into the big leagues here.

It's pretty crazy. Their offspring are now officially codified as actual major league baseball players. Although, I guess, not really. I mean, they're probably going to hang out in rookie ball for a while. It might be a few years. And we'll get around and talking about the Diamondbacks being the

Padres here very soon, but this is, uh, this is exciting. There's, there's Drew Jones, baby, with the Diamondbacks hat on already. Confetti in the room. Another guy, once again, at home with his family, not present at the draft. That's surprising to me. I mean, I got a good headset, though. I respect the, uh, the attention to detail. He's ready to do interviews with us, right? Like, he's ready. Oh, yeah. Let's get him in here. I mean, I imagine the Diamondbacks feel like they, like the Diamondbacks have to be popping bottles of champagne and celebrating, right? I mean, I knew they, just like us, they had a great, they had a good idea that was going to happen.

But still, it's got to feel like such a success to actually have that guy now as part of your organization. Yeah. Yeah. This is a pretty crazy moment. I mean, we've been looking, we've had today circled for a long time, Derek, as being one of the most important days for the Diamondbacks franchise this season. I mean, it's more important than any game they're going to play this year, right?

frankly. I mean, this is pretty much the biggest decision that they have had to make in the year 2022 and probably the biggest decision that they will have to make through the rest of the years. So getting Drew Jones here, seeing him dawn, this this Diamondbacks cap on MLB Network is a pretty cool moment. This is obviously right up there with Justin Upton as far as when they drafted. It's a similar situation, right? The 2004 season was one of the worst seasons in franchise history. It's pretty rough. Just like last year was. And they ended up getting a talent that became, I mean, really close to being the guy. Like, I, my first seasons of covering this team were around Justin Upton.

And I never felt like he wanted to be the guy as much as that was being thrust upon him. It was just so, his career as a diamond back was just so strange because he was, he was so good, like, pretty quickly. And then, you know, once they moved him to the Braves and even prior to that, he kind of just started, you know, turning the wrong direction. It was, it was a little bit strange how things worked out there. But I don't know. You perceive Justin Upton as being someone who didn't want to be that guy, you think? When I was around them in the locker room, I think that there was this idea from, it's kind of like Paul Goldschmidt, right?

Like there's this idea that when you're the best player on the team, now you're the leader. Yeah. Now you're thrust into that role of being kind of the mouthpiece and the focal point of the team. Sure. And both Goldschmidt and Upton just dreamed reluctant to even want that role, right? I mean, Goldie, I think, was a leader in his own way. But I don't recall hearing much of that.

with regard to Justin Upton, like being a clubhouse leader type that didn't really seem to be. He was very close with Chris Young. And in my first seasons of covering this team, I remember them kind of like getting their stuff and heading out, like, not really wanting that media attention and things like that. Good or bad, not just when things were bad, but like just in general, right? So I guess part of that is having that personality, right? We've talked about that with like David Peralta. David Peralta has the kind of personality that, you know, really does reflect wanting to be that in that leadership role. at least like with the media and stuff.

We do have the fourth pick in the draft now being finalized. And now we can say Tamar Johnson has finally come off the board, going to the Pittsburgh Pirates with the fourth overall pick. And I mean, if I was the Pirates, I think I'd be pretty damn thrilled about Tamar Johnson falling to us at three. Yeah, this is a really great situation for the pirates. Yeah, Tamar Johnson is, once again, probably is the best hit tool of anyone that we've seen out of a high school kid for about a decade.

What does that mean? What does best hit tool mean? Does it just mean like just the most advanced hitter? Yeah, it's just it's, I mean, so his approach is, is excellent. And it's, I guess it's sort of like bat to ball skills, like the ability to make contact and consistently drive the ball, you know, and make hard contact. I guess is really the most important factor there. He just has a short, compact stroke. He's kind of a smaller guy.

I think he's 5'8. And so he's one of the smaller guys in. in the draft, but we've seen guys, Derek, who were, you know, not necessarily the biggest, the biggest guys out there who turn into Jose Ramirez or Mookie Betts or, you know, Jose Altuve, who's probably even smaller than Tamar Johnson. It's pretty crazy what some of these guys are able to do, you know, despite what their size might tell you. Mark Slayer wants to know what are we going to be calling that outfield of our young short king, Drew Jones, and Corbyn.

I don't know. Very good right now. That's what I'm calling them. Where do you think, where does this put Dalton Varshot's future? Obviously, we're asking these questions way too early, and Drew Jones is probably three or four years away if we're being realistic here. But let's go there, Derek, just for fun. Where does Dalton Varsho play?

If you've got Alec Thomas, Corbyn Carroll, and Drew Jones, hopefully someday in a Diamondbacks outfield altogether, Dalton Varsho theoretically doesn't have a spot there. Does Varshow not appeal to you behind the plate? You know, I thought he did a pretty good job earlier this season. Because that's what he's been, right? Like in minor leagues and stuff, he was always a catcher. So I've always seen him as being the catcher of the future for this team.

But I guess I question that because he doesn't get much time there. And players like, you know, like they brought up on the broadcast today. Carson Kelly has moved into that role of being Madison Bumgarner's primary catcher now, whereas Jose Herrera was that for the majority of the season. And Bumgarner had even made comments about enjoying working with Herrera and vice versa, right? Right, right. But we don't really get a lot of that about the. Dalton Bar Show and he doesn't really seem to be in the mix much there for catching. It was such a short stint for him.

