Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Aaron Judge Is Still Front Runner for AL MVP?

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Head to https://www.factormeals.com/talkin50off to save 50% off your first box!Check out the Best Network in the Game at https://T-Mobile.com/NetworkShop SKIMS Mens at https://www.skims.com/talkin #skimspartnerUse code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALK.... Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountCoach Trev and Talkin’ Jake break down who will win AL MVP between Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh, they rank defensive positions by how difficult they are, and see if they know who is leading in some obscure stats!0:00 Intro4:35 Jimmy’s realignment plan8:15 Cal Raleigh or Aaron Judge for MVP16:00 if Cal hits 63 homers does he win MVP?33:11 Ranking Defensive positions46:00 Fun top 5 lists  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 talking baseball. It's the midweek. We're checking in on a historic MVP race. All the other awards, we're going to rank the positions I think we stumbled into. And a lot more ball talk, some top fives. All right. Comeyuki Sagano. Jacob Marcy.

Me and Sagano, same exact birthday, 1011.89. How about that? Yeah, she's smoke a cigarette together. Different lifestyles. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. presented to you by C. Geek. Co-talk in 2025.

Go to a game. Summer's whining down. It's August 27th, coach. What happened? We were just ranking these teams. Povetta just signed with the Padres. Now we're here. It's Labor Day.

What's going on, Big Daddy? Are we talking NL. Si Young already? He's up there. Don't laugh at that. No. I'm doing great. You know, I don't know.

I had an interesting day yesterday, I taught you guys about it. I've been a caretaker over the last 24 hours. You know what? I kind of loved it. I like people, you know. It's not what she said before the show. Well, I thought about it a little bit more.

Okay. Because typically, you know, our kids, like, come to me second. They go to mom first. If she says no, then they come to dad. Right. Yesterday, Olivia, you know, she's one of the people I'm taking care of right now. So everyone was coming to me. It kind of made me feel important a little bit.

Wow. Yeah. You got some status back in your own home. Yeah. I got a lot of power. Oh, you want something? Oh, very interesting. That's not how it works.

I'm just like, sure. Okay. All right. You like me still? I cook these try tips. Oh, boy. And look, anyone that cooks meat understands it's all about like the meat. And I got some beautiful.

beautiful cuts. So it was nice. That's pretty happy about that. For talking baseball historians, we know that we've talked with J.P. Crawford about tri-tip and Taiwan Walker. Are those are two that we've? Dallas Braden, he thinks he's like got like the tri-tip crown. I will put my tri-tip up against like literally anybody. We're talking meat. Literally. And I'll cook it over open fire too. Right. I remember that whole debate. God. Five years ago. JP Crawford's on base percentage this year.

Coach Trev? Ooh, 365. 355. You're there. You're there. 3.2 war. I've got some more stuff coming up. We're going to dive into Cal Raleigh and Judge

because we've got under a month left. What's the last day of the regular season? Is it the 28th? Today's the 27th. Bob O'Pedick's on it right now. Yeah, we end early because we see. started early in the extra wild card round like that's that's the new schedule um oh my god and treb i don't know i'll have you send the text later maybe maybe we'll find some john boy time for a midweek i don't know

if you know this i think he's putting together maybe it's a breakdown but he's he's put together a full expansion plan season schedule um a new playoff format a first half and second half thing. I don't know if you've seen the Smoltz video yet. John has signed up for the cult of Smoltz, that there's like a new baseball has two different halves that matter for seating. I saw, I saw, I mean, that's, they do that already in the minor leagues.

So it's interesting. I'm going to tell Jimmy right now, hey Jimmy, careful. The internet streets are a tough place. I've been getting absolutely crushed. Even though I was like mostly joking about my realignment, people are, I still have. We put the social clip out a month ago. Yeah.

People run hot on it. I get an insta DM of another plan or division every day. And I'm like, I'm happy, you're happy. And I guess I'm excited about it too. Yeah, I think Jim's, you know, we're friends with Uncle Rob now. I think John's going to try to send it to the top. I think he like, he thinks he has the best plan. he's going to push it as hard as he possibly can.

And when he does that, things have worked out the past eight years or so. So with all of that, let's get into some ball talk today. Like I said, we'll deep dive into the MVP thing because it's starting to get real loud. It's at a fun point with a month left. Do we get the last date? September 28th. Had it. Top of my head.

Wow. Yeah, dude. It's August 27th. quick math about a month. That we're going to go into that. We are going to go into all the awards. Some of them are pretty quick. I have my annual rookie spiel that I now have stats and information on,

so we'll get that out. And we'll see what else we wandered into. I think it's going to be part of the MVP talk. Me and Trev started talking Cal and Judge a little bit before the show, and we just started ranking position. importance and we thought that was hilarious. So I guess we're going to do that. We're going to do it all thanks to Team Mobile, our friends at Team Mobile.

They're like baseball. They're baseball people. And so are we. And know what baseball likes, number one. Like that's what we're talking about this episode. And Team Mobile is now the best mobile network in America. The experts at Ucla Speed Test, millions of real world tests. And we've done a bunch of speed tests

I think with Ukla for like our personal internets and stuff. They're the guys. Team Mobile is number one. So whatever that means for you, if you want the best 5G, whether you're in the back country, whether you're at the ballpark,

fighting for signal. This is a lame one. Ryan Cohen resident Super Padres fan. He went to the Mets game last night. He was talking about taking a different train. home because he has service the whole time so he can watch the Padres on his way back home. Sick-o-stuff people, but that's all that baseball people are. So whatever you're watching, whether you're checking out stats, whether you're watching

the game, why don't you do it on America's Best Network? Bang. Head over to T-Mobile.com slash network to switch to the best network with T-Mobile. Coach. It is sicko stuff by Ryan Cohen. Yeah, like I, it was just a casual conversation that I was, I like overheard and I was like, my God, that's, I was making fun of, I shouldn't say making fun of. Orsillo had another silly call last night. I don't know if you saw his strikeout.

