PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Reno? More like ERAno

Episode Date: May 26, 2022

On this episode, Derek and Jesse are discussing the D-backs upcoming four-game series with the Dodgers, top pitching prospects numbers in Reno, and who might emerge as an All-Star in a few weeks. 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.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Bontea, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. I'm joined by my vice mayor, my friend, my co-host, the one and only, Thunderstick, Jesse Friedman. No baseball, Derek. We have a rare off day. Yeah, there's a lot of, there's a lot of people bored right now in Diamondbacks, Twitter. We put out the, you might know what this. gif is from you know like the little like the little kid with the backwards baseball cap who's like sitting

there like with his fingers on the ground like he's impatiently waiting yes okay thank you thank you um so yeah so so we put out that gif just talking about how there's no diamondbacks baseball today and and everyone's bored and so um someone replied and said what am i supposed to do hang out with my wife and kids like exactly yeah like what i mean that's just completely unreasonable we People don't do that in the 21st century. So there's a lot of people bored today, Derek, because there's no Diamondbacks baseball. And this team has been the source of a lot of entertainment for a lot of people lately.

More importantly, there's a lack of sports in general right now with the current situation. I don't want to address with the NBA playoffs and the city of Phoenix. Coyotes hockey, not great there either. Football season, though, is year-round, Jesse. not sure if you knew that. So make sure you're checking out the guys over at the PHNX Cardinals because there is always some drama going on with the Cardinals. Kyler Murray is a year-round.

Kyler Murray is a year-round sport for sure. We thank you guys again, of course, for joining us. This show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King Sportsbook. Speaking of the NBA playoffs right now, you can get down on the NBA playoffs at the Draft King Sportsbook by betting just $5 on any NBA team to win their game, and you will get $150 in free bets if they do. That's over at the Draft King's Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. I don't know how to look forward to this upcoming series with the Dodgers. Jesse, I called the police today and I told them that they are making us play another four game series against the Dodgers.

And they asked me to stop calling them to tell on Major League Baseball. They were like, you've called it, you call this like 20 times during the lockout. So no. Are these like 9-1-1 calls or are these like your neighborhood? No, no, 9-1-9-1. That's excessive, Jesse. No, I wouldn't call 911. I just, I called the police to file a report.

Like I want to file a report on Major League Baseball. They're like, okay, what's the charge? I'm like abuse, like physical abuse by making the Diamondbacks play multiple four-game series against the Dodgers in the month of May. And they were like, that's that's not how this works. that's not abuse. And I still think that we don't see eye to eye on our definition of abuse when it comes to MLB's relationship with the Diamondbacks. But their schedule this year has been abusive.

And it continues to remain abusive as they face the Dodgers. Once again, I saw the Dodgers today lost in a one-nothing game that brought me a whole lot of joy to the Washington Nationals, Jesse. So it can be done. it can be done. But once again, now what I fear is after a one-nothing loss to the nationals that they're going to be very angry and they're going to take it out on us. And that's, that's like us beating them in the first series of the year. I feel like something similar is coming. There's definitely a sense of doom that probably comes with facing the Dodgers, you know, immediately after they lose, they lose a game like that. It's pretty hard to shut out a team like that.

But Mookie Betz has been insane. Over the last, like, month and a few days, Mookiee Betz has hit 12 home runs, and his 12 home runs leads the National League. So he's been on a tear, and we all know how deep that lineup is. It's going to be a fun weekend, Derek, watching the Diamondbacks line up against this team once again.

Here's what I'm going to say. The probabilities have been updated since yesterday, and the Diamondbacks do have a couple of advantages here. They start off with Mitch White pitching for the Dodgers on Thursday. And Mitch White has a 6.17 ERA. So, hey, there's something. He also has 13 strikeouts in like two starts, and he's 1-0. So going up against Mirds of Castiano's,

Tony Gonsolin in game two, going up against Madbum, still did be determined in game three against Merrill Kelly. And then Tyler Anderson, who is somehow inexplicably 5-0, is going up against still TBD for the Diamondbacks in the finale on Sunday. Yeah. So I guess, Jesse, sometimes looking at this Dodgers starting rotation of names that some people may not be very familiar with, it kind of, it's kind of mystifying that this team can almost seemingly plug in anybody from their organization and have them find success. Well, yeah, I mean, the names that aren't in there, of course.

