Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Drafting Our 26 & Younger Lineup! | 942

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

Head to https://www.factormeals.com/talkin50off to save 50% off your first box!Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code TALKINCoach Trev and Talkin' Jake break down the BEST players who are 26 and younger to start the year by drafting their 26 & younger teams! Which team do you think would win head to head? 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. We are drafting the all 26 and underteam. A lot of young talent, coach. Let's talk ball. 85 on our knuckleball. You saw that guy. Who did that? George Kirby.

George Kirby. It's some guy. Some other guy. Okay. Hello and welcome to talking baseball presented by the other guys. Jake Storelli. Trevor Plouf, Rob Chiracco producing. January 15th, less than a month,

till pitchers and catchers as we head into the season. And there's, okay, you know, signings, trades. A little more quiet on the Western front. But the good news is there's a lot of young talent in baseball. Everyone loves a draft and saying, oh, my God, how did Trev take that guy? So I'm excited to get into it And I think the best news for us, coach,

is we Our guy Dalton Feeley Talking baseball researcher Happy birthday yesterday You know, he gave us a list Of the young dudes in MLB And it's, um It's good news for the sport, coach.

How are you? That's one of the things we definitely wanted to say Before we started this was holy shnike. There are some young players who are studs here. Shout out Kenny Sirwell. who is the guy throwing like 87 mile an hour knuckle balls. He also throws like 95. Okay.

The rays are going to draft him. Yeah. Is he even, is he signed? I'm not really sure. He's nasty. He's got good mechanics too. S-E-R-W-A. That is my nightmare.

Is that your first pick? It might be. How old is he? Seems young. You know I like the young guy. Yeah. Everything's good, though, coach, back in Magnicondon Studios. As you can see, spent the weekend slash part of last week in Arizona.

I went to the Rams game on Monday night, which was a lot of fun. They put the whooping on those Vikings. Sorry to all my twins and Minnesota fans, but that was a great game. But I'm back, ready to talk some ball. And I think I have a strategy for today. I think people are going to be a little shocked with my first pick. But it's going to be good. This is a chance for us to all sit back and just be like, okay,

we have a very bright future here in Major League Baseball. And I think for the people that are with us to see us, you know, kind of put it out there during the regular season. Oh, CJ Abrams is a dog. I love Ellie. you know this is you and me putting our GM hat on a little bit and I don't know are you are you getting the best players available

are you building a team identity here I don't know what spoilers I should have oh I mean you know I love my Latino so just keep that in mind but I think some ground rules will be good to cover we can only pick one per position yes so you know of the we talked about this of the short stops I mean there's Ellie there's Bobby there's gunner, you know, if you want to throw your guy Volpe in there,

like there's, there are some guys. I can't put, I can't put Zach Netto at second base. The short stops have to be short stops. We do have a util position, uh, so that'll kind of be the best of the rest. Um, and you know, that's just a little easier than picking a young DH. So that'll give you the full lineup. And yeah, uh, outfield, we're going to be a little loose with. I mean, put together an outfield.

I'd like to see a center fielder there, kind of the all J.M rules. But otherwise, I think the other thing that people need to know is you need to be 26 as of opening day. So there's a couple potential guys who may turn 27 during the season. But I also, part of what I love about this exercise, coach Trev, is, you know, it's cool to see. I don't want to give away, you know, any draft picks. But, you know, you see some young guys that you're like, yeah, James Wood. How good is he going to be? Jackson Chorillo could see him drafted in this draft.

And it's like, all right, you know, young talent, awesome. And then you see like Vladian Soto and it's like, what? I've seen these guys, I've seen them play for half a decade. And they're still getting lumped in with some of the young talent, which, A, the Vladdy hype train this year is going to be gone. And we just saw Soto get 800 million, basically. So that's always a cool reminder to see like, wait, those guys get lumped with these guys? That's nuts.

I looked at here and I mean, we talked about this, I think last episode. Ellie Dayley-Da-Cruz is 23 years old. A lot of the guys that are coming up that are these prospects and we're looking, oh, they're going to be good. Like, they're, he's already done it. Yes. Like, Ellie Day-Lacruz could be on this team for the next three years. If he gets drafted. Maybe not.