I was watching the game. A great game to watch. I think he, I think I understand like that the Mariners own the Padres. So I think he's like trying to like, you know, send his good vibes that way. an incredible game last night. I could see some people saying like Orsillo's too much for them. I don't know, man. This is baseball and it should be fun.

And they have so much fun on that broadcast that we were joking around with that this morning. That's not the topic. The topic is Cal Raleigh versus Aaron Judge. Trev, we did this. I mean, we did this months ago. This is kind of more, you know, you and H-D-U. up Chris Rose diving into the history and him telling you about how big Johnny Bench's hands are and stuff like that. You and me, you know, that's not normally where we land, but it's hot in

the streets right now. Cal Raleigh, we talked about this earlier in the year and we said, like, hey, what if he gets 50? What if he gets 60? Well, he's got 50. Like, that's done. one of two switch hitters all time. Him and Mickey Mantle. I had an old, at Jolly Olive's golf outing the other day, I shouldn't open it up with these old, but there was an older gentleman who is working at the golf course who came up to me, he's like, I've seen you on TV.

And he goes, Mickey's the best to ever do it. So Cal Raleigh just did something that only the best to ever do it has done. And while we get into our position important, Cal Raleigh's been doing most of it behind the dish, which is just insane. And it literally hasn't happened before. Meanwhile, on the other side, big Aaron Judge. Generational people are talking about him being the best right-hand hitter ever for this period of time that we're talking about. We do have some new developments.

Aaron Judge got hurt, and since he's returned, he has not been the same ball player, which is obviously affecting his year-end stats. But where they currently lie are still incredible, and you can still do the gap between Judge and rally offensively. If you use OPS, you can make and create a gap there, and Judge has played the majority of right field and should return. That I guess with that, as of today, Trev, and I think I know your answer because we talked about a little bit,

where are you at with this? And I think your answers, you don't know. Maybe you do. I think I go back and forth. If I'm just, Aaron Judge's offensive stats are insane. You could talk about Cal Raleigh, getting to 50 homers and doing all these things. That's great. Aaron Judge is one not wanting it.

OPS Plus back over 200 right now. He's just doing things that, like, we should. not be taking for granted. And I think we are because we're enamored with with Cal and like I think he's just, I think Cal's a star, man. Like I think he's awesome for the game. And I think people do have an affinity for catchers, which which I think is a right thing to have. Like catchers are a special breed. If you've played it all, you know, especially at a high level, you understand how important they are and how much that they have to do that a typical position player does not have to do. If I had to sit in earmuffs, one, two, three, if I had to sit in another fucking meeting, I would have lost my mind, dude.

But catchers have to do that. And stroke pitchers egos, there's a lot that goes behind it. So I get the Cal Raleigh as a catcher. The wear and tear can't be overstated as well. The wear and tear on a body, like being in a squat position now with the one they got, which I guess is better. for them. But being in that position, go ahead, try it. Go try it right now. Do it, do it for an hour and see how your body feels the next day and then do that 162 times in 180 days. I know he doesn't play that many games, but damn close. So I get it. I just think right now I'm still leaning

judge because I don't want to be the person that has judge fatigue. And honestly, like, I kind of go back and forth on this one. But the more and more I think about it, I'm still with Judge. His team is still winning. You can talk about Cal's importance to Seattle's team. Holy crap. What about Aaron Judge to the Yankees? Right.

So I will say this. I'm leaning Judge. If Judge continues kind of on the pace he's at now, which is it great, Like, you know, he's, he's not on fire right now. If that pace continues and Cal gets the 60 homers, it's probably a different discussion. But as we sit right now, I'm still, I'm still leaning judge. Do you think, and this is where I was talking about us, you know, we're vibe guys, yo. We tell the nerds what's up when we have to.

Do you think, do you think any, any? end-of-day stats are going to be the difference for you because what we're talking about Cal Raleigh playing catcher and dude, I can't, a lot of people assume because of my stocky body type that I played catcher when I played baseball, I couldn't squat, bro. I mean, you know, give me a little weight and I can, but for the duration of a game, I literally couldn't. Like, my knees don't have the cartilage that I couldn't play catcher. Yeah.

I know. Where's your car to do? And can I tell you another thing? Kind of hated it. Like, what? Like, A, and this is probably the difference between me and Jimmy, like, I like the mental side of baseball. But at the same time, a lot of it comes down to, like,

throw a good pitch and you'll get them out. That, like, Jimmy tries to outthink everything. I just thought about how many fucking mound visits would Jim have before? like there was like a limit. There'd be a lot of convos. There'd be a lot of convos to figure things out. And he would figure out a lot. He might overthink a few things too.

Like the only thing I liked about catching was if a guy was on first. Like if we're going to do this dance, like let's do it. Got a couple guys down. But dude, catching stinks. You take a foul ball off the wrist. How's that feel? You take a foul ball off the dump. Like I know our technology's gotten a little better.