I mean, there's no Walker Bueller. There's no Julio Ureus, as far as we're aware. You mentioned there's one game that's still TBD. We'll see how the Dodgers handle that. There's no Clayton Kershaw. I mean, those are the big names in that rotation. But, yeah, Mitch White has been a reliever for the Dodgers for the majority of the season. He's made one start, which I believe, yeah, which I believe happened recently.

So, yeah, I mean, you're maybe catching a little bit of a break there, being able to face him in this series. And then Tyler Anderson really pitched well against the Diamondbacks the last time these two teams met. So you still kind of have your hands full. Tony Gonsolin, of course, is, you know, the name credibility isn't there, but the guy is a 1.62 ERA. So Diamondbacks still have their hands full here for sure. I don't I don't know what to expect out of this series but I don't have very high expectations.

I think that makes it okay. I know that it's Memorial Day weekend so I know that there's going to be a whole lot of fans out at the ballpark and I implore Diamondbacks fans to overcome the whole Dodgers taking over the stadium thing and try to make it out. Like let's try to even this ratio out a little bit because the Diamondbacks at this point,

I feel like these players, players kind of deserve the support. They're 23 and 22. This team continues to be exciting and fun to watch. Even if they're not incredibly successful, they're still very fun to watch. There are 34 home runs this month lead the National League in the month of May. And there's just so many things right now to be excited about, especially going up against the best team in the division and in the National League, right?

this is an opportunity for them to kind of chip away a little bit at the armor with not having some of those big names that you mentioned in their starting rotation right now, Jesse. So I just think that it's with the Diamondback's current confidence and the offense on the role that it is during the Royal Series, I'd love to see them come in and at least take two of this series. I think two or more is going to really please me as far as this four-game series goes. Two or more would be, I mean, that would be a huge win for the Diamondbacks. I think the last time these two teams faced off, the Diamondbacks were in a similar spot where they were right around 500, maybe a game over 500. And then, you know, the series against the Dodgers sort of wiped, wiped all that out once

the Dodgers completed a four games sweep. As well as the starting pitching ERA as well as that. Yeah, I think it was 11.88 was the devax starting pitching ERA in that series the last time around. So hopefully, uh, hopefully better fortunes in, in this series this weekend. What do you expect to see? Do you expect to see something like a split or do you think that we might see the Dodgers still continue to dominate the diamondbacks like they did at Dodger Stadium? Yeah, I mean, it's always hard to, to predict. I would, I would, I would, this team's so weird, right? It's so. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's so good. And then, you know, then,

then we'll see every once in a while a series, where. where we kind of reveals a bit of where they're still at. Yeah, I mean, the last time these two teams met, I think it was, it caused a lot of Diamondbacks fans to tap the brakes a little bit on their, their sense of what this team could be. The Diamondbacks were, came into the,

to the four games series the last time around. I think they had already lost three out of their last four games against the Marlins and the Cubs. They were hoping to bounce back. And they, they didn't right they the dodgers very much put them in their place and the dodgers have a way of doing that against just about any team they play because they're i mean they're that good of a team but i mean yeah if i'm if i'm having to make a prediction here i think the dodgers taking

three out of four is kind of the most standard thing that would come to my mind um but yeah i mean things could certainly turn in in either direction you mentioned the the pitchers the deba backs will face in the series is not quite up to the quality that, that, you know, the Diamondbacks are usually tasked with against a team like that. So that, that'll certainly help them here. Well, Jesse, I'm interested to not only, uh, obviously have our perspective on this upcoming series, but I'm interested to get the perspective of a good friend of ours, new friend of ours, big Diamondbacks fan, apparently the number one Diamondbacks fan.

and that is talking Jake from John Boy Media, who is going to be joining us on Thursday to discuss his Arizona Diamondbacks, this series with the Dodgers. I need to know how his love affair with this team started and so much. There's so much more. So many games we need to talk about how good or bad he is at. We're very excited for that, especially because our baseball community is pretty awesome. And I really am proud of what those guys. John Boy and Jake have done as far as, you know, podcasters and people that love baseball, right?