Ellie. Ellie. You will. Get in my util spot. Treve, you know, I'm a man. man of honor and I hate hearing you complain midway through. So I'll give you the first pick in the draft. We'll just go every other.

We don't need to double down and snake it. I think it's just mono. Every other. Mono and mono here. And I would. Trevor Plouf, you have the first pick of all the kids in bed. No contract.

You get to build a team around a ball player. Oh. And it's just for one year. So yeah, like, you know, years of control. money doesn't matter. But I told you, Coach, first of all, I appreciate you give me the first pick.

It helps me out. I have a strategy. Okay. I'm kind of convinced, after doing a little research here and looking at the sheet that our wonderful Dalton Feeley has prepared for us,

that there's one position where I feel like there's a guy that's head and shoulders, not head and shoulders, but kind of head and shoulders above everybody. He's a guy we just talked about. For my first overall pick,

at first base. I am taking that big, bad man. Don't know if his hair's long or short, and I think it's short, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Now, obviously coming off an incredible year, an incredible first five years of his big league time here, he turns 26th on March 16th,

so he almost could sneak in here for another year. This will be his last year that he's eligible for this team. But if you look around like the other guys at first base, you know, it is like Tristan Casas. I think he's going to be a dog. Spencer Torkelson, Colkeith, Covey Mayo. There are guys there. But I think Vladie has been there, done that proven hitter. So I just wanted to get him on my team right away because I think some of these other positions.

Obviously there's, you know, Bobby Witt, number one overall pick. That's great. But there's still other guys at that position. I'm taking Vladdy Jr. With my number one overall pick. Putting them at first base and saying, hey, Poppy, go hit me 50 this year. Oh.

Oh. I'm not sure. That's how I taught to my players. Yeah, I like that. I like that coaching. I like that empowerment. Yeah. You know what, Vlad?

30 last year was nice. Give me 20 more. Trev, I love it. And I, you know, people are probably surprised when you think of all the young talent in the game and maybe people are thinking about franchise building or whatever. But it's also positional depth, which you and I have a chance to look at. And like those names you mentioned, like, hey, I hope CES,

Christian Ancranasian Stran, Stran, bounces back for my Reds this year. You know, there were Torkelson trade rumors for a little bit, and he got sent down to the miners, like Colt Keith is sliding over there this year. And we're comparing that to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Like, Vladdy's bounced back year last year, six war, 323, 396, 940 OPS. And it's just interesting. You bring up the first baseman from last season

if you go by F war, which you know I'm normally a B-war girl. But guys with over three F-war, it's Salvi, who's, I don't know, half-catcher, half-statu. Freddie Freeman, who's, you know, he's, how old is? is Frederick now. He might be in another draft this offseason. 3.3. Bryce Harper, who just slid over to first base and casually was really good over there.

He's also a baker, so. I'm not ready to talk about the Bryce vid because I like Bryce fit, so I think that's another episode. And then it was number one Vladdy, so I don't know. Like, hey, baseball is fluid, and I expect Matt Olson to have a bounce back here next year and a couple of these other guys. But at the first base position, it is Vladdy, whether it's young guys or not.

Freddie Freeman's 35, by the way. Okay, Freddie. That looks great. Yeah, I mean, I think I know who you're going to go with at first base, but again, that was kind of the one outlier that I saw amongst the positions here. So I'm glad I got them on my team. Plus, hey, I know this doesn't really count for our exercise, but it is a walk year.

Let's go. If you're in Toronto, is Sasaki coming to your team? Probably not. But you got Vladdy. Hey, they're still in the mix, man. They're still in the mix. Why not?

Maybe he's a Vladdy guy. Do you know there's that one meme of like the guys on the podium and the guy's like spraying himself and champagne, but he's like in third place? Yeah. Oh, Trev. See, I'm not in a good enough standing with Toronto fans to say that. So, um, okay.

You've put me in an interesting spot, Coach. Yeah. Because you're right. And people at home, you know, some of you have probably picked up with this. But again, I'll probably wait on first base now. Because there's a guy that I think is the next pick there that you probably wouldn't take for you till, but we'll see. It's tough because there's two ways I want to go with this.

