Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Choosing the Players Through May!

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

Use our code for 10% off your next set of MLB tickets on SeatGeek*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2026. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Go to http://shadyrays.com  and use code TALKIN50 for 50% off 2+ pairs of polarized sunglasses. Join us at the all star game in Philadelphia! https://shop.jomboymedia.com/products/all-star-party-philadelphia?_pos=1&_sid=4b05bf2fa&_ss=r&variant=45899062345926 https://fanaticsmarkets.onelink.me/3MFw?af_xp=email&pid=jomboy&af_dp=fanmarkets%3A%2F%2Fhomepage&af_channel=partnerships&af_click_lookback=7d   Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake discuss who they chose for the All-JM team for May and why they won! Do you agree?   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 time. All J.M. through May, Trefer ploof. John Boy is the final judge in a little bit of a new format. Let's talk ball, though. The best ball. The best ball. Chase Burns. Frank Thomas.

Whoa. The harder they throw, the harder it goes. Hello and welcome to talking. Baseball presented by Fanatics Markets where fans trade on sports fanatics markets available now on the app stores. I'm Jake Storelli, Nixon 6. That is Trevor Plouffe, Rob Chiraco, producing, Dalton Feeley, getting all the stats and info from the best players to play this game as we put together the most prestigious

award in baseball, the all-j-M team. Coach Trev, how the hell? How are you? Jakey boy I'm doing well I'm very much looking forward to this episode we kind of switched how we things up a little bit as far as our preparation

for it I also feel like I'm getting sick so if you can hear it my voice I'm going to try not to cough into the mic for everybody I don't like that June 3rd I shouldn't be getting sick right now not a sick time of year Pittsburgh will do that to you I think yeah

a summer a summer flu hits now and then because it's like that. I don't want a flu, man. It's like rock bottom of being sick because you're like, wait, it's sick and it's summer? Like, what is happening? But maybe that makes you appreciate the summer, summertime a little more. Maybe it doesn't. And I'm just trying to pick you up. But, okay. I mean, I did have some wine last night. Oh. Maybe did some other things. And maybe that's what this is all about. Seems like you might have the Irish flu. So we wish for you to get better.

Let's dive in. Yeah, I guess for those, we peel back the curtains as we normally do. All J.M., which we give out after each month, and it's not the best player in the month, it's the full story up into that point. So April, pretty cut and dry. But April and May, which we'll be doing today, Rime, are the players who have played the best over those two months. And we give out pedals that put together a Silver Daisy, which we're about to watch a Joe's McFlux. video in a second, so get ready for that.

That, yeah, this goes back to years, the full story. All-Star games can be very deceptive. That's how players were kind of measured for years, that we want to find a new way to do it, that we've stumbled into something here. So in April is always the funniest month because you get a one-month sample size of baseball where you can see all sorts of guys have popped up on the list.

In 2026, the all-j-j-m team, and we'll start in the National League, which I think we're doing today. Drake Baldwin, which might be an interesting one with some injury, but off to a fantastic start. Maddie Olson at first base. Bryce Terrang, NL. 2nd Base. I can't wait to hear that conversation again. C.J. Abrams at shortstop.

Max Muncie at third base. That's right. Michael Harris in the outfield with Andy Pahas. Corbin Carol. Corbett. Kyle Schwabre at DH. Show Hey, Otani. pitcher, and then our utility spot that we have you, the people, vote on Ill Tomorrow.

Vargas, I don't know if he'll be back, but he does feel like an all-time celeb for the All-JM first month team. In the American League around the horn, it was Shea Lange Lear's, Ben Rice, Young Cole Young at second base, Kevin McGonagall at Shortstop, how's your infield, Jose Ramirez at third, Buck Daddy in the outfield, Mike Trout, Aaron. judge, a traditional American league outfield. Yorna Alvarez, a D.H. Jose Soriano,

remember his perfect April? And then Munataka Murakami won the utility fan vote coming out of April. So that's where we started off. Trev, I guess what's on your mind, what's on your heart before we dive further in? It's not a bad April.

I think a lot of times we go back and look at our all-JM April. I'm like, oh, okay. I don't know if that's going to stick. I like the guys. The one person that, and we'll get into, I have one person on here that I'm like, I can't believe how good he's playing. I guess I just haven't been paying attention.

It's in the National League. I won't spoil it. I'm excited to hear. Let's, I was going to say, let's dive right in. Also, if you guys are in our web, I mentioned Joe's Mcfly before we thought to, again, build on all JM. Joe's McFly is traveling around to some stadiums this year,

giving out a silver day. I don't know if it's the, you know, sometimes there's jewelry guys that come around to the clubhouse. I wouldn't say it's that level. Trev, you're, you got an awkward. It's not. And here's my gripe of it. Okay, we'll get into it. We tell the people the truth.

Jimmy actually, like, designed a cool looking pendant for this that we thought we might end up giving out. I don't know. That was a couple of years ago. Yeah. This is not that. It sure isn't. Rob, I think you have the tape. Is it C.J. Abrams collecting.

All the way over here to give you this. This is the All-JM Awards. You are the best shortstop in the National League that we chose for the last month of April. I wanted to give you this. Appreciate it. Right? Thank you so much. Let's go.

Hey, we got it for our guy right there. C.J. Abrams. Got them. The All-J.M. That's good. Good stuff. Came all the way down here from New York to give this to Acuna. This is this 2023 award. He's what we called a server daisy for talking baseball.

He was like the most outstanding player. Oh. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. This is just this part. So I don't know if you could give this to him. You only get this if you win the all-j-M team every single month for the whole year. He was the only one to do it.

Okay, I give it. I didn't see that one. You didn't see that one? That's a new video for me. I saw the Abrams one. Oh, you didn't see. Oh, my God. I only saw that.

So for those that are podcasts only, because I respect my podcast brother. And CJ Abrams transaction went pretty well. I mean, hey, one, Joe's McFly's mic usage got me good. Like just the mic's all over the place, not even close. That CJ Abrams, hey, here and you're the best shortstop in the NL in the month of April. That's not a bad way to come off the field. giving the award to Ronald Acuna Jr. via Michael Harris and then breaking it in front of him,

that was tough. That one hurt me a little bit. Did he say, hey, you Michael Harris won one in April? Joe's was pretty dead set on meeting Acuna, and then he kind of blew it. So I don't know. Michael Harris, I want to formally apologize for what just transpired. That is, I don't know what else. to say. I'm just, I'm just sorry. Trev, we will get better.

We're young players. We get called up to the show. We're going to look back at this in 2029 and be like... I'm not a young player. Oh. I'm as old as it gets. Um, okay. Today's episode is sponsored by Shady Rays. Shady Rays. Built for real sports fans.

No more squinting through the sun to track a fly ball when you already have your Shady Rays on. I'll be honest with you. My favorite pair of Shady Rays. left him at the warehouse. I can't wait to go back tomorrow to get them, and I left my laptop there, too. But also my shady rays, because the sun is out. So if I want to go to the game, if I want to go to the golf course, if I just want to go outside, I need my shadies. And they have a few, they have three incredible things. One, the sunglasses. Boom. Two, their loss and broken protection. If you lose or break them,

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Bobby Sarachi says let's go NL today and why not. Why not? We play by our own rules. And I'm scared because AL Catchers seem like a safe place to start. NL Catcher sure doesn't. Because as Drake Baldwin ran it through the month of May, he did get hurt. I think there's an argument. He still has the best statistical numbers at the National League catching position.