I mean, you got to tip your cap to them on the empire that they've built over there and all of the success they've had. And I'm excited to discuss all of that with them tomorrow. But mostly, we're going to talk Arizona Diamondbacks because, again, he's the biggest fan. So we're going to get his thoughts on all that stuff. Make sure to join us tomorrow for that. It's going to be on Thursday. If you're listening to us Thursday morning later this evening,

we're going to have that on as a live show. You'll also be able to get that as audio podcast. If you haven't signed up for a membership over at go p hnx.com, I don't know what you're waiting for. We are the best around. Nothing's ever going to keep us down. And if you want to get all this glorious content, you can get an annual membership over at go phtonx.com.

You'll also get a free t-shirt at the PHNX locker. Jesse has that piece out today on Joe Mantiply and all the things that he is doing right. He's not doing much wrong. I mean, there's nothing else to write about, really. Yeah, all the good things, all good stuff, right. But make sure to get that over at go phtnx.com. If you're not interested in the annual membership,

sign up for the month-to-month option, and you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. Regardless of which option you choose, you'll get access to all of our articles on the website, as well as our members-only discount on the PHNX Locker and members only access to our discord where we'll chat with you all summer long about baseball. And then I go into hibernation for the winter. And Jesse stays awake, keeping his eye out for me.

Like a diligent assistant. Well, I almost called you assistant mayor. Wow. And I know that's degrading. Vice mayor, of course. Yeah, vice man. But speaking of keeping an eye out, we got to keep an eye out for our youngsters, the guys that are doing things down on the farm.

And we know what old Mike Hazen had a farm. EIEI-O. So let's talk a little bit about some of the youngsters, both good and bad and things they've been doing. I know one guy that we've been definitely keeping an eye on has been Seth Beer. We miss Seth Beer a tremendous amount up here on the Major League Club. We know that we wanted to see him get right in Reno. And so far, Jesse, it looks like he's gotten back on track.

Yeah, yeah, Seth Beer so far in Reno, he's hitting 308. He's slugging 654. 26 at bats over seven games, two homers, eight RBIs. It's looking pretty good for him so far. He has almost as many RBI in seven games for the Reno Aces as he had in 27 games for the Arizona Diamondback. So I know he had that long stretch where he really struggled, but I'm really happy to see him get on back on track. And I would love to see him back up here on the Diamondbacks soon. I think it, yeah, I mean, it really may only be a matter of time.

The Diamondbacks have kind of had a revolving, at the DH spot without him. And I still think that in many ways, Seth Beer is kind of the ideal fit for that spot. I'm not sure the Diamondbacks are at the point yet where they have nine hitters that they really want in the lineup, you know, every single day. So there really is room there for the Diamondbacks to give other guys,

other opportunities. And Seth Beer is really at the top of that list. I mean, he's a guy who has that middle of the order type of potential moving forward. And so they're able to, you know, get him back up here at some point and hitting like he was early in the season. That's going to be really big. I think the key for him, Derek, is a lot of people see Seth Beer and, you know, you see how big of a guy he is and how strong he is. And, you know, those things are very true. But he didn't necessarily destroy the baseball when he was, when he was playing with the Diamondbacks.

There was the homer on opening day. Other than that, he was kind of a singles hitter. hit a lot of extra base hits. And, you know, for a guy like him whose value comes from his bat, he's going to have to start, he's going to have to start clobbering the baseball a little bit more, turning some of those singles into extra base hits. And he's, he's done that so far in Reno out of his eight hits, three or doubles and two are home runs. So he's off to a good start there. Yeah, you're not wrong. He had four extra base hits, three doubles and one home run. That home run, the very memorable home run was on opening day and has a 284 slugging percentage this season

in maybe which is not good at all like you said 17 hits only four for extra base hits so again things are looking better for him now he's got again as many doubles in seven games as he had in 27 games for the diamondbacks and he's doubled up his home run total already so things are looking better for him for sure. And if he can, you know, again, that slump didn't last too long. So if he can kind of mentally be in a good place and come back up here and do what he's doing at a AAA level against major league pitching, he can definitely help the Diamondbacks win some games.