And if I give you those, you know what? Treve, I'm going to be real. That's all I got. That's all I got in this world. I think there's a guy that stands out head and shoulders. And I feel like you're not going to like this. We're doing one starting pitcher. Yeah, I know who you're going with.

I'm going skeins, man. Like, I think it's just real. Like, there's other pitchers that, again, I will name because they will not end up in my util spot. But, you know, I'm seeing crochet on here. Hunter Green, Jared Jones, Yamamoto made the lit. Yuri Perez, haven't thought about him too much this offseason. Like, obviously, there's a ton of young, talented pitchers.

Every time I look at Skeen's stat page this offseason, 23 starts a 196. He had six war in what felt like, Did he really? Two-thirds of a season. Yes, dude. 170 strikeouts and 133 innings. A whip that started at zero.

Like, he is just whatever I'm going to get at other positions, I'm not going to get Paul Skeens. So it's weird because, again, if we were doing this exercise more full, are we doing three starting pitchers, are we doing relievers? Whatever, who cares? give me Paul Skeens. I'm blown away by him and he's he's going to like, he's not going to change the sport,

but we're, there's people in our social media department that when they're on and working in MLB night, they're like, you know, they're watching every game. Like they have some of the best knowledge at our company. And there's people that are like, he's the best pitcher I've ever seen. So I will take that.

I've tried not to get too high on Paul Skeens just because I honestly don't know why. I don't know if it's like I didn't want to jump on the bandwagon. I didn't want to do this, do that. You know, he's only, I've seen pitchers come up and just absolutely dominate and then kind of fizz out. Yes. The more I watched in this year, I think the more I realized, and you know what, not even just watching him pitch. Because, again, I've seen it happen on the field.

But the more I read about him and like listened to him off the field and about him. and about his preparation and like his mindset. He has the intangibles to go along with the electric stuff as well. Like he wants to be the best pitcher in baseball. And everyone can say that. And guys can think that. But to put the work in to be able to be that, it's a different story. So he was, Jake, just so you know, in consideration for my number one overall pick.

Because I do believe he is of that group of pitchers. And we're talking about Gareh Crochet. We're talking about, you know, all these guys that have come up and done it. I think Skeens is by far the best pitcher on this list. So I'm happy that you went through. That shows that you know ball a little bit. He might be the best pitcher in baseball. And Trev, I get everything you're saying.

Like there's something, you know, we have a microphone that we're lucky that people tune in and subscribe to. Thanks, everyone, on the YouTube. That, like, we want to be careful. He's in his heart, he's a kid. Like, I know if I'm next to Paul Skeen, I look like the kid, and that's fine. But he's 22 and, like, yes, he's got the famous girl. And the stuff is there that you want to be timid about it, but he finished third in the Cy Young with 133 innings.

Like, it's when you really look back at it, it's special, and it's why we end up getting angry at the pirates, I'd say, every other week. Because what are we doing, Pittsburgh? This is going to sound a little silly. I don't really like lumping up his love life into baseball talk, but I do think this is actually pertinent to his future success is

he's got like the it girl for his generation, right? Right. She's like the it girl. But I feel like, and maybe it's wrong. I feel like baseball is. still is number one, dude. And a lot of guys when you're young and you get the it girl, like she becomes like the thing that you're fixated on.

Like think about when you were young and right. It just his mental game is so good. Yeah. I'm like, I know you are. I know you are. But I'm being serious. Like he is so focused.

Right. That I think that is what gives him like a leg up on everybody else. Not just the talent, but the way that he's. I even heard a Libby Dunn quote saying she goes, I've never met someone that thinks like Paul. Or like whose brain works like his. And like I think that's just another, you know,

instance of basically someone saying or seeing that he is mentally driven like that, like wants to be the best. So little talking baseball dating show. I think you're right. I think I think it's really weird to say. No, I think I think it's really cool that like she is dealing with a level of fame. Like, she is an athlete with a level of success. Like, there's a lot of cool overlap stuff

there. And yeah, I think the It Girl argument becomes interesting because, like, I think football would be like Travis and Taylor right now. Like, they've got a whole, I mean, that's a whole different world. You know, baseball's got some good, I mean, Verlander to Upton. People forget Matt Kemp and Rihanna. Hello. That was big for baseball. I mean, that was huge. That was the biggest thing to happen to baseball since pitch clock. Trev, let's get your second pick in the draft. And speaking of draft, how about

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Now, I know technically all these guys are young, but for this exercise, the next guy I'm going to pick, he's an old. You just say that for every pick? I love these young. He's an old head. Yeah. I'm going old early is what's happening here. I think there is another guy that kind of stands out above everybody else. He is a generational hitter.