There's these cool new springy helmets now that it's like, yeah, okay, the nerds got that one, right? Something to absorb the blow. Still don't feel great. How about one to the Cajones, pop? How does that go in the box score? I've seen catchers in the same at bat get double-dicked. And then you still, like, you don't sit out the next inning. You don't sit out the next game that I guess, are there any,

final stat lines that you're going to be looking at or is it going to be the general vibe of it all i don't really have a specific stat like if this guy wins in this category he's the MVP i don't i think it isn't like an all-encompassing type situation i think you have to talk about leadership which both these guys have in spade so that doesn't you know like it there's a bunch of boxes to check that a lot that both these guys uh check so like you know it's going to come come down to a few finite things. You know, when Aaron Judge, when was his MVP over O'Tonnie? Was that 2019?

No. When did he break the record? That was 20. He broke the record in 22. That's when he won the MVP. 22. Okay. I'm sorry.

Yeah. Okay. A lot of years, people. That's what we said for him. Like, if he breaks this, if he had 60, like, he's got a, like, that's his chance. I think that is, by and large, why he won the MVP over Otani that year, because he hit 62 homers. So, like, if Cal hit 63, is he automatically the MVP? Like, that's where I go to.

If you're asking me that specific question, if there's one number, if Cal breaks the AL and what some people would consider the actual home run record, if you're talking about PEDs, that's another discussion, which people love to have. then maybe that's the number that all settle on. But it's, I think this is closer than people give it credence. Like, you know, I think there is still a huge train of people like, it's judge no matter what. I'm on that side right now,

but I don't think it's, I don't think it's like he's running away with this whatsoever. I really do think this last month will be huge for, for this race. And I will say this to people. The MVP race is crazy. I always talk about you want to go to the top prospect list from 10 years ago and just check that out and that'll give you some perspective. Go click on MVP award voting.

It's insane sometimes. What do you mean? How do you mean? Just go click on a year. You go back to like 2007 or whatever it is. You're going to see guys with incredible years, incredible years, not even sniff. if an MVP, like the way that voting has has changed over the years.

And the way we think about what an MVP is continues to evolve and change. I should have had some great examples up. There's one year, let me get Andre Ethier up. Andre Ethier, this is, I'm serious. This is the one I remember in particular. Andre Ether had a year where he got some MVP votes. Let me see, hold on.

That's a, I'll let you click around. I'm on it right now. Okay. Cook. I can't believe I fucking say cook like that's a real thing in my vocabulary. Yeah, you're told you're told you. That's got to stop. Andre Ethier, MVP 6 in 2009.

Okay. He had an 869 OPS. He had a three war, a three war. Okay. How? Oh, you're going that way. Okay. He certainly had a 905 OPS

An 82 war he was MVP 8 What was up with Andre Ether? He had 31 and 106 That's it Yeah, that's it I think So there's a couple things going on here I'm surprised you went that way

But I'm not mad you went that way Because war has changed everything And we probably do 869 OPS is like It's both sides right there It's an old school stat and war Right And that's, but Trev, I mean, this goes back to, like, okay, I don't even, what year is this?

2009. 2009. If you, because Bob, I think it's on the same page. If you scroll down to the pitchers, I bet we'd be horrified by that. Because, like, Wins still super mattered. Like, Grinky won that year, and he had the best. He had a 10-4 war, wasn't even sniffing an MVP discussion. Right?

Like, think about that. He was MVP-17. Like, this is probably right around the time we started valuing ERA and strikeouts just a little bit more. But, like, look at the follow-ups in that category are all guys with wins. Like, you know, Justin Verlander had a 3-4-5 that year. Look how much better Roy Holiday's year is by modern-day standards. We consider a 279 compared to a 3-4-5. But Verlanner had two more wins tied for the best.

Like the voting has changed so much over time that... Yes, that's what I'm saying. I'm that, yes, I'm still shocked that Jolly or Foolish haven't done more revisiting videos, and maybe they will. I thought where you were going is the... To actually win the MVP, how good you have to be and how it breaks down to like, you know, I know you and Rosie did a Giancarlo Stanton MVP discussion,

which by the way, I think he heard and he is just shitting down your guys to the throats right now. Because winning that MVP, I think that really does mean something. If you are the guy for one year, that matters. Like, I know that sounds obvious at its core,

but that is a big difference maker that to actually do it, to be the number one guy. And sure, if you go back in time, there's some politics. And if we redid some awards, people would have got them. the year I clicked on that Joe Mauer wins the MVP,

and I think rightfully so. And also we're talking a catcher, and we're talking a batting title and a 1.0PS. Like, Mauer was insane. You know, Ben Zobrist had him beat in war, and he finished eighth. And it's like, what is that? Because I don't, I'd have to go back in time and feel what Ben Zobrist's season felt like.

I think I would lean Joe Mauer, and then just the loop that I thought you were going to, where I thought you were going with the argument is how many really good ballplayers have like their season. Like Mark Tashara finished second that year in MVP, and he's a great ball player, but we don't talk about Mark Tashara like we do a lot of the, you know, the legends of the game,

but Mark Tashara was an amazing baseball player. Yeah, what's in his basement? Ooh. Like very, very, he's so buttoned up. That's my image of Mark Tashara is like buttoned up Yankee Mark Tashara. I bet. Like straight and narrow, like he probably has some of the world's finest scotch. He doesn't drink it though.