And oh, the other thing we should tell the people is that we cast our ballots before this. So it's no me and Trev peer-pressuring each other to potentially look at this, look at this. We cast our ballots yesterday and if we agree, the player will get the award. If not, we will tap in the great

John Bino, aka Jimmy O'Brien, aka Johnboy, aka Jimmy Golfs one day, to be the deciding vote. So with the NL catcher position, William Contreras, a very interesting stat line. High batting average, high on

base, not as much pop as you might expect from William Contreras. Hunter Goodman, always in the mix with that Josh Donaldson type swing. And Liam Hicks, who's been a wild card for us this year. Treve, I guess any thoughts? And then we'll see if we'll ask Rob if you and I had the same answer. Yeah, I mean, there's a couple different ways you can look at catchers. I feel like it's such a unique position. First and foremost, I think you have to be a good defensive catcher.

unless you the only way you can survive in this league not being a good defensive catcher is if you absolutely rake yeah um and even then it gets if you probably end up moving to dh or you know left field i don't know something uh but this to me n l here i know drake's hurt the overall numbers are still there and through may and he only has you know four or less games than some of these other guys and he's just outperformed all of I mean, 389 OBP through May, 543, he has an OPS in the nines. To me, this one was easy. We'll see how, you know, through June goes with him if he's not back in time, because that's when I think it'll pick up and the numbers will be different. But through May, I have Drake Baldwin. I guess Rob is the, it seems like Treve has Drake Baldwin. Your National League winner at catch up for the month of May is Drake Baldwin.

Okay. There's a new voice. There's a new voice. Yeah. Rob preface me saying we weren't going to like, Rob, I just want to hear your voice saying. Yeah, man. Yeah, dude. I don't need whatever that was.

Oh, okay. That was Justin Pennick. That's great. Yeah, that to me is the same as that talking baseball team. That's great. Thank you, Justin Pennick for making his talking baseball debut. Congrats to Drake Baldwin, mostly. Yeah, Trev, you nailed it.

Liam Hicks. has a game run-producing argument, but he's also more than about half of his games have been at first base, N.D.H., as you've mentioned. And then Contreras, yeah, I mean, Drake Baldwin, I know he's been out, but it's 48 games to 52 games, and Baldwin basically, he has him on every front.

So, congrats to Drake Baldwin. I know Braves fans, we'll be excited to get him back. And we'll see when that is, because, yeah, that nationally catching position could get uglier, Treb. I also, another way, especially this year, this is a new way you have to measure catchers, is what do you do with your ABS challenges? And I think that's going to come in to play more in the AL for me. So spoiler alert, Drake Baldwin right now, not a ton of challenges, 27 of them, but he was successful in 74%.

So he's 1.20 and lost 7. To me, that's a big deal. Okay, Trevi. In it. I love it. Let's keep it rolling. Trev, first base position. Matt Olson won last month by War by WRC Plus. There's a couple guys that have joined the party. I mean, Spencer Horwitz in the month of May he had. Bryce Harper being elite this year. South Stewart, we love Miami. Burleson listed. I think this is one of those. where we could talk about the other guys? I think it's Maddie Olson. In pretty much every single number. Through May, again, more doubles, more homers, more runs, more RBI, highest OPS, highest F and B-WR-R-C-plus.

Rob? You guys both had Matt Olson. Let's go. Let's go. That makes sense. Unanimous. That makes sense. That was one of the easier ones on the sheet.

And it was a funny, as we've talked about, how good Atlanta has been this year, opening up the first two positions and being like, I think it's still the Braves, which, by the way, oh, you got your Braves hat on. That's art. It's nice. Second base, there's also an Atlanta Brave, but the other problem is there's basically the whole NL Central, the Luis Arise, this year. Who else?

Xavier Edwards, dude. I did not realize. I know we talk about it, and you talk about how good that Miami Marlins infield is, but, dude, the NL's second base position is easily the hardest on the sheet. The fact that Ketel Marte is barely listed, the fact that, and Dahl has Nico Horner as an honorable mention. It's the most stacked position we have this year. Yeah, I think this is going to be where we probably differ,

and maybe we get to hear John's pick, this was tough. You mentioned it before I even looked at the sheet. You said burn the NL second basement to the ground. Is that what you texted? I did. I texted that late last night. I'll peel the back the curtain even more for the people. I was having a tough moment. I live in a pretty, I live in a New York City apartment. There's not a lot of space in there. Couldn't find my laptop back. And I was like, well, it's here. Like where's my laptop back? Search every room, which is one and a half rooms, like five. times like every end. Dude, I opened the fridge. I opened the fridge. That's how bad I was. And then I remembered we had a warehouse day last week where I brought my laptop. So I was in freak out mode, lost my laptop, didn't want to scroll through all this, that I was hot. And then I saw the NL second base position. I was like, how do you pick any of this? You opened the refrigerator. Yeah, dude. I opened up. I opened up the microwave. I thought I might have played a prank on myself, bro.

Because I was like, it's got to be in this apartment. I haven't left this apart. It was a low moment. That's, I mean, opening the fridge and the microwave, I think the microwave is worse than the fridge. Because maybe a fridge you're getting to pop out and you're like, oh, I got to set this here so it doesn't fall. But the microwave is just a no, no, it's metal coach.

Treve, I searched every inch and I couldn't find it. So I hope it's at the warehouse. It might have just been solace. I actually, I don't want to know your pick. Bryce Terang we gave it to last month There was definitely a thought process Previous years we've had You Need to Take It from the guy

That I ran through the Bryce Terang conversation I did not pick him I don't I don't do we I did not pick Bryce Terang Jake you wrote down Bryce Terang And another name Oh love that

Interesting Yes so Let me see Sent my angry late night But the other name is the same as Trev's. Oh, okay. I meant the other name. Oh, I, yeah. Whoa. Oh, there's no way I thought you were going there. So then we are, we are unanimous. Wow. Yes. All right. Trev, tell the people who you picked and why. This was really, it was really, really tough because there's a bunch of guys just balling out. When your honorable mentions are Nico Horner and Catee, you know the position is on fire. I initially

was going to go with my guy B. Lowe because he's meant so much to a resurgent pirates team. I got to see him play in person and it's just, you know who's playing great as Brian Reynolds? He looks great. Like I think I'm a Brian Reynolds stand. I know I know me and Longo are beefing against him, but as a ball player, I love him. We both chose Xavier Edwards. We did both choose Xavier Edwards, Trev. And I have a reason. I'm curious your reason. Tell me what.

Okay. I mean, the numbers are so freaking close with all of these guys. I mean, they're all, I mean, there's a couple guys outstanding on defense. Most of these guys are playing good defense.

So that's kind of a wash to me at this point. The overall offensive numbers are also close. I mean, a bunch of guys, high sevens. This guy in particular, Xavier, led an OPS at an 877,

200, of a point or is it a thousandth of a point. I'm not higher than B. Lau has an 875. The difference to me, Jake, you know what it is. First all, I went to stolen bases between those two Xavier as 8 and Belaus zero through May.