Like when Carson Kelly got hurt. Was that a pun? Do you want to, you want to apologize for that? No, I don't. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that to Dalton Bar Show. No, I mean, it was just such a short stint for him where he was kind of thrust into the

catching roll all of a sudden because Carson Kelly was hurt and they didn't really have a choice to put him anywhere else. My question is just like with how valuable Dalton Varshow's back. can be, and I know it hasn't always been great for him this year. He was hotter earlier in the year. June wasn't a great month for him. But with how great his back can be, you know, catching every day, it takes a very, very large toll on someone in Dalton Varsho's position. And so, you know, there's a reason you don't see that many catchers these days who are offensively minded who play in that spot every day because it's just very, very hard to pull that off

over a full season to continue what you're able to do offensively, even while you're, you know, sitting in a catcher's crouch for, you know, four hours a night. It's a really hard thing to do. That's not, that's definitely not easy at all. They are interviewing right now, Tamar Johnson. Again, this is great. This is what we were talking about, about the draft. We want to help the MLB draft be better.

So, I mean, again, I think that having these guys there, again, you can't force players to be there. And I think we're seeing that across all drafts where the guys are at home a little bit more than being there, right? But that's, it's such a big moment. And one thing I want to say about Tamar Johnson is, I was listening to Keith Laws show the other day, and he was raving about Tamar Johnson's makeup, just like who he is as a person, you know, how mentally prepared do they think he is

with a grind of working his way up through the minors. You know, I mean, at this point, I mean, the makeup of all these guys are going to be pretty good. If you're a, you know, top three, top four pick in the MLB draft, you probably got there because you have a pretty good head on your shoulders. But Tamar Johnson, they just raved about his, just his mental makeup and his ability to you know, work through adversity and whatnot. What she's going to have to do is he works his way up to the big leagues. I don't want to take too much away from this.

I don't want to make it a bigger deal than it is. But like what you're talking about, he's there, right? And of the top five picks so far, he's the first one we've seen actually be there present and actually be on the stage. I don't know why, but that kind of speaks a little bit to that, right? Like realizing how important that day is and realizing like, I get that you want to be around your family. And I get that sometimes being in the comfort of your home when this kind of situation, develops is a little bit easier, especially for a high school kid, right?

But like to be there and to be able to enjoy this moment as one of the top draft picks is a moment for you in your life. And I think that Tamar Johnson being there, it's big for him. You know what I mean? It's big for him. So let's say hypothetically, Derek, you are being selected in the first round of the MLB draft

or at least you expect to be. Are you there in person or are you at home with your family having them throw a big party for you? Are you shitting me? I'm here right now on a tie, Jesse. and it's like 90 degrees in this room. What does that tell you? I'm just here to be excited about Andrew Jones is the pick, right?

Like, yes, I'm there. I'm there because, again, the one thing about life, and I will say this, that this carries over beyond just a draft, is there are moments, right? And you don't always get, you don't always get to do stuff. I'm giving us waste on. I'm giving any life advice, right? This goes to people that don't like to celebrate holidays and shit.

This goes to you too, but you got to enjoy the moments, right? It's what life's about. When it's all said and done, I mean, hopefully we all have the memories. We're lucky enough to have the memories of life. And I think that if you're a young ball player, it's a marathon. Yeah. Like your baseball career is a marathon that you almost have to survive. It's so much different than other sports.

Football's a sprint, right? It's like, how long can you go? It's going to be fast ride. You got to make as much money as you can before you potentially, you know, can't play the game any longer. Baseball between all that you go through as an amateur athlete. And then you transition into the draft and being drafted by a team. Yeah.

the decision to either go to a team as a high school or go to college, then beyond that, once you get to the minors, getting through the low A, single A, double A, triple A, all of that. I mean, making the money that we talked about during the off season and how hard it is for these minor league players. How many of these guys have to go out and get a second job or whatever because they're not these guys, right? Like the top draft picks, they're going to be taken care of,

but there's so many guys that are going to be drafted over the next few days that aren't going to have the, they're not going to have what these guys being announced right now. have as far as money is concerned. So it's going to, you know, it's a different process for them. And it's going to be a long process for all of these guys to make it to the big league. So that's one thing that, again, when you talk about Tremar Johnson and that, you know, the head that he has, right? Like that's so important because it is, it is a very difficult journey to choose to play, you know, baseball. We know about that with Kyler Murray and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

that Kylea Murray was drafted number one overall by the Oakland A's, or was it over one number of? No, I don't believe it. It was the first round. And Kyle Murray, again, it's understandable, considering that where he's at in his career as a football player versus where he would be at right now as a prospect in the Oakland A's system.

So, you know, things like that also factor into the equation when other sports can tend to be more appealing to go into. Yeah, he was taking ninth overall back in 2018. And he's the first player to ever be selected. number one in both drafts. Yeah, which is insane. Or not number one. In the first round of both drafts.

Yeah. It's insane that, I mean, he might be the most athletic. Like, that's insane. To be drafted in the first round in two different professional sports is ridiculous. I think it's, uh, Gerrero asked any chance Drew starts off in low A versus Arizona. I mean, I, I, I'm hard to say. I'm a little doubtful. That might be a little early for him.

For a high school kid, pretty rare to start off in low A, I would think. So probably not likely. But, you know, I mean, Drew Jones is definitely a guy who's going to take some time. You know, it's high school. It's not college. He's, you know, he's a young guy. So I think it's going to be a few years before you see him in the big leagues. But he does have an opportunity to move relatively quick.

I mean, we've just seen Corbyn Carroll, you know, shoot through the minor leagues. It's crazy. Even though he suffered a major injury along the way. Like, Corbin Carroll still has around 500. professional plate appearances, and he's already one step away from the majors.