Yeah, I was going to go, I was going to go wine. Like he definitely has a sick little wine room. It knows everything about it, but doesn't drink it. Is he, does he not, does he not drink? I don't know. Okay, we're just, okay. image of him. Maybe he's just a dog.

How about this? Can I just go back to this? Because maybe foolish or jolly does need to do a video on this. Jason Bartlett in 2008 was MVP 18. Yeah, that's nothing. That's... Okay. Until you realize he had a 690 OPS and a 1.7 war.

So, try... Why didn't I get MVP votes? Because... This whole episode is, what's revisit, why I didn't get in the MVP. We do this once a year, Trev, because you know who votes for the MVP? Writers. Writers. So that last vote is like the 10th person they put on their list. So there's so many, I don't want to say goof votes, but there's a lot of those that like, yeah, man, you know, in that same year, Joe Mauer, Michael Kadiere got a vote. Roy Halliday had nine complete games. It

with four shutouts and had 11% of the votes. So I guess we're saying all this and to drive a point home to the people that you might not know who is gonna win an MVP. You think it's clear cut. And then you put it in the hands of writers who like we put a lot of trust into and you go back and look at all this shit

and you're realizing like what? Right. And we just and we think we've, oh, we've gotten better now. We know what the numbers mean now. It's like, okay, what are we going to say in 10 years? How about some perspective, people?

How about a little perspective? And what future stats are we going to have in 15 years that were like, oh, we didn't even mention, oh, his D-UZR plus was horrible that year. You even win a Silver Daisy that year? Well, we actually, we changed the catching metrics that their numbers multiply by two, so Cal Raleigh hit 115 homers that year.

It's probably not that dramatic. I ended up on Jeter's page. I'm not even going to start talking about it because I'm going to get emotional. I think, Trev, the truth is, I do think you're right. I think if it just ended today, I think it would be Judge. I think there's enough gap in the full offensive profile that he would get it. But I think the storyline is, like, judge is head in the wrong direction. And since he got hurt, a significant injury that he's not allowed to play the field right now,

Which that changes things, and I think this is leading us into our positional value conversation. But Judge, so obviously he gets great on a different scale, but he hasn't been the same guy since he's returned a 200 batting average, yo. I understand all this we're talking about. 200 batting average, 758 OPS, a far cry from his numbers. It's a cumulative award. Absolutely. It still has a one dot one. What are we talking about?

You know what I mean? Like we have to give this guy his flowers. We can't have Judge and Otani fatigue. That is not fair to them. Rob, show the video of Volpe hitting Judge in the head. Oh, no. I don't even know about this. I know.

For those of you watching, know that producer Rob dropped this on us right before the show. I had erased this from my memory. The boys were just running off the field one day Doing the end of inning Throw it around to whoever's Whoever's there just to be goofy Volpe who's having some struggles For this third straight year

Every month Through a ball to judge He thought Judge was looking at got him in the dome And judge's stats since that time period Which do align overlap with the injury a little bit Are not good As bell rung Jake are not good.

I don't know. I'm at the point where I don't need to point any more Venom at Volpe because we talked about this a little bit before the show. Like how quickly did that guy's... Like Volpe went from like living a dream movie. Like, you know, the kid from Jersey

who's the next stud for the Yankees, is he the next cat? His family's Yankee fans, the Italian thing. Now he feels like he's the new like Jordan Peel movie when it's like every single. everything goes dark on you. And it's like you're the hated guy in town. That new him quarterback movie, I'm interested in that.

I have no idea where you're talking. Really? I think you'd... I know who Jordan Peel is. I think you'd love the trailer. It's from what I've seen in the trailer, there's this new, like, upstart quarterback, and he goes to visit, like, his idol, the QB, who's the guy.

And like, I don't know. From there, again, it's a... Like up or something? It's a Jordan Peel. movie. It gets like, I've just seen the trailer. It gets, yeah. Yeah. Like in the desert, drugged up. Okay. Sacrifice. Yeah. Jordan Peel is great. I'll probably watch it. With all of that. I think the final month does decide it. And I guess what I'm interested to see is the two the two franchises here are very interesting. You know, the Yankees right now are in this

Myriad. Not sure if I'm using that right. Myriad of they're beating the horrible teams and they're losing to the good teams. The Mariners, what if the Mariners win the West? Like, what if it's Cal Raleigh with 57 homers, him and judges' numbers are in a similar area, but the Seattle Mariners win the AL West while the Yankees are in the wild card? Stuff like that matters. it still comes back to a human vote.

So I think the point, like you said, it's going to come down to this final month. I'm interested to see what other elements tie in. Do the teams matter at all? If Cal, if his homer number starts with a six, I think there's no doubt he gets the MVP. He's a catcher. He's a catcher.

I got so much to say. Youron Alres is back, by the way. So Cal. That matters. Two walks in his return. I've heard people or seen people on social media talking about, why do we keep talking about being a switch hitter? It's easier.

Platoon's always in your advantage. I'm like, you got to understand a little bit more about ball. Go get him, Treb. He's got to catch. so he's doing it's tough on his body he's got to deal with the pitching staff and let me tell you starting pitchers are just yeah the worst like the worst right and then relievers like they have like relievers think they're wwe people now like it is insane to deal with the pitching staff these days the guy that's slapping himself from the face of villains saying i hate hitters i was going to ask you about

Give me a homer against that guy. I would slap myself the entire time I'm running the basis. Oh, my God. Who is he? You don't know. Yes, of course he would. Maybe not, though. I might clip him still.