31 walks to 29 strikeouts. You know that's like, that's what I do. Yeah. So that that was kind of it for me. With an all the other numbers are very similar. Below obviously has him in homers. But as far as

runs and, you know, kind of where he hits in the lineup, it's a little different for RBI. So I don't know. I just think he's been a game changer. I do love the middle infield, him in auto. That was my separator was stolen bases and walks to strikeout ratio. Yes. I basically, I don't want to say I gamified it. And again, this is why we do this episode, because if you're watching any of these second

baseman on your favorite team, if you're watching Weatherhole, if you're watching Weatherhole, if you're watching a rise this year, like you're saying, hey, I think we have the best second baseman in baseball, and you get the pleasure of watching them every day. There's less people that watch Miami games, just kind of the facts of it. Trev, when the stats are side by side, batting average only a rise has Xavier Edwards beat,

and that's obviously, it was previously a rise's entire game. He's got some defensive stats this year. Walk percentage slash on base. On base, Edwards, wins. He gets the knot. Slugging, it's only Lough who gets him, which that's what Lowe's game is. Overall OPS, Xavier Edwards has Lowe beat. He's less split-proof than Brandon Lowe, who's killing righties, which that's what you want, but he's struggling against lefties. And the defense, and the speed and the strikeouts that, yeah, for me, there was a level of shock, but I guess if

you were doing the of anything you'd highlight from a baseball player, Xavier Edwards was one or two of all these second basemen where the other ones had flaws that I think taking teams and everything else aside, it was Xavier Edwards. Congratulations, Xavier. I think JJ Weatherholt deserves a little bit of discussion year for how good he's been as a rookie.

If you look at the Fangres leaderboard for defensive, or second base defensive metrics, OAA, first. second Louisa Rice Yeah man Yeah so I mean Again a bunch

These guys are all performing very very well Defensively but I agree with you Like Xavier just it was just He was at the top of almost every category Luis Arise The hands are there And by the way if you start daydreaming of what the trade deadline Could look like

He might be one of the more fascinating names How many guys could you plug and play at the top of your lineup And like change your whole team's dynamic Sorry Giants fans That's becoming the realization. Congrats Marlins fans. And Edwards gets the nod at NL, second base. At shortstop, Trev, a little bit, I'll say a three-man race.

Connor Griffin sneaks on with an honorable mention, but obviously the late start, the slow start, and now the I.L. That C.J. Abrams and Ellie Dela Cruz have kind of been toe-to-toe at this position in similar amazing offensive profiles. Sometimes you can question the defense. And then the other guy that sneaks in here, Otto Lopez, who has a lot of similar things to Xavier Edwards, the high batting average, contributing all around that I'm interested to see your thought process. And again, I'm wondering if we agreed on this one. So I had a two-man race.

And C.J. Abrams has had an incredible offensive start to the seas. I mean, 47 runs driven in through May is insane. I mean, the nationals do lead all of the world in runs scored. so good for them. That's an incredible turnaround. And that's, you know, you can't, 47 runs driven in by your shortstop. It's freaking nuts.

But people in Washington have told me this. The overall defensive metrics are not great with him. It's tough. Ellie, on the other hand, pretty much matches him in most of the offensive statistics. He's 10 runs driven in. behind but everything else is just like on par or a little bit just a tiny bit less but his defense has been great um he right now jake and o aaa is third in all the baseball bobby whit

running away with it colson montgomery who's like one of my favorite players in the league right now um and then ellie is third above andres himenez above dansby swanson so ellie is where i ended up with my boat. Rob? Jake, you did not have Ellie De La Cruz. You had C.J. Abrams. I did. So we will bring in Mr. John Bino. Let's get Jim. Yeah. For me, I just like the offensive profile a little more from

CJ. Kind of like what you said with the driving and runs. Strikeouts at the end of, or on June 1st, 26 less strikeouts and a 391 on base. that was a significant enough gap for me from Ellie De La Cruz to not give it to him. And the other thing that factored into me here, and maybe this is lame, ballpark a little bit. Weighted runs created plus.

Like these stat lines feel pretty similar. It has CJ at a 160 WRC plus and Ellie at a 134 that I was like, wow, that's kind of jarring. CJ Habrums, I mean, I get that. Yeah. If you go and you go through the OAA leaderboard, he is the fourth worst shortstop. Yes.

Worst is Willie Adomis with negative 10 OAA. J.P. Crawford, Zach Nettled and C.J. Abrams at minus seven. So we're talking Ellie is the third best as far as range goes and outs above average. And then that's what's separated from me. Ladies and gentlemen, James O'Brien. Hello. This one's interesting because And a reminder, I am not even looking at the normal stats

because I'm assuming you guys decided the top too well and they're close enough in those things. So all my stats are tiebreakers. I can't get mad. I'm not judging these guys off the rip. But I'm looking at our OPS plus speed stat, which includes bases taken first to third, second to home, as well as irregular OPS.

Abrams, 945, L.E. 8,9. empty game rate, which I love. Can't show up and not do anything. All these players are good. C.J. Abrams wins that out. And then here's new stuff I'm looking at, Trev. Are you split proof? I think that's of value, right?

So C.J. Abrams offensively, he's a 733 hitter versus lefties and a one dot versus righties. So that's a 269 difference in that. the player, depending on the pitcher. Ellie's got a 182 difference, and he's higher against both. But every other offensive stat Abrams has him is. And then I'll get into some others because it's not close here. It's really just defense versus offense.

And it's the shortstop position, so I'm going to go Ellie. And that was a very last second move. If it wasn't the shortstop position, I don't think I'm being swayed by the defense. But both offenses are great. and Abrams grades out at the bottom. Now, I don't trust the defensive metrics that much. So that's where this one I kind of, I hate, I hate turning it over to them.

Agreed. Two positions I'll take defense into account. Jim, and now we have to, with catchers, I was telling Jake, you missed it. We have to go into like ABS and what you're doing with that.

And K-flit percentage and all that stuff because that matters. But yeah, I had that, gosh, I had something else to tell you. And now I forget. I'm glad I heard the one I almost got called in on. You guys changed your mind?

No, that was a, should have conversed beforehand. I was writing down last month's picks as well. And that was the only one I didn't delete. That me and Trev had the same answer, but we didn't. They saw two second basemen and didn't. Thank God. Just thought I was letting it ride. And I was second base, toughest ever.

Well, my tiebring. Like yours is, whew. It was the easiest ever. Okay. So I'm glad you guys chose right. Oh, yeah. It didn't need a tie break. Never did.

And if it went to it, who. Most glaring differences on my whole sheet. It was so glaring that it never even happened. Yeah. Okay. All right. We might see in a little bit. I don't know when.

Dalton Rob have the power on that. Thank you, James. As we move on. There's some good ones coming. Teases Jimmy O'Brien. Ryan. Third base, Trev. Oh, okay. This is what I was talking about. I cannot believe how good Max Muncie is playing. I just haven't paid attention, man. I really haven't. And I didn't remember that he won April.

Yeah. Going through these stats, he's also playing great defense at third base. And I agree with Jimmy about defensive metrics. Him and I actually had a long phone call when I was in Chicago about like what I talked about with Eno and like what do defensive metrics and the small sample size mean and which this is a very small sample size you know they're volatile to say the least but you know I think they're a tool like a separator tool in an instance like this max muncie is grading out excellent at third base uh this year and all the offensive statistics are there to me this one is a no-brainer Rob you can share but yeah yep unanimous max Max Muncie.

Crazy. Good to see Nick Gonzalez on any sheet, but unfortunately that's a little bit. I mean, Nick Gonzalez, Nolan Hernado, and Alex Bregman, they're just sadly not in Muncie's league right now. Yeah, Max Muncie. Max Muncie Free Agent Year? Or did he sign an extension? Of course he did. Of course he did.