Yeah, they really need, the power is just going to be so big for him there. Yeah, I mean, a 284 slugging percentage. And, you know, that's not all just because his batting average was super low. batting average was 210. So you're looking for a larger gap there between the batting average and the slugging percentage that just wasn't there so far. But obviously it's a small sample size

and he has plenty of time moving forward to try to get back on track. What about pitching? Jesse, things in the pitching world at Reno haven't been so hot. They have not. No, they have not. And I mean, pitching in Reno is never going to be a great situation

as we've talked about. But a lot of a big name that a lot of people are at least remember us talking about a while back. There hasn't been as much talk about him lately as Dre Jameson. Drey Jameson pitched really well to start the year in Amarillo, earned a promotion to Reno a few weeks ago. And it's been rough, Derek. I mean, he's made four starts for the Reno Aces. He's only pitched 14 and two thirds inning. So he's averaging under four innings per start.

He has more walks than strikeouts. he has an 1105 ERA, 295 batting average against. The numbers are rough across the board. And that does include a couple of outings on the road away from, you know, the hitter-friendly Reno environment where he still just wasn't very effective. So it's only four starts, you know, there's certainly plenty of time for him to get things back on track. And you always take Reno numbers with a grain of salt. But Drey Jamison has really struggled there so far.

We only take them with a grain of salt when it's for the pitchers, Jesse. When it's for the hitters, we won't give me all the numbers. Right. All the numbers. I want all the numbers. And speaking of that, Stone Garrett has been absolutely crushing the ball. He hit his 40th RBI of the year the other day. 11 home runs this season in 40 games for the Reno Aces this year,

slashing 303, 372, 635 with a 1.007 OPS. Jesse, give me this man at a major league level. Yeah. It's like we went from not having any outfielders to like having an embarrassment of riches when it came to young outfielders it feels like. I mean, because that DH spot is still open, at least for the moment, it does give the diamond back to the flexibility to kind of cycle in any player, no matter where it is they're playing.

And I think Stone Garrett is going to get a big league opportunity at some point this season. And the numbers like you mentioned just totally jump off the page. Yeah, I mean, the AAA numbers offensively are pretty good across the board, as I guess you'd sort of expect. Grayson Greiner, who the Diamondbacks recently sent back down. He got a little taste of the majors. He's hitting 351 down there. And yeah, yeah, I mean, he's been great.

Dominic Fletcher got a promotion as well. And he and his first five games in Reno, hitting 316. So hard to argue with numbers like that, Derek. It's going pretty good. On the pitching side, I guess I'll also mention Ryan Nelson, who's another big pitching prospect in this organization. Ryan Nelson's made nine starts this season with Reno, two and four with a 7.36 ERA.

It's pretty, yeah, not a number that's going to excite you. If you can get a sub five ERA, Jesse and Reno, that shit will make. Thank you all-star at the major league double. That's not great. He's given up 10 home runs in 40 into third innings. And that's the reason. He's their number five prospect in their top 30, by the way.

Yeah. Yeah. He's a big time pitching prospect. And I still would bet that Ryan Nelson is probably going to crack the majors at some point this season. He has 16 walks and 43 strikeouts, which is, which are really good numbers over 40 into third innings. I think he's just,

He just allowed a ton of home runs and just a lot of base hits overall. And those kinds of things you can, to a certain degree, just to tribute to Reno and just how crazy of a hitter's environment it is. So less concerned about what we've seen from Ryan Nelson. Hopefully he's able to bring that ERA down a little bit more in the coming weeks. I know I promised you I wouldn't do this, but I'm going to do it anyway. Corbyn Carroll is hitting 328, 462, 694 with a 1.1.15. 5-6 OPS and 12 home runs, Jesse. He has 25 RBI in 34 games.