If Jose Siri hits a home run against that guy, you might see. It might take him 10 minutes to round the bases. I think I do hate pitchers more than anybody. I have a thing that's this guy. By the way, he's six, five. 22. Like, I'm not going to say this to his face. This is just, I'm hiding behind my keyboard. Right. We're keyboard warriors, man. That's what we are.

Don't take that the wrong way, my friend. But also being a switch hitter is double duty. You've got to work on two swings, man. Right. So yeah, you got to have the platoon advantage, but like talk to any switch hitter. Think about how many guys try to abandon switch hitting because we're like, fuck this. Cedric Bolins did it. Aaron Hicks did it without telling anybody one year. He just said, I think he ditched his right-handed swing, or maybe he was one, he ditched one of them, just like, I'm not doing that anymore. Not happening right now. You know, you could say it's to your advantage, but it also requires more work, which is kind of like what we're talking about with Cal, why we're putting him up there against judges, like the amount of work

that he has to do. I have, um, I have a Yordon fun fact. Um, and I'm so excited to rank the positions with you, which wasn't planned until moments ago. And it's all brought to you by skims. I think you guys don't skims through anything, especially our underwear. We all wear it, so why not wear skims? They've got the three big fabric options for you. This is kind of what you need to figure out at home.

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Trev, little Yordon Alvarez, fun fact for you? You're going to like this. Cal Raleigh, we just talked about him for half an hour. MVP Cal, a historic catcher season. He has a 943 OPS this year. Yordon Alvarez career, 9.59. Yeah. Every time.

Jordan Alvarez has played baseball in his career, his stats in one metric, a kind of all-encompassing metric, are better than what Cal Raleigh is doing this year. So right jot down that he is back for the Houston Astros. Are they going to, is it going to be a Houston Boston ALCS? Oh my God. We'll see. We will see. Oh, God. we're ranking positions. We talked about this beforehand. Trev got us going pretty good because he was like,

hey, Judge plays right field. And it's known as kind of the easiest, or at least the smallest dimensions of a right field in Major League Baseball that how do we value the positions? And I'll let you go for a little bit, Trev, because I just want to hear where your mind starts to wander. Well, I think that's been such a discussion. of like this MVP race is cow catching and you know judge being a good defender out there and being

able to have his offensive prowess while playing good defense means something there's no doubt about it this guy played what center field last year yeah for a couple years he was yeah so like you know we know we know what kind of athlete hit it he is I'm not trying to take anything away and and there's a lot of really really good right fielders I mean Fernando tautis junior is one of the best defensive players in the game and he plays right field so every position is important But if you're going to rank, let's get pitcher out of there. Pitcher, pitcher, D.H. This isn't your conversation. Just go kick rocks. Like go throw up zeros and sit on the end of the bench and don't talk to anybody. That's what you want anyway.

Or how about this? Be more like Kyle Gibson. Yeah. Yeah. Or Jake Oterizzy. Or Odo. You know, be a guy. Or Logan Webb. Go deep in games. Then I'll talk to you. Then I'll give you a slap. on the butt. Also another guy that just has like a good personality. It's like, oh, wait, you can be a pitcher and not be obtuse. Anyways. Yeah, you obtuse, son of a gun. Yeah. Left field out. Worst. Left field's the number one you think. Least least important. Like, you can hide people in left field. I think that's commonly known. After that, I think right field's up for discussion. I think you could go. So why is the

Is it left field over right field? Just curiosity and cats. Because mentally I jump to there's more right-handed hitters. Right-handed hitters have more of a tendency to pull. So that would lean that left field would get a little more action. Longer throws. Okay. Longer throws.

Like, I would make a throw to right to third base from right field. Like you don't really have like long throws from left field. Okay. Interesting. That's what I would do it. And right-handers typically, like, well, I don't know. I guess it'd have to look at the stats. I think to the air, I don't think pull is number one. But I know guys are trying to do that.

We'll see. Okay. I guess you can look at up. But I think that's the number one thing for me is arm strength. Like you can like have a guy out there and not great arm strength. I think it does go right field two. And then I think it goes first base. The reason I separate those two.

And this is up for debate because I do, I do understand taking away extra base hits is a huge part of like what I would do. as a as a GM like I want a badass outfield that takes away extra base hits but in the grand scheme of things maybe I'll go first base over right field what do you think it starts getting tricky because when we when we briefly discussed this beforehand we started playing the game if you have someone awful defensively at a position what does that feel like and like when you have an awful catcher like the whole every pitch is just mind-numbing and you're horrified that's where like I super value first base, especially while we're still, we're still shifting.

I know we added some rules, but we're still shifting that, dude, first base is still involved in so much action that if you have a problem over there, that becomes a problem quick that I think you're right with the corners. And I, you know, it ends up becoming a stadium game, right? Like if you're playing in Houston, like I've watched the Yankees literally do this when Stanton has to play the outfield, that it's like, well, Stan can play Houston left field

because he can't move that well. He can play Yankee Stadium right field. It does start with the corners, and I like the throwing argument to give the tilt to left field. That, yeah, I think it starts there. And then I'm wondering if there's a first base, second base discussion.

First, yeah, first base is interesting because you are involved in a lot of bunt plays, cutoffs. You have to understand how far you can get a, away from the bag and then get back to the base. Scoops. So there are a lot of scoops. There's a lot of intricacies of first base

that don't get talked about a ton. So I would go, let's just call it left field, right field. I probably would go second base or first base? Second base you got to turn to double play. It is an awkward position because you're throwing against your body a lot, like away from first base going, you know, that's difficult. I think I might put second base. I kind of lean second base.