Because why wouldn't he? Why not? Just keep rolling it because he's been the best third baseman in the NL. Dodgers player number 11 that we mention when we talk about them. Keeps them on the Dodgers team. He's got a team option for 28. Why not? Congrats.

That runs out the infield. And that will take us to the outfield. And again, if you're new to the program, we do need a center fielder because we do feel that's important. Corners, we allow flexibility. And if another center fielder earns it, that shouldn't be docked against them. So our center fielder option,

are listed as Andy Pahas, Michael Harris, too, and O'Neill Cruz, a couple guys that have been killing it this year. And then the rest of the outfield, there's a ton of very impressive options. I know I was panicking as I started to fill out my answer. So I guess, Trev, give me a couple of your thoughts, and then, I don't know, maybe announce your picks, and Bob can confirm if I'm in or out? I mean, a ton of great outfielders in the National League.

Ronald Le Cunia really turning it on as of late. I don't think it's enough, at least in my mind, to make this team right now. If we're talking center fielers, the three that we have listed here are all having great seasons. I mean, one guy is an outlier to me as a centerfielder, but the other guys are doing well. Michael Harris-Duce and I started the season, O'Neill Cruz. We know about the lefty-lefty stuff. I saw him hit one into the freaking river. That was awesome.

But as far as center-fielders go and tell me if I'm wrong, I think it's Andy Pauze. in the National League. He's crushing it defensively. The overall offensive numbers are better than either of those other two center fielders. I think this one is snaps. I'm assuming. It is unanimous.

Mr. Andy Pahez is your center fielder. You nailed it. 294 average 343 OBP, 881 total OPS. Again, right now if you look at the OAA leaderboard, he's fourth. for center fielders and that Pete Romstrung leading the way. Jacob Young, how about it? Yeah, he does that. And obviously Raphael is doing it.

But Andy Paz, defense, offense, everything's taken up. He looks like, again, another guy in the Dodgers were saying, I don't know. Isn't that funny? All J.M. and the Dodger mentioned so far are Muncie and Pahez, not Hall of Fame Row there. Today's episode is sponsored by Best Western Hotels and Resort. Summer baseball means road trips, driving out to catch a series in a city you'd never been flying somewhere,

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250,000 bonus points. Book more of what matters most. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at bestwestern.com. No additional purchase necessary for sweep. See bonus points, terms and conditions, and sweep rules for details. Fascinated to see where you went in the corners. Yeah, so this was, it was difficult because there's been a lot of guys performing really, really well.

The guys of the two names of the bottom of our sheet, Jordan Walker, James Wood, just off to incredible offensive seasons. their savant pages are so fun to look at. I will go with a guy who was a winner last month. And that's Corbyn Carroll. It was one of my picks. 916 OPS runs the base as well. He's got the diamond backs right in the thick of the race here,

on par with the Padres behind the Dodgers in that division. And eight triples already, which is just nuts. I know the field has something to do with it, but he's also just so freaking fast. So that was one of my picks. Did you also pick that? No. I did not. It was for Jake Juan Soto of the New York Mets.

I did not pick Juan Soto as one of my guys. I pushed the Soto button as you look at these offensive profiles of all these guys, which are obviously so impressive. There's a reason we're talking about them. Soto wins almost every category. It kind of goes back to the speech I gave about second base a little bit. Like batting average on base, slugging. His OPS, end of June, or start of June, was a 994.

That, you know, if that said one dot, I think people would feel slightly different in the fact that he's an inch away from it. And then I also, to round out my picks, and I guess we can have Rob Spoil for you, I gave it to James Wood. I just think his offensive profile is so special, getting on base at a 4-11 clip. And for me, it came down to Wooden Carroll, and I ended up, you know, you expect to go see, okay, Corbyn Carroll, you know, stolen base-wise, fastest guy in the league. James Wood had three more stolen bases that I was like, who is James Wood?

I think he's very special that that's how I rounded out my outfield. Yeah, again, go to his savant page. It's a ton of fun. I also pick James Wood. Okay, wow. Congrats to James Wood. So now I'll give you the reason I didn't go Soto. I know, I mean, like incredible OPS, the numbers there look really, you know, close to one dot in it.

Great. But he's missed time, man. And I thought it was significant enough where I was choosing between George, Gordon Walker and James Wood after Corbyn Carroll. Okay. 42 games for him. So again, some of the counting stats are going to be less. I know the rates are great, but that's when we have the guys performing at this level,

I think that's a separator for me. So I think right now it's Corbyn Carroll versus Juan Soto. I believe so. Judge Johnboy is in the arena. It looks like him and Dahl are going over some final numbers. Okay. Oh, Daltz. Just like push.

Do we have a judge outfit in the office? We do, right? Didn't Doyle or Pennick do something as a judge? Maybe. Would you be interested? Maybe a cowboy hat. Okay. Gone.

We'll look into that. I have a cap gun. You and Chris Paddock. Soto versus Carol? Soto versus Carol. OPS plus speed Soto still has him by a lot. Empty game rate? Juan Soto's your man.

I think he's the best at this. It's 7% of the games. He has done nothing. That's the lowest I've seen in a while. In a good way. In a very good way. It means 93% of his games where he has three or more played a, like a full game.

He gets on, moves the guy over, walks, hits. He's not just walking to the batters box and walking back. And then I was looking at splits. They're very similar. But Carol is worse versus right east because he's, which is interesting, he's the best versus lefties. He's not as good versus righties. But it's still a 796 where Soto,

versus lefties is 763. So Soto has the lowest split of the most. I don't know if that's enough for me. And then there's another factor I looked into here, but they kind of were so even go into it. I'm going to go with Soto. Right field isn't a position. I care about,

I might be the least position out of the nine I care about defense. I think it's just a perk, but Juan Soto can impact every single game. The only thing I don't like, the one thing in Carol's favor is with runners on Soto's OPS goes down 100 points and Carroll's kind of stays the same. Soto has not been driving in his teammates, and I'd like him to do that.

But I'm going to go with Soto because day and day out, when he plays, he's adding to a winning effort. Only 7% of the time he doesn't. All right, that hurts a little bit, but snaps. Congrats to Juan Soso. Soto. Soto. Soto.

That was... Don't look like you grabbed a cowboy hat, does it? I would like a list of what the nerds say positionally, what matters the most. And I would depend on your home stadium. So a very Yankees view, Rightfield does not matter. Yeah, like in Boston, right field's pretty tough. Yes.

Yes. Yeah. But I would like kind of a general list. Because, like, having amazing defense at Rightfield isn't a crazy perk to me. now we're now the nerds are going to go back and get the scouting report sheet of what each position means i love that we're just going full circle here yes we're just going full circle here congrats sorry to corby carol hey playing small ball is works oh that's what they're saying now well if you have a contingent of your lineup that is doing it as a unit yes if you got just

one dude like i kf trying to do it but no one around him is helping him because they can't run or put the ball and play. That's not good. Everyone likes to think that you're talking about nine guys when you have these conversations. They're like, strikeouts, oh yeah, strikeouts matter. We'll look at judge and, uh, fucking like James Wood.

I'm like, okay, well, at the top of the order, yes, get your a swing off and we don't care about strikeouts. But I want my seven, eight, nine guy striking out the same amount of the judges. That's ridiculous. Yeah, it's having, we're back to having a well-balanced lineup is good. Some people are, every time I say this, people still are disagree. No, what I, I think this was on Daltz Diamondbacks broadcast the other day. It could have been Bob Brenley that said they had,

they're rolling out a good military lineup today. Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right. I like that, too. I like that too. Okay, little ball talk. James Stain, is James Stain for NLDH? I don't know if you guys can tease this. that because this was a tricky one.