I think that is the one term that a lot of people have used to describe this guy. He turns 27 October 25th of 2025. So he does, this will be his last year. Jake, there's only been two years where this guy has struck out more than he's walked. Only been two years. That was his first two years of ball, 2018, 2019, every year after that. He's walked more than he struck out. He hit 40 homers this year, 41, excuse me, 109 runs driven in, MVP3, 800 mil in the bag. So he could take me out to dinner.

I'm the owner of this team. He can take me out to dinner. I'm going Juan Soto with my first pick in the outfield. I just think, you know, look, what is there to say that hasn't been said about Juan Soto? He's a guy that you won up there with the game on the line. He's going to give you a great at bat. I think he changes the way that your organization will think about hitting. You get him in the box, people just watching him up close and personal, whether it's his work, you know, before the game or just watching him how he takes a bat's how he approaches them. I think it rubs off on other people. I need that with my young guys on this team. The rest of my team I'm going to draft. Juan Soto, I think again, I'm going for that. Is there somebody that's put himself, you know,

above the rest of the group. You know, these guys are all really good ballplayers. Juan Soto, I think, has done that. I mean, career-wise, we're talking. 953 OPS, 421 O-BP. It gets me going when I see that. It gets me going. So, Juan Soto, welcome to my team.

Trev, I'm a little proud of you, and I'm a little scared. Because those are the two most bona fide dudes on this list for, for obvious reasons. Yeah, I mean, if I want to get petty at the end, I'll be like, oh, I don't know, Trevor, your defense, but I don't, I don't care. Vladdy and Soto.

You might have to start going defense first. I'm going to have to build a team. I'll tell you that much. I'm going to have to build a team, and I will. That, yeah, I mean, Soto and Vladi, for the rest of the names picked on this list, there's just, there's potential and there's upside that guys maybe

spoken like them, but these are guys that have now done it for four or five years. That, yeah, that was the risk with Skeens. But I wanted my guy and you have that righty, lefty combo. Here's a thing, though. Right. I love the guys I've picked. Right. Like, Skeens probably wins the matchup.

That's the thing with pitchers, right? That's the thing with pitchers. That's a... Robbie, can we get numbers between those two hitters? and skeins if they face each other. I don't know if they... Well, Skeen Z pitched against the Yankees, isn't he? Yeah?

Kind of. It was like end of the year he did like two winning. If we could get some numbers, Bobby, that'd be great. Dwerve around that corner, whoa. You check that out yet? Jello? I've heard about it.

I saw he just got a record deal. I haven't heard the song though. I think you like it. It's solid. Like if I didn't tell... I'm happy for him. He needs something of his own. Yeah.

If I didn't tell you, it was Leangelo Ball. I just told you like, oh, this is the song that the kids are listening to now, you'd be like, okay,

this is solid. Anyways. Great pick, Trev. Okay, so I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to build a team that can do a little bit of everything. I do think my audible

has to go to a certain position. I do think I'm going to have to take my shortstop. There, this is interesting. Right? This is the best pick of the draft right here, I think. This is the most talented position on paper when you look at it, I think, is the shortstop position. And this is just tough because it's where, golly. There's three guys you're picking from. Yeah, I think I can be open about it because it's...

No offense to Anthony Volpey, A. Abrams, Tovar, Mason wins, Zach Netto. You guys are absolute studs. Quick story. Saw Muky at the game. Oh. In Arizona. He's two suites over.

He's sitting with Aaron Donald. And I was, like, going to, like, have someone go say, hey, like, go tell him. Trevor Plouf says hi. Because sometimes I don't know. Right. I'm a generic white guy. Like, does he remember me that well? He looked over.

We locked eyes. We said, what's up? I saw him outside. And I mentioned to him. I said, bro, I have so much respect for you already. but the fact that you're playing middle infield is insane. He started laughing, man. Nice.