You can somewhat hide someone there. And again, I think this becomes philosophical that, like, if it's just a bad... Like, if you have an average second baseman or an average first baseman, like, I think it's more important to have an average first baseman than a second baseman. I don't know.

Yeah, when you put it that way, they're very close. I'm going to go... Left field. I'm going to go right field. I'm going to go second base. I'm going to go first base. Yep. I'm going to go third base.

Yeah. I'm going to go catcher. I'm going to go shortstop. You're missing one. Oh, center. Center field will be... Center and third is a hot debate. No, third base, and then center and then catcher and then shortstop.

So why... So third base and center field, listeners of this show, know that this isn't a joke for me. They're my two favorite positions. are just the best. The hot corner and the reaction of it, center field and just that that ball that feels like it's in the air forever and you've got a chance to go and get it.

Those are the two things in the sport that probably get me going the most. I guess in this exercise, so you had center field more important than third. It's range. It's range. And the outcome of the, the hits towards you.

Like you're stocking guys in the extra base. That's a great point. And you have to have a good arm. So it's just range, range factoring in. Yes. Third base, you know, you can guard the line, take away the extra base hits. You have to have a good arm there. Center field has to do more. So, yeah, I think it's, you know, it's known. Middle of the field are those are the hardest. So catcher, shortstop, center field. We, uh, okay. I like, I like that. You've, you've genuinely convinced me both times, not just to let. Left. Right. Right. second second first third center catcher short it's my official list

catcher short stops the final discussion that i i'm interested if you're going to convince me on this because it is shortstop right like we see it well we see it they are similar where like you you could have a like a catcher that bangs and like you're okay with that like and you're okay with that And you're going to give up some extra bases as far as guys taking stolen bases And maybe the framing isn't there, whatever it is. Well, no, it's hilarious, Trev. You know, some analytics that we found out in the past 20 years or so, most stolen bases are taken off the pitcher.

100%. It's so funny that it took us years to, in a play that takes 1.8 seconds to happen, the guy starting the play dictates a lot of the action there. I told Teddy that the other day. I was like, you know, really it's just a math equation. How fast can you throw the ball to home? And then how fast can the catcher toe the second? If you add those up and you can, as a runner, get to second base before that, then you go.

And he was like, what? I'm like, yeah. Yeah. Dad's got all sorts of secrets like that. Okay. Well, I like where that ended up. Should we, we should send that, you know, I know you know some analytics people. We know some analytics people.

we should send that to them and be like, do you think this is right? I think there'll be some pushback on second base, first base. Yeah, I could see that. I could see that. I'd be interested to see, though. Like first base has evolved so much from the, be a big boy who plods and just catch the ball over there.

It is not that position anymore. And yeah, how things can turn into doubles or how innings cannot end. If you don't scoop that double play, I'd be very interested to see how the how the geeks a good first baseman freak man helps everybody in the infield so much like just confidence wise if you have if you're like hey i can throw that ball over there and he can pick it or he's tall and can stretch and do all these things like footwork around the bases

can make or break an entire infield when i watch a first baseman and they switch their feet at first blows my mind. Like I don't have that. I don't have that at all. And some guys, you know, it's been really cool watching Goldie a lot this year because he's, you know, it's just second nature to that man with how much good first base he's played over the years. Okay. We finally did it. We finally prioritize the position. We need we need to follow up with Samadilly. I'm going to Google if anyone's done that. Ranking, defensive, position. importance, baseball. Well done.

That's how you use, for any of our listeners that don't know how to use Google yet, or AI. Okay. Oh, AI, AI says first base is last. Whoa.

AI. Kind of old school. I don't want to even say it. You stink. Just, kidding, just kidding. It's a joke. We're joking. We're messing with you guys. All right, let's get on to some top five action, and that's brought to you by Factor. Between busy schedules and summer plans, sometimes all you got is a couple minutes. That's where Factor comes in. Chef-prepped,

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Talking 50 off at Factor Meals.com, 50% off your first box. free breakfast for a year. Get delicious ready to eat meals delivered with Factor. Offer only valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto-renewing subscription purchase. All right, Trev, we, again, we're finishing off the dog days. It's going to be September soon, or it's going to be playoff action. We told Bobby, come up with the top five for us.

We did a mid-year one that was like ERA strikeouts, and we did pretty good. we had a couple misses that we ended up feeling bad about. Told Bob to maybe turn the silly meter up a little bit, so we let them cook factor. Let's see it. So we got teams or players with the most grounded to double plays, players with the most hit by pitches,

most sack flies, most sack bunts, most hard hits, and the most ricochets for base hits via team. Oh, my God. Okay, got in the lab. What's that? Just name one.

What do we got to start somewhere. Yeah, name one. Let's do the Trevor Plouffe Bowl, the individuals grounding in a double place. Individuals grounding in a double plays. All right. So we need big right. Let's be a team, Trev. I have one straight off the top of my head that I'm almost like positive on.

Done. Guy hits the ball hard. Yeah. Not very fast. People get on base in front of him. Okay. Pete Alonzo. Pete Alonzo is ranked.

second with 20. Nice, Treff. Easy. Nice Tref. And yeah, and again, this should be a compliment to Trevor. We're looking for essentially a lot of big right-handed hitters that hit the ball hard. That's what you did. Yeah. I'm wondering. That's like all I got. After that, I'm kind of like, what the hell? The first name that came to my head, and maybe just because we were talking about him earlier, and he's having a great year, Junior Commonero on this list. Junior Caminero is on this list and number one with 28. Okay, so I definitely knew that or had heard that because otherwise I don't know what. I was going to say, do you look this up? I'm not there.