It's a Schwabes-O-Tani combo. No. He'll bid a do. No, you guys are unanimous on this one. Trev, tell him who you picked. I went with the guy leading all of baseball in homers. It means a ton to his team. 22 already on the year through May, excuse me,

39 runs driven in. That led all of the DHS as well. We went with Kyle Schwabber. Congrats, Schwabes. It's an interesting, because we've done this with Schwabes and Otani a lot through the past couple years. And, yeah, Otani has an argument, as he always does. And, you know, batting average, you could point to that. And on base, I mean, Otani's getting on at a 402 clip.

A hundred points in slugging and 12 home runs from the DH position, which all that conversation we just had about baseball, if you're thinking about your DH. Like what Kyle Schwerber does is he tries to change and end games and he does that as better than anyone in baseball. I think we got this one right. Congrats to Kyle Schwartz. This is the caveat we haven't figured out yet.

We still have to do a fan vote for you. I have to lie on a sheet. Oh, well, who do you want? I mean, I think Corbyn Carroll has to go with it. Like the guys who have missed the vote so far. far. So yes, Corby and Carrow would have to be on it for me. My fan vote for this exercise would be Otani, which is that's a tough one for everybody else. I had Jordan Walker and B. Low. I would be up for taking B. Lau off and going Walker and Corby and Carroll. I would,

I would offer you a trade Walker for C.J. Abrams. People are to be mad about that. I mean, you don't even have Well, the problem is We have Walker behind Carol in the outfield You know what I'm saying? Yeah, but I have both of them I think impact in the game more than C.J. That's fine.

That's fine with me. Again, I think it's going to be a moot point because Otoni's going to win the fan vote. Not that I'm pushing for, I just, that's how it's going to go, I feel like. He tends to do well in the fan votes. I'm not sure why. So we're going to go, Otani.

Otani. Walker. No, Carol. Carol. C.J. Abrams. I like that. I like where we landed. Okay, so again, we'll put out the vote. Go vote on that.

Cardinals fans. We love Jordan Walker. He's amazing. No, we get it. He's getting C.J. Wooded a little bit, if I'm being honest. The pitcher's always the toughest, and I've gone on my rants and raves about how this is the most fun thing I've seen in a long time. I don't normally get into awards, but the NL. Si Young, whether you want to go, that same show, Hey, Otani guy we mentioned for DH, whether you want to go sail. Sanchez had a perfect May, basically.

Kyle Harrison, who's getting usurped by all these dudes. And Chase Burns, who's incredible that, I don't know. Trev, I will say this. I think the pick was kind of easy, but I want to know where you went. It wasn't easy for me. First of all, shout out Braxton Ashcraft, Bryce Elder, Skeins, Robleski. I actually texted our guy, Mikey Adonacio, Kyle Harrison last night, 12Ks through five innings where the heck it was.

And I said, how did you guys get him for a comp picking a bag of baseballs? And he said, well, we know, Durbin, we like Durbin a lot, whatever, whatever. He's filthy. That fastball is something else. Just don't understand how, what Boston, what? What is Sam Friend doing? What is Boston doing? Well, I mean, at least you could Devers.

Like, that's a, you know, big hitter. you need a big bat. You feel like you can develop pitching, whatever it is. Anyways, so it was between Mizorowski and Chris Sanchez for me. And Chris Sanchez, again, the better, he has the better ERA, yes. He does. Shohei Otani has the best ERA. To me, I went to the whip, man.

That's my statistic. And Jacob Mizorowski has a .79 whip on the year. That means he's allowing less than an eighth or less than, and I don't know how to say that. It's obviously less of a base runner an inning. 80% of a base runner in inning. Yeah, 79%. That old staff.

That old chestnut. And leads K's per 9. He's gotten better in his walk rate. Like everything is there. It's to me it was Jacob Osrowski. We're on it. Yeah, not to give it away. And I've given this NL.

Syung speech a few times now, but all of these numbers are eerily similar, except showhays. Shohay's are kind of the best, but he's, you know, 16 innings behind. And the level of dominance with Miserowski, like Christopher Sanchez, who has been fantastic, fantastic, as good as a pitcher can pitch, basically. In 79 innings, he's given up 73 hits. Mizorowski's given up 37 and 71 innings.

Like, there's just a certain level of dominance that the strikeouts and the whip, as you mentioned, that Mizorowski was the choice that he, do you know what happened his first batter of the year? I don't. And we need a fact-checked this, but I remember it coming up on our broadcast. Chase Midroth took him yard. Ooh.

Please go back and look that up. I have a vague memory of that. I also had Murakami in my head. He obviously wasn't leading off, but, okay. Urano is set. Go vote on the U-Till. Let's go over to the American League.

I will take a little drum. Well, maybe I shouldn't take drama out of this first one because, my God, Ryan Jeffers. Trev, get him. Get that hamate bone healed because I could not. He's progressing. I could not believe some of these Ryan Jeffers' stats that I'll be interested to see if you have an argument.

Dylan Dingler, Sharp. Adley Rushman, kind of back. Shea Lang Aliers, coming off of a robust start to the season leads in a lot of categories that I will say that's where my ballot went. So because it's the catcher's position, I value defense.

And look, I know the overall, like the OPS is drastically different. The WRC Plus drastically different, but some of the counting stats aren't too far away. dingler has more runs driven in than Shea Landjeeers. The homers, Shea has three more. The extra base hits, they're similar. I went with Dylan Dingler because of the ABS challenges. He's by far the best catcher as far as net runs saved or I don't even know how they explain it.

It's overturns versus expected. So net ABS overturns more than expected by a player seeing identical pitches. He runs away with it. 71% win on his challenge and Shea just isn't there with that. So that means a lot. That changes games. I went with Dylan Dinger. I guess we're getting John Boy. Oh my God.

Yeah. I knew this was my most controversial one. There's a friend of mine that always says the cheat code in baseball is having a good offensive catcher. So I just Yes. I just think it's changed a ton. Shayla Angeliers, uh, 46 challenges. He's 126 and he's lost 20. So a 57%. Yeah. So I mean, how many, how many pitches are we making up for a lot of OPS?

Okay. I'll leave it to Judge Jim. Today's episode is sponsored by Seat Geek. Covering baseball means June is every day. MLBs in full swing. How about the NBA finals and the Stanley Cup finals? World Cup? My God. It's a big month.

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Judge Jamboy, the American League catching position. I'm going with Langleyers because the offense is so much better. Yes. If they were close in offense, I'd appreciate it. But I mean, the offense is, every stat is like leaps and bound. Dingler's an issue on offense.

No, he's not an issue on offense. That's not the right word. Okay, versus lefties, he's a 674. And then I looked at something which is versus power, finesse in the average. So baseball reference categories, pitchers. If you're in the top third of the league in strikeouts and walks, you're a power pitcher. If you're in the bottom third in strikeouts and walks, you're a finesse pitcher. Obviously, there's multiple ways to do it.

And then if you're in the middle, you're the middle. But I, I don't, I just looked at guys variance. So if you're saying, come postseason or can this guy hit anybody? And Dingler, his variance is the highest out of all the people I've looked at so far. So like, if he gets a power pitcher, he can hit a fastball. If he gets a dude who relies on anything else, he's not really an option. So that's the biggest thing. I mean, if you get a lefty, you're pinch hitting for him.