That's insane. It's insane what Corbyn Carroll is doing for the Diamondbacks right now. If you're wanting to nitpick, I guess he has 43 strikeouts. So he's actually, there's been a fair amount of swing and miss in his game, but she'll take 43 strikeouts when a guy is slugging almost 700 and still batting well over 300 and walking a time. and has 13 stolen bases. You know, you can put up with that. You know what he's not doing?

He's not hitting into goddamn double plays, Jesse. That's what that means to me is he's not hitting into double plays. There you go. There you go. Yeah. I mean, I think the other name that, of course, we think of alongside of Corbyn Carroll is Jordan Lawler, right? The other top 20 in baseball prospect that the Diamondbacks have, Lawler in

Visalia, yeah, three of them in Visalia, Jordan Lawler is hitting 352 with a 461 on base percentage, 600 slug. He's still in 18 bases in 33 games. Seven homers, 21 RBIs.

I mean, it's looking really good for the future shortstop of the Diamondbacks, which Jordan Lawler will likely be maybe not too long from now. Mike Hazen doesn't seem so crazy now, does he?

I mean, did he ever, I mean, I guess there are certain moves you could point to that people would say he's crazy for, but did we ever think Mike Jason was totally crazy? I guess what I'm insinuating is he's not so crazy for not going out and paying a bunch of high price free agents to come in and potentially block these young players from actually making up to the major leagues because financially you can't validate. you can't argue for, you know, bringing up some young kid when you're going to go sit this guy on the bench for two million dollars that you're paying him a year or even a, you know, a million or whatever, right? Like nothing of what they did seem to make very much sense at the time. But now that we're seeing Alec Thomas, now that we're seeing Geraldo Perdomo, now that we're seeing some of these young guys, especially Dalton Varshot, who was their big it thing. you know, last year before he kind of had a flat start out of the gate and, you know, it looked a bit like maybe he wasn't going to be everything we thought he might potentially end up being. Now, Varshot's looking like a potential all-star. And I'm not, I mean, yes,

I did take OG's gummies, but I'm not like, that's not dictating my decision on this, because those are just delicious handmade scratch, scratch made gummies, Jesse, from our friends at OGs. That is not impacting the numbers that I'm seeing when it comes to Dalton Varshow. But if you can be the judge of that by stopping by your local dispensary and grabbing some OGs yourself and the variety of flavors that they have to offer and the variety of dosages that they have to offer, both 10 milligrams and a three milligram microdose, a bunch of flavors, orange creamsicol, Pena colada, watermelon, blackberries and cream, all sorts of great stuff. Perfect if you're in the mood for an uplifting setiva or chill indica.

I don't know what you would take on a baseball off day, Jesse. Either way, there's no baseball. So I guess probably chill so that that way I'm not as worried about they're not being baseball and not as bored as I normally would be without baseball. But if you're interested in maybe watching some cartoons on mute with rap music on in the background, try the amazingly delicious variety of flavors that OG's brands has to offer. Go to OGsbrands.com. That's OGEZBrands.com to find OGs near you.

And yes, Jesse, again, I know I know the OGs aren't influencing my decision on this, but I'm going to say a crazy thing. And the crazy thing is, I think Dalton Varsho should be an all-star. I don't think you're crazy at all there. I think that's the most rational take that you've had and quite some time, frankly. Yeah, that was a good one. I knew it was a good take. You know, when I was designing that horror show of a meme that I designed of Dalton Varsho's face on this guy's arms with,

a body with a bunch of arms. I never thought I would get to use it as much as I did. But Dalton Varsho has all the tools, Jesse, and he's proving it on the baseball diamond. He is. He is. I mean, Dol Varsho,

I mean, this is the situation, people. If you look at the very top of the list of major league position players when it comes to wins above replacement, Dalton Varsho is 14th in baseball among all position players. He is ahead right ahead of. of Freddie Freeman. He's a few spots ahead of Bryce Harper. He's a few spots ahead of

Zander Bogartz and Francisco Lindor and Giancarloz Stanton. He's been incredible this season. I mean, what people, I mean, that company is certainly lofty, but what you have to realize is that Dalton Varsho has played a very high quality defense, defensive center field, which is not something that many guys who also can catch are able to do. I mean, he's He's providing loads of defensive value. And on top of that, he's hitting 268 with a 337 on base percentage, and he's slugging 490. So what, I mean, what Dalton Varshow is bringing on both sides of the ball is incredible.