I'm not there. I must have heard that. And I don't know if it's a raised thing or if it would just surprise me. But it's all hard. Having an amazing year hits the ball as hard as anyone. Best bat speed in the league. And I don't think he moves great. Okay.

we just got one and two off the board. Just like that, we're back. I have, now I currently have nothing. And you got, you got three guys tied with 16. 16. So that's another, A, I need us to track and Trev,

none of this is backhanded at you. Okay. I think we need to track double plays more because they're like two out. You know what I'm saying? I asked, um, are one analytical person with the twins, like literally had one person.

Yeah. His name was Jack Going. Shout out Jack going. I asked him after the year, the year that I led the league, I was like, man, if I didn't lead the league and double play, is like, my war would have skyrocketed. He's like, that's not how it works. No.

So, yeah. Yeah. Maybe it should. But that's what I'm saying. It's literally two outs. Like, of all the, of all these advanced. You can't control it, though. Of all these advanced crazy things we're doing, like, okay, this play created two outs.

It feels like that's important. we're so obsessed things that you can control it's like well dude what in life do you control oh I don't know man yeah camminaro's got we're just like with this little

tiny planet our star our sun sucks whack it's just like a mid a F star did you see the new images of the sun um yeah bob maybe we'll get that on the screen a kind of cool I guess I'm interested to see your opinion

I mean, they're like, whoa, these are the best images of the sun ever, and it just looks like really hot and like a big fiery thing. I don't know. That is the problem with like the internet. I mean, like just kind of a cool thing. 20 years ago, I would have been like, hell yeah, bro. But now we see things every day. We're like, whatever.

Okay. Like if you're not the absolute best at something, people say you suck and like we need to get over that as a society. Congrats to Travis and Taylor. Browning into double plays. Big, big powerful righties. I do know that the twins ground into a lot of double plays. Not in the top five?

They're not in the top five. Sheesh, I would have bet a lot of money on that. Trying to think who, if there's any twins that would be on there, I'll get away from the twins. How about Judge? Nope. No. Okay.

You got, like, three was 16. 16's not a lot George Springer No No Gladdy Nope Wow

Okay we started off hot We started talking about the sun And now we've just lost it Yeah I'd say give us these ones We'll move on to a different category Bobichette Juan Soto

And Jose Al Tuvei Are all tied with 16 Wouldn't have guessed any of those guys And by the way Full service Trev, not a bad list to be on, man. Thank you. Miguel Cabrera also has done it in his career.

That's pretty damn good. Okay, what are the other options, Bobo? How about we'll go players with the most sack buntz? Ooh, I think I'm going to be good at this one. Okay. Because I always, like, whenever someone bunt's, like, hell yeah, bro. I know it used to be Perdomo. I think he's gotten too good.

Perdomo Pardomo's not on the system Okay I've got one I got one too Luis Arise Luis Arise number 10 Not number 10

Number 3 with 10 Okay There we go Wow Padres did one last night Well the first and third But for me Nice nice I didn't know

Is that worth it with him I guess is it to stay out of like Double plays That's just part of his game Okay Um Jacob Young What teams that bunt?

Jacob Young. Jacob Young is number five on this list with nine. What teams bunt a lot? There's got to be a brewer. Sal Freelich. No. He's too good. Bryce Turing.

I meant to say Bryce Turing. No. Okay. He meant to say Paul Moliter. No. Is there a brewer on the list? No. They're too good.

They just hit this year, dude. Yeah, they just get on base when they bunt. All right. You need a team. with like a defensive stud and a good top of the lineup that whenever it's there, they just do it. The royals?

Ooh, that's interesting. Maybe. Nick Lofton. Close. Okay, so it is a royal. Okay, royals on there. Okay, let's start thinking some royals. Jonathan India ain't button.

Bobby Witt ain't button. The NEP ain't button. Mikel Garcia is, is it one of their, it's got to be one of their outfiters because their catchers ain't button either. I'll say this. Sal Freelik has three. He's number 37.

Wow. I'm just going to name of Royals outfielder. Isabel. Kyle is Bell. God. Damn it. I went with the right one. With 12.

He's number one? Yep, with 12 sack flies. That's sack fun. I went with the wrong guy. Damn. We were all over it. Wow. That makes you feel like really good.

Sackbunt. Oh, I didn't know you had the Kyle Isabel sackbunds. Buntreel ready to go. Absolutely. That's where this show's different. Right? I mean, a couple of them are. Who else is like making their guys

bunt, like, like, are the, is there any white socks on there? I hope not. No. A Cincinnati red? No. So we got two. Aryze and Ispo.

Give us the rest. Yeah. You got Jose Herrera. No. Luis Arise, Miles Straw, and Jacob Young. Okay. Blue Jays do punt, don't they? I mean, they just put pressure on you constantly. And yeah, there's a formula there.

Speed, defensive center fielder, except not a rise. He just knows how to handle a bat better than anyone in the world. I'm pretty stoked on those two. That was good. That was good. Let's do one more, Bob. How about players with the most hit by pitches? Ty France.