And if you get like a crazy breaking ball, I don't know who that's on the team, but if he's on an all-star team, you're pinch hitting for him. Langleyers is getting every at bat. He's facing lefties. He's facing right. He's actually split-proof. It's awesome.

He hits every type of pitcher. So the offense is so different. All right. I mean, I'm just watching games and having a catcher who's not good at challenges. I'm not saying Shea's bad. There are some guys that are bad. When you have a guy that is good at challenges,

it changes the freaking game. Literally changes the game. Oh, yeah. When Dylan Digman. How is the Yankees catchers? Is this something you guys don't pay attention to? Because they're just like a move. Put the eyes away.

I don't care how he grades out. To me, if I see it, I'm like, oh my gosh, what a difference this makes in the game. I haven't noticed that the Yankees have a catcher in a long time. Okay. Although yesterday he tried to throw two runners out while sideways. So Jeffers is very good at ABS challenges. And now that he's been gone, the twins,

like Alex Jackson is one of our backups. He's very scared to challenge and doesn't challenge a ton. And when he does, he's been wrong. It changes everything. Yeah, Salvia's been good. The Marlins are really good at it. They're catchers. They also do it a ton.

Wells is okay. I think the Yankees grade out middle to top. So I think if you saw, if you were watching a guy day in and day out, like be great at it, you might think more of it. It's fine. I get the offensive numbers are there. I just want a different round. It's okay.

I appreciate it. But Langleyer is like really good with the stick. Okay. It's not a bad pick. They're all good. I've been told having a good offensive catcher is a cheat code. I still believe that. I still believe that.

But I think having a guy that can challenge is also a cheat. is bad at it. I don't, I don't know. I think, I think that's a little crazy. I think Tigers fans are going to come at you. No.

Langalear's, uh, defense is in atrocious, right? No, no. Yeah, I'm not,

I'm not, I'm not saying it is. Although now I got to look it up. Did you vote for Carson Kelly? Did you vote for Carson Kelly in the NL? Did you? Uh, no,

Drake Baldwin, uh, is also good and challenges. Well, Kelly's like the best ever. Drake Baldwin was a 74% win percentage. Yeah, he's like 92 last.

last I looked at it. Yeah. So, Drake Baldwin also hits. So he does both. Yeah. Langelliers, she's great,

not fine. Nice. Offensively, I like him. Yeah. You should get that guy. Yeah. Yankees.

Congrats to Chey Langleyers and 80s rock star Johnboy. We'll move to first base. Where? I'll be interested to see, Trev. There's,

there's a conversation to be had here. I've been highlighting Jonathan Aranda around any corner I can because he's one of the most underrated players in baseball. Kurtz comma Nick continues to make an argument for the best first basement. Ben Rice, Conan Rose, Murakami. What are your eyes see? Love the first baseman position in the AL. I saw two of these guys on my last trip.

and they both performed very well. Wilson Gacrera is just starting a brawl. Not a brawl. A bench is clearing situation. Murakami hit four homers against us in four games. That was fun to watch. But I went on Ben Rice. I think overall the numbers kind of to speak for themselves.

The only first base has been hitting through May over 300. He's one dotting it. I think he's the pick. AL first base is unanimous in Ben Rice. he's been awesome it's uh it's complete all around hitting with the power stroke it's it's been delightful to watch it's a 1.056 ops at the end of at the end of may he's he's been nowhere how old is he 27 just out of nowhere all of a sudden he's the best hitter in baseball

it's i don't get that the hell's going on 12th round pick in 2021 out of dartmouth and he's uh Where would the Yankees be without Ben Rice? Is Dartmouth an Ivy League school? I never know. Yes. Yes. Is it the worst Ivy League school? Oh, that I would have to leave.

I would have to leave that to the Ivy League geeks. I don't know if Cornell's in the conversation. There's some Andy Bernard jokes from the office there. I mean, this Dartmouth baseball, Cole Solcer, Kyle Hendricks, Brad Osmiss. Congrats to Ben Rice on being one of the best players in baseball this year. American League second base may be the ugliest position on the board. Travis Bazana got a shout out, which felt like he just got called up. And I don't know. Jazz Chisholm, who was getting like mocked by opposing teams for his 50-50

comments, he's on the list. Ernie Clement could be at every position. Zeke Duran and Oswald Paraza, the AL West representing in this. Trev, what, what do you see because this is going to be messy no matter what? Yeah, I mean, look, nobody's running away with it. I think the two guys that I was looking at here overall, like offensively and defensively, they've been playing fine, was Duran and Piraza, which is kind of a shock to me, that that's what we're looking at. And between those two, Zique Duran just has better counting stats, better offensive numbers. So 12 doubles to seven doubles. Paraza does have been homers, but Duran hasn't been

runs, runs driven in by a ton. Pretty similar in stolen bases, five to six, and Puraza's favor. And the overall slash line is 801 to 804. I went, Zeke Duran. Zeke Duran is your unanimous AL second baseman for the month of May. Crazy. Okay. Crazy. Yeah.

What he's bringing to that Texas team, who by the way, I know I do this every year, but where they're at in the AL standings again. Without Zeke Duran, I mean, my God, they would be missing one of the most key cogs of their team. And I don't know if that should be a knock against Paraza. I don't necessarily think it is. The numbers are eerily similar. And I just think what Duran's been providing on a day-in-day-out basis has been quintessential to that Texas Rangers team that, yeah, Zeke Duran, welcome to the all. That dude. And just a guy you want on your team.

can play every position has a little dog in him speed ability yeah congrats to zeke duran trev you made you made a noise there is it the next position or is it something else i'm just breathing i'm trying to breathe this out of me sick i don't think so i like my body feels fine just like i got shit going on congested i'm gonna pop uh i think i'm gonna pop a balloon American League shortstop. Okay.

We're in no funny business. Then talk about Bobby Witt Jr. for a minute. He's the best shortstop in baseball. Yeah. I was actually showing Teddy a swing yesterday. Slowmo side view of his swing. Beautiful. What he does defensively, how he impacts the game with his legs.

The offense is really ticking back up. He's got 17 swipes already. He's the man. He's the guy. He's the A.L. Shortstop. There's not much discussion there. McGonagall, Colson Montgomery, Rokkeo listed. How's your A.L. Central?

Again, guys having tremendous years. McGonigal and Montgomery doing it in such different ways is so fun for baseball. They deserve shoutouts. Colson Montgomery, great. Randy out great defensively. The numbers, the offensive numbers are similar. Almost very close to Bobby Witts, but the defense is,

Bobby Witt's just run away with it. He's one of, if not the best player in baseball. Otani Clause. Congrats to Bobby Witt, Jr. The judge has entered the arena, which is making me nervous about AL third base. Trev, who did you pick? Oh, my gosh.

I'm looking here. I'm looking, oh, okay. This is an interesting. one. This was tight. Very different brands of baseball player. Yeah. I think I was going between Josh Young and Miguel Vargas.

Overall, those were my two that I went or was researching. So shout out Junior Camerre and Jose Ramirez, who won it in April. Yeah. I ended up going with Miguel Vargas. I felt like it was just there was

the walk-to-strikeout ratio which, you know, Jimmy has his separators. That's like one of my separators. Stolen bases as well, like nine swipes, no cut stealing. I did see him perform very well right in front of my eyes. So that's always something going on. So yeah, I went to Miguel Vargas. I was between the other candidate.