He also has three stolen bases. He's, you know, he's fast on the base paths and has helped the diamond backs in that regard, too. So we're at the point, Derek, where, I mean, as far as center fielder's go, you got Mike Trout, you've got Brandon Nimmo from the new. York Mets, who's had a really good season, almost the exact same wins above replacement as Dalton Varsho. And then you have Dalton Varsho. And I'm not sure there's any other center fielder in baseball that I would put ahead of him right now. I guess George Springer is another big name. He hasn't been quite as good so far to start the season. But Dalton Varsho making an

all-star team, as far as I'm concerned, just feels like a pretty obvious move at this point, given how he's performed so far. Slashing 296, 344, 513 over his last 13 games. And doing it, like you said, at a high level defensively, both behind the plate and in the center field. And it's incredible because there are guys that could play both. Sure. It's not to say like there, there, there are position.

I mean, not many. Not many. There are guys that could play both. We have position players go out there. and throw the ball when they don't want to run their bullpen down to the down to the bone right so it's like it's not to say that players playing out of position in a blowout loss or something of the sort isn't isn't out of question especially with baseball it happens all the time but nobody is doing it at the level that dalton varsho is doing it at both positions i think that's the most incredible thing about it and we've joked we've talked about we've discussed at length, Tori Lavallo loving versatility in his players. So the fact that Dalton Varsho can be this for Tori Lovolo, I mean, man, I'm not ready to start talking MVP for Dalton Varsho, but MVP for Tori Lovolo, as far as his most valuable

player on this team for what he's been able to bring, especially considering the slow start Carson Kelly had and the injuries that he experienced, then you also have the fact that they really didn't know who was going to fill in that gap at center field. And we had predicted, much like third base, that we would most likely see a platoon. But Dalton Varsho just killed it out there. He did an amazing job. And I'm still curious to see what they're going to do at third base. That's still something that I think they need to solve.

I hope Josh Rojas can be back soon. And I hope that Josh Rojas will continue to play, you know, as well as he's played there. It sounds like he should be. back relatively soon. They talked about it on the broadcast the other day. There's not a definitive timetable, but it sounds more like a situation of soreness than like there being a real diagnosable clear-cut issue that is going to need several weeks of rehab. So it's not impossible that we could see him this weekend against the Dodgers, but we'll have to wait and see. You're right, though. I mean, the big lift for this team. Yeah, the hole at third base without Josh Rojas is a pretty, a pretty

gaping hole. The team just doesn't have enough depth there, which has been, if there's anything we've learned about holes on this roster so far this season, it's that the depth at third base is pretty thin. Other all-stars on this team, Jesse, I feel like Zach Gallen is still up there, despite a pretty shaky outing in his last start against Kansas City Royals, I think he'll get back on track. But definitely, I feel like he's getting there. And I, I still think Catell has a really good shot of making it as an all-star at second if he continues to improve at the trajectory that he's currently on. Yeah, he has a ways to go.

I mean, he's hitting 252, which is a significant increase from where he's been, you know, most of the season. It'll be 320 by June 15th, Jesse, watch 320. He'll be 320 by then. I mean, that would be incredible. Second base is a little bit more, I guess centerfield is not a particularly tough position in the National League. It's pretty much Brandon Nimmo and Dalton Varsha.

I think those are the two clear-cut favorites there. Second base, there's a little bit more competition. Tommy Edmund has had a tremendous season for the Cardinals. He's one of the best defenders in the game, really. He plays a really good defensive second base. And then Jazz Chisham, our old friend from the Miami Marlins. Oh, Jazz is getting that shit. He won't.

Jazz could hit 2.15 and he would still get voted in an altar. I mean, his numbers are pretty crazy to start the year. and then Jeff McNeil from the New York Mets is hitting 323. So he's going to be tough to pass up as well. So just given the depth at the position there, I think Cattel has quite an uphill battle at this point. He would have to really go off here in the next month or so to get in there. Well, regardless, I hope that this year we just see more than one Diamondback.