Thai France is number two With 20 Every year It's every year That's nuts I'm a I'm mentally struggling with this I feel like a couple of my old faithfuls

Like Rizzo used to be always on this list Um Um Okay Don't tell me a Cooney is on this list No Pete Alonzo No

Oh that's right The Mets have a lot of guys McNeil. No. There are no Mets. No Mets, okay, okay. Because I was going to say Nimmo. Okay.

So we got, who did I say? Thai France number two. Thai France number two. Does Josh Naler get hit a lot? Mm-mm. I mean, he might, but he's not in the top five. Who's getting pitched up and in? Shohei is getting pitched up and I can't believe he doesn't get hit more.

Yeah. All people do is throw him fastballs up and in. He just his hand so high I'm making stuff up I'm not saying he I didn't know it's not my guess Rob Don't know you don't put that on me Oh Tani only has three hit by pitches Yeah, it's good

Um Let's see Matrixes out of the way I can't even think Do we got lefties or righties Righty righty I think we got a couple righties A couple lefties

Didn't it helps sort Tatis No Tatis He's two he gets out of the way. Yeah, he's an athlete. Give us like a scale of like star meter. That's going to help me out.

Star meter? For number one. For number one, the star meter. I will say it was very, very big and has dwindled a little bit, even though some are saying this is his best year. Whoa. What the fuck? Star meter.

year but people don't think it's his best year. George Springer. No. Damn. That was a good answer by me. That was a good answer by you. Should we do more riddles like that? Can we do a riddle episode?

That was beautiful. You like that riddle? Yes. That was a good one. You have me and Trevin a fucking pretzel. I've almost positive you guys are the ones who said this is his best year. One more yes apiece. Then we need to.

Yeah. I mean, the two guys are Stanton and Springer in my head. But Stanton hasn't played them in games. Let's say West Coast. West Coast. Hit by pitches. We're getting hit. Randy Orozarena.

Randy Orozarena is number one with 22. He's had a great year. That's what I'm saying. Job, Trev. And then you want the... I was going to throw a Taylor board or something. I don't know. Yeah.

Wilson Contreras with 19. Caleb Durbin. Oh. With 18 and E. Eugenio Suarez with 16. a notable one before the deadline. Randy and Eugenio homers last night, big ones. He just stays in there, though.

I love Randy, dude. I do too. That guy. He got hitting the head in the Little League game and then just didn't even go down. He just walked it off. You know why he walked it off? Because wasn't he kidnapped in Mexico briefly?

Yeah. He's Cuban, dude. These guys play ball. Just a clay. home sinker to the dome. No, I'm fine. And I don't even care. I don't want to fight you.

Right. Thanks, Clay. He just wanted to feel his presence a little bit. A little bit. A little bit. Although I think you put Randy and Clay's bodies next to each other, and those are noted Mexican citizen. Randy Rose Raina. That was top five.

I like where we landed. Well done, Bobo. Trev, let's send him out as we do every Wednesday with Draft King. Bet the cycle. Make sure you guys go to Draft Kings. Use code J.M. Baseball when you sign up with the Draft King's sports book. Trev, lead off for two-hole. I'll do two-hole.

Boom. With my single, usually our easiest one. Let's get on. Get them over. Yandi Diaz, one total base versus the Nationals on Saturday. Yeah. Nationals pitchers have allowed the second highest opposing batting average this season. Yandi has a batting title in his basketball.

bag. Saturday, one plus total base. We're on. Are we going rookie debut right here for a double? Jonah Tong called up by the Mets. He records the win and gets five or more Ks in his start, first career start against the Marlins on Friday. He leads all qualified minor league pitchers in the ERA, batting average against and strikeout rate. It's 40.5% and the Mets need it big time. As they're chasing down the fills right now, five games back.

Let's go Mets and get that double. Let's go Mets. Yeah, Jonah Tong put him in the bucket of, if you're worried about expansion and not having enough good ballplayers, like, okay, I think this guy's a major leaguer. He just hasn't been there. Jeff Supan, my good friend,

yesterday, got drafted by the Diamondbacks, expansion draft. We can have him on and talk about it. I didn't know you and Jeff Supan were close. Soup's on for Supon. I can't say his name right. The triple, we up the ante just a little bit. The Royals upset the Tigers and Scoobel.

Scoobel got got the other day, huh? Scoring over five runs and recording the win on Sunday. In nine games at Kaufman Stadium, how do you like this? Scobul is two and five with a 481, and the Royals fighting to keep their season alive. that's sometimes I don't get behind the triple. I think I like that one. Okay, House of Horrors, Kaufman, I love it.

For our home run and to bring it on home for us, Garrett Crochet will throw his second complete game shutout this season, which will lead Major League Baseball, versus the Orioles on Thursday. His last start versus the Orioles, who was also in Baltimore, eight innings pitched, four hits, no runs, one walk, 8K's got the dub, obviously.

His first career complete game came July 12th against the race. I love it. Make sure you guys, you know what, write us or fade us, have some fun at the Draft King's Sportsbook. And thank you guys for enjoying the show. Today we will be back Friday. And I'm going to send the people out with the Garrett Crochet story. I DM'd him after he dominated the Yankees on Saturday.

and I was like, great start, man. Jake sucks. Wish the Yankees, wish the opposing team had a little more fight. And he replied today and said, ha, ha, thanks. So, that's nothing. I feel bad. That's the worst story. I know.

I was a little embarrassed. And I needed to feel it. I needed to feel it. The ha-ha, thanks is a... Is he the second biggest guy in Major League Baseball? I don't know.