Like you said, no, no shade to J-Ram, who has 20 swipes. What? Yeah. How old is he? And Camerro, who obviously provides what he does. But I was down to Young and Vargas. I went Josh Young. so Judge Jimmy, we're in your courtroom.

This was a fun one. If you look at OPS Plus speed, Vargas jumps up to 884 and Young 839. So that's about a 44, 45 point difference in Vargas's way. He's got a lower empty game rate, which I like. Cisler production scale, I haven't talked about this because it's so confusing, Trev. but Hall of Famer George H. Sissler reinvented stats.

And I have, in Diverse, have a spreadsheet on that. It's basically takes into account how many runners are on when you're up and you get points for how many bases you move them as well as you. So it's also similar to, you know, OPS with runners on. I will say this. Vargas is going to be my vote because his numbers from the start of the year to now are better. like K and Walk 2, Trev. I just know you're going to handle that for me before I get here.

If I was early process, I will say this, Josh Young grades out as a better bat in the postseason or down the line. Because the splits, I didn't even not get, take them there. But those are a little more like future proofing yourself. Vargas versus power pitchers, not good. But so far hasn't heard them enough. Vargas Wow I know June hasn't happened But he also had a two homer game the first day It hasn't happened

Oh sorry Oh sorry June hasn't happened I'm in and and and I'm in a little shock 232 batting average to a 316 That's jarring those I don't look at those numbers He's not looking at those numbers That's jarring you could

I trust you guys to not even know I mean I talk to your boys Ann What do you mean How's he got a 216 batting average, but his K and walk is better? He's just walking a ton? What's he batting in from behind? His walk percentage is 15 to Josh Young's 7.5. So it's literally double.

That's awful. 316 batting. I also think. How does he have such a low batting average, but his empty game rate's good? Like, he's walking. And he's running. I, um, I'm also a white socks stand right now. I mean, I could be swayed in that.

I called out that they're going to win the American League Central. They lost two games in my twins in a row now. That's interesting. But I'd like the team. It's fun. He's a huge part of it, man. Twins haven't been part of the 2026 season for me yet. Oh.

Okay. I watched one game. I watched one game, actually. Dave, they're hurting right now. Yanks haven't played against them, and I haven't seen them in any, like, national televised games. They were just on Apple TV, but whatever.

Last Friday. The last one that happened. I got three kids. I was there. That Sunday, that's that peacock morning game. It's not peacock game. Oh,

that's more of my speed. That's nice. Jimmy, you would love the way Brian is playing right now. I would love how who's playing. Brian Reynolds. Okay. You love it and do it.

Yeah. Don Kelly's trying to come out Boone. I love Don Kelly too. I love everything the pirates are doing. I just don't think they're going to make the playoffs. they they I would love to look at there they have games where they just score like 15 runs like they they have the most lopsided it must be if you're this pitcher this whatever they're just going to trash great pitching I know like we already know that but it's like so good I might start with

average righties because brandon low O'Neill Cruz Horwitz killed it last month like I think orowitz was great I think their lefty stack can ruin a day quick hey did you see that Low I don't know if I'm going to post this breakdown. Sorry for interrupting. But you know, the one where Don Kelly loud got ejected as he rounded first, he called for all the game. Yeah. Okay. Totally on the home plate umpire side. If you watch the side, uh, video, the dugout screams, low, low. And then he taps his head, which is against the rules. And that's what the home plate umpire said. Like, no way. You can't tell him and then he taps. So we heard. We heard. We heard. it is they said no like like or or um basically like they're saying that was a ball but not to don't

to challenge it or not challenge it it's just like was a reaction because it happened really fast yeah but i timed it up i might post it maybe i don't know if i get to it but the dugout does scream i think i think they're saying low low it's a guy in the dugout and then he taps his head enough time passes for him to hear that and tap and that's what the home we had no idea he should not have been a He should not have been. And I think Jordan Baker regretted it as soon as Don Kelly was like, dude, he's talking to himself. They let Don Kelly like a very long leash. And that usually means, oh, yeah, we messed up.

That would be funny if his name was pronounced low. They could be like, we're just cheering on our teammate. Yeah, that was what the guy said. He said that you can't help the challenge essentially. Yes. With the call. And the umpire was saying like, stop talking to me. So he didn't see the tap.

That's what I thought. distract. That's what I thought initially. And then I went and watched, I was like, oh, no, they did kind of assist. You can't be yelling like that. Tough situation. Them's the rules. The guy who yelled it wasn't even really watching, so it was like bad advice, too. Like he's, yeah, we had no idea what happens.

He's talking, talking, and he goes, low, low! And then taps. All right. Okay. Well, why don't we just keep Jim here? Yeah. I guess, yeah. Rob, what, I guess what does the judge need to rule on the rest of the way?

There's one outfield position that he needs to rule on. Who will he not need to rule on, Rob? The center fielder, Mr. Mike Trout. Yeah. How about Mike Trout being back in a season? Really? And the halos are here. Your second outfielder, Aaron Judge.

Wow, you did put Judge in. I, um... What do you say it like that? Uh, he had one of his lesser months. I don't have judge fatigue. I don't, you know what I mean? Like he still had like an incredible. Yes, he's still.

Through May. I, for me, there's an interesting judge belly conversation, along with a couple other players. So I'm interested to see who Judge Chamboy has to make a ruling on. So look, I wanted to give it to Buck. I did. But he's been, he's been deaching. Okay.

Quite a bit. And he's, I mean, he's, I mean, he's, been phenomenal. He is so good. I love him so much. But because I've seen him DH a little bit too much, I actually went with Bellinger. Okay. I went with Buck Daddy. Look at us being, look at us being neutral fans or not. Has Belly played, has he deached or played outfield a ton? He plays an amazing left field. I think he leads the American League in war. So there's a belly argument, Timmer?

He leads all outfielders in DRS. Yeah, this one is interesting. Buxton wins out in the OPS plus speed situation. Like he's using his speed to help out more than Bellinger. Empty game rate, basically the same. The other stuff, I really liked what Bellinger's doing. With runners on,

Buxton loses 117 points of OPS and drops to 781. and with runners on, Bellinger jumps up to a 987 OPS, so he's gaining 127 points. So he's driving in more runs. And Belly is, he's a 884 OPS versus lefties and an 840 versus Ritees. So he is hitting everybody. We're Buckson, 953 versus Ritees and 697 versus lefties or vice versa. So a little more Buxon's getting it done. against certain sides, against certain pitchers.

He has a ton of variance when you look at versus power finaster average, where Belly is about as equal of a hitter as I could find all the, him and Lang Lear's, all the players I, I did this report on. Belly is, his variance versus pitch types is pretty neutral. Like, he just can hit whoever. I think that's pretty valuable, especially they're close everywhere else. And then I did go to the defense because they were split in a lot of columns. And Buxton grades out average to below right now, which I'm curious about.

And Bellinger grades out as the best. Buckson's been, I mean, he looks great in the outfield. So that, you know, we always question the infantry. You only use them if you need them in your argument. I was going to go belly anyway because in the top of the order there, I want a guy who can drive and runs against any pitcher. Buxton can, Buxon can do that. He swings for power.

I mean, he's 17 homers for Buxton, eight for belly. Yeah. Yeah, but look at the RBIs, right? Yeah, but that's because Bucksman's batting leadoff in the bottom of the twins. Buckson has more run scored. Yeah, no. They should really do an RBI rate, which is the Sistler stat, which Bellinger wins. 38 walks to 33 strikeouts for belly.