I feel like this team deserves it. I feel like they've been performing in a way. But much like when we do our King of the Series wrap up, Sometimes we have a hard time deciding on who to give it to because over the course of the series, this team has had many kings, you know, and many OG's performances to forget. But many, many different people producing offensively, defensively, bullpen-wise, starting pitching wise, it's a whole team effort. And right now, nobody, aside from Dalton Varsho, in my opinion, really sticks out. I'd say Zach Gall and Dalton Varsha really are the ones leading the class and really the top candidates for this team to make the All-Star team.

I think it's pretty clear. Yeah, I think it's those two guys and the Diamondbacks as, you know, around a 500 baseball team. They're probably going to get two selections. That would be a pretty reasonable outcome here. So, yeah, that's that I would bet on. Christian Walker, I think deserves to have much better numbers than he does. He really does. Is he still hitting below 200?

he's I think he's right around 200. Um, if it is above 200, it's, it's not by a whole lot. He's it, no, he's a 195. Yeah, he's at 195. Yeah, it doesn't seem like that. And he's what he's second in national league and home runs, right? He has 11. Yeah, yeah, he has 11 home runs.

So, uh, so yeah, I mean, he's certainly a name to watch. But again, you just look at the depth at the position there. Um, there's a guy named Paul Goldschmidt who plays for the St. Louis Cardinals, who is, who's hitting. 34. And then there's, there's, uh, there's Freddie. He's hitting 34. He is currently hitting 34. Yeah. Yeah. Goldie is, goalie is really gone off this year. There's, there's, there's some stories out there about how he's, you know, kind of reinvented himself. I think, I think he'll come back down to earth. It looks pretty unsustainable to me, just, uh, looking at some of the numbers, but he's been really good this year.

Freddie Freeman, I think is a clear all-star trade ever again. I don't ever want to hear about the trade ever again. Sorry, go ahead. We've talked about the trade a fair amount on the show. And we've, anyway, you can go back. And if you want our takes on the goalie trade, we don't need to rehash that right now. We've, we have talked it to death. But yeah, Freddie Freeman is also going to be an all-star pretty clearly in the national league. So getting Christian Walker in there would be pretty tough.

Well, regardless, I don't really care much about the All-Star game, aside from the fact you and I are going to be there, pal. We're going to be there watching whoever the Arizona Diamondbacks send there. More importantly, I'm excited to go there and see the home run derby because that's been a dream of mine for a long time. I missed the home run derby when they had the All-Star game here at Chase Field. It's an epic. It is an absolutely epic experience. I have to encourage.

I'm an excitable boy, Jesse. I'm an excitable boy, and you know that you're going to get me there. and it's just going to be Derek trashing his voice for two straight hours so that he can't do any podcasts during All-Star weekend. Our voices may well be, well, at least your voice may well be broken when we're there. But I was at the home run derby in 2019 in Cleveland,

and it was extraordinary. And granted, that's probably one of the most legendary home run derbies. Yeah, It was, you know, it was like a three-way tie, essentially, Jock Peterson, Pete Alonzo. There's another guy who was in there that I'm, oh, it was Vatimir Guerrero Jr. of course. He's the guy, he's the guy a lot of people really felt should have won. Of course, Pete Alonzo pulled it out in the end.

But, I mean, seeing just that many home runs all in a row is just, it was, it was an incredible experience. So we're going to, we're going to have some fun All-Star Week coverage coming here in not that long. I mean, All-Star break is about a month and a half away at this point. That's right. That's right. Jesse Friedman, hurry up and get down here so we could go cover the All-Star game. I'm excited to have Jesse in state, which is not too far away. But of course, in the meantime, you can follow him on Twitter and send a messages about coming home soon. He's at Jesse N. Friedman. I am at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Our show is at P.NX underscore

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But that's all we got. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Shout out to all the guys in the minor league system. We hope you all do well. We look forward to your success. We thank you guys for joining us and listening to us talk about their future success and maybe some of their struggles right now. On behalf of Jesse and myself,

we appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when the Diamondbacks don't have to play the Dodgers in four-game series anymore.