Buckson's more strikeout pro on the K percentage is up. You got to watch Buckson run on some of these like fringe singles that he turns. and doubles, it's like so good. There was a Brooks Lee triple in the White Sox game. He was on first base and almost caught Luke Kishall by the time he got home. And it's to see it in person, you're just like, it's jaw dropping the speed. But I think we came to a conclusion, right? Yeah. It's a great pick. This is one of, I have no picking between Bucson and Bally. It's funny that you and I went the other way on it. Because yeah, they both bring a different kind of game. Belly has been awesome, so I have no qualms with that.

I am now going through all the Yankees because I'm finding the least variance players. Nice. Because those got to pan out the best come postseason. Like, you'd think? No weaknesses. Versus, I mean, Dingler was terrible. Like, some I've learned like, okay, if you have a, the worst thing you can do is be Vargas and be awful versus power pitching.

because if you get to the postseason, who are you going to face in the bullpen? Louis Vialand. You're going to face power pitching. Makes sense? Yeah. So tune in talking yanks. Maybe I'll have a full report.

Joe Jimmy, you've been phenomenal. I wish I could give you Joe Pesci to Marissa Tomei. Kisses? Thank you. You've been lovely. We'll act that out later maybe. Okay. Thanks, James.

Okay. So the American League Outfield. finishes judge in belly, which has often been good for a position unit draft, which this crew has talked about before. And then who was our third? I'm just blanking right now. Mike Trout.

Oh, that guy. That guy. Back in the mix. The reason that Rob jumped to the outfield to get it done and get Judge Jimmy out of here was because the D.H. is not a conversation. He's so good. We forgot him in Family Feud.

It's Jordan Alvarez. He's so good. He's three, four, sixing it right now. Dude, he hit, I know June hasn't happened yet, as we've mentioned, but he hit just a Looney Tune home run yesterday, a foul ball home run, basically. We've been waiting for him to have the 162 game season where his stats fully jump off the page. It may be happening this year.

20 homers at the end of May, 1.050. Sorry, young San Bessio. And sorry Yandi Diaz, who I might, for the U-Till fan vote, I might consider pushing Yandi to the middle of the table because that dude's a sick puppy. He's 310, 392, and 919 OPS.

It's been great. He's been really, really good. Part of why the Rays are doing what they're doing. Who needs to be a lock for the fan vote? I think Buck Daddy. Do you want to do the pitch or go to fan vote first? Let's go fan vote first. I have Buck.

I have Kevin McGonigle and I have Nick Kurtz as my choices for the fan vote. But if you want to take one of those out for Yandi, I'm open to it. Let's see. Let me do a quick Kurtz versus Yondi. Kurtz probably wins out on that. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

So Buckston, McGonagall, and Kurtz? I love that. Yeah, that's a good one. Couple. You got the old bowl. You got a couple young calves doing it differently. We will get that out to the people. Trevin, I'm guessing, again, this is educated because Jim was told he can leave.

That you and I did pick the same pitcher in the ale. That's right. You guys did. It is Mr. New York Yankees Cam Schlittler. And his start last night didn't exist yet, so that's good news. Oh, yeah. I don't want to talk about it. I do want to talk about his.

The guard dogs? Highest K-rate, best opponent, batting average against, best whip. Most innings, too. So I thought there was going to be a young guy caveat when we pulled up these numbers, and I was going to have to do that dance. No, he, you know, shout out Davis Martin, who we've talked about how good. He has been Nick Martinez with just an amazing start to the year. Parker Messick, Joe Ryan mentioned Soriano after that amazing April,

but Cam Schlittler wins basically every column. Congratulations, Cam. Congratulations. Hey now, come watch the All-Star game with us in Philly this year at our watch party Tuesday, July 14th at Evil Genius Beer Company, presented by Adobe Express. We'll be hanging out watching the Midsummer Classic, and you're invited to join all of us here at John Boy Media.

Tickets are available at the URL in the description. Where's VIP packages? They always sell out quick. It's all our creators. It's all of our best community members. Come have a good time with us in Philly. With that, all J.M. team through May in the National League, we be brave with the Braves.

Baldwin and Olson get it started. Xavier Edwards and Ellie De La Cruz. This is a fun team. Max Muncie rounds out the infield. James Wood, Andy Pahas, and Juan. Soto with a Kyle Schwerber at DH, The Miz takes the bump with the fan vote of Corbyn Carroll, Shohay Otani, and C.J. Abrams in the American League,

Shea Bengaliers, Ben Rice, Zeke Tehran. Hey, how are you? Bobby Witt Jr. and Miguel Vargas rounded out. With Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, surrounding Mike Trout in the outfield, Yordon Alvarez, D.H. and Cam Schlittler, Schlitler and Mizorowski, huh? Okay. And then the fan vote will be Byron Bucks and Nick Kurtz and Kevin McGonigle. That rounds out all J.M. in May. Trev, any thoughts?

Sorry, I have my mic muted because I was coughing a little bit. No, I think we did a good job. This is a good episode for us. I can't wait to see the graphic and everyone yelling at us. It's going to be fun. It's the best engagement on social media. And, hey, if you're listening to this on the YouTube, let us know and give Jimmy some love for showing up with us. Because it's Wednesday, we're sending you over to our fanatics markets where we preview a couple of the games tonight.

And one of them, how about a little A's Cubbies? They played a fantastic one last night. They're rolling it out there today. Jeffrey Springs versus Colin Ray. Cubs 5 and 17 over their last 22. The A's road dogging it this year, winning record on the road. Trev, what do you see? I see the springs in his last eight starts.

Oh, and six. He's allowed a ton of earned runs. Huh? Oh, I thought you were stopping me. No, I was saying 0 and 6, dude. That's pretty gnarly. Yeah. The Cubs, though, have not been playing great ball as of late 5 and 17

over the last 22. Their offense isn't exactly tearing the cover off the ball. So I guess we'll see what happens. It's like two immovable forces. Yeah, a little push come to shove. Springs versus the Cubbies right now. And then our second game of the night. Blue Jays and the Braves, both start with B.

People forget that. Blue Jays chasing that 500 while the Braves continue with that amazing record. Patrick Corby, I've been pretty good. Over the last three stars, a three ERA. The Braves are who they are. They're the best team in all of baseball right now. and the Braves have not allowed more than four runs in the home game since April 30th. That's a 10 game stretch.

That's how you win ball games. Dude, there are some silly brave stats this season, and that's how you get the best record in baseball. So, Fanatics Markets, if it's in your area, go check that out. Predict what will happen in tonight's games. Event contracts carry risk of total loss and changing prices. Not good for all investors. Not available in all states.

must be 21 plus see important disclosures and fanatics markets of app. Customers are introduced to crypto.com by Paragon Global Markets LLC, DBA, Fanatics Markets, IB, and introducing broker registered with CFTC and a member of the NFA. I predict that we just had a great episode. And I hope that good juju carries for the New York Knicks tonight. Trev, enjoy beautiful Calabassi. I need to go on a run or something. I'd pay it away.

you rebound. Oh, like in the paint? Yes. I don't know. I never was a basketball guy. I never played like organized basketball ever. On the schoolyard, though. Three and D?

I think that'd be good for you. I don't know. I got some skills, some handles. One-on-one, me and you'll be fun. Physical.