It is the shortstop position to be able to be good at it in the big leagues, I think is the most impressive thing that anyone can do in the sport of baseball. So these guys, I just mentioned, you guys are studs, but there's three. There's Gunner, there's Bobby, and there's Ellie. And I think, man, I was a lot more confident a second ago. man, I'm going to go Bobby Witt, Jr. He won the batting title last year. Again, when you're splitting hairs between those guys,

I mean, Bobby Witt finished second in the MVP to judge. Gunner finished fourth. So, like, if you're there, we talked about how hype we're going to be for Ellie this upcoming season. I just think all around, you know, it's kind of rude to Gunner. he's got that sweet lefty swing and everything's beautiful. Does it not feel like Bobby's just like a half point better at everything than Gunner? Like he's just a little faster.

His defense plays a little more. Maybe his natural pop Gunner might have him there a little bit. But again, all these guys are wins. I'm taking Bobby Wichun. I think it's a great pick. I'm not even sure who I would. I knew that you were probably going to go there. and my strategy was to wait to see who you didn't pick

because that is a very difficult decision. In my head, I almost thought, like, I probably go Ellie because, like, there's just some sort of, like, dynamic that he brings. And, you know, apparently I'm just going all Latinos. But statistically, like, Bobby, yeah, he's a tick above those other two guys this year. So I love the pick. You cannot go wrong. And now you've put me in a pickle because now I got a pick between Gunner and Ellie.

And I thought, again, I thought Ellie was going to be my guy, but now that I'm looking like, I mean, gosh, Gunner is. Not bad. How many times when I said in the show, Gunner's like who I'd want to be like. I don't know how many times he said that. Trey Turner, Gunner, Bobby Whitt, I see myself in those guys. I don't see myself in those guys. I wish I saw myself in those guys.

All right, Pop. Okay. Two great picks. Are we going whites versus Latinos? Is that what? that's what this show always comes down to okay um this this gets really really interesting here uh because i think i'm going to stay in the outfield because i think that going getting three dudes you know you have to be able to pick the guys that you want um i'm a moxie guy if you know right

I love a guy that brings the energy. I even like guys that I like when guys don't know how good they. And then you start to see them figure out, oh, I am that good. That is a pivotal moment in a baseball player's career, probably any athlete's career or any person's life. When you start to realize I am who I think I am. sometimes it doesn't happen for people. There are many times when I was a player where I was like, I don't think I am who I think I am.

You know, it's hard. You lose a lot in baseball, especially on the offensive side of the ball. This guy, I think I saw him this year really, gosh, now I'm rethinking. Okay. I'll let you in my mind. I'm thinking Jackson Mero right here.

Okay, interesting. Okay. for those reasons. I saw him kind of, you know, he gets to the big leagues. What can I do? By the end of the year, you saw him prancing out to center field in San Diego, and he just knew I am that guy. Yeah.

And to me, that means a lot. Problem with that is. There's a guy that I truly believe in. His name is Fernando Tati's true. Yeah, his teammate, I was going to say. His teammate. And with the rest of the guys you got, I mean, my goodness. Tatis, I don't know if it's the injury thing.

He still hasn't put up those pre-injury, pre-you-know-what number. Yeah. Gosh, this is tough. I had it locked in Jackson Merrill, and now I'm rethinking my choice. I think I'm going Nando. I think I'm going Nando.

You told me I need a defense. Not the Jackson Meryl can't play defense, but we got a platinum glover out there in right field. Wonsodo, you're. playing left field. Maybe I'd put Nando in center. I don't know. I believe in this guy's talent. And how could you not? You watch him play. I do, I've said this many times the show. I get a lot of hate from San Diego fans because of it. I want to see those pre-injury slash pre-s suspension numbers come back. You got to go back to that time when he came up how electric he was. He was

the guy in the sport. It was so impressive to watch. He has all of, he has all the tools. and then talk about mental intangibles. Do you think that guy doesn't believe in himself? He's dancing in front of the bleachers at Dodgers Stadium. His numbers against the Dodgers are crazy. I'm taking Fernando Tatis Jr. on my team. Again, he's kind of one of the olds here. A little bit.

26th on January 2nd. A little bit. I'm taking Tatis to go with Soto on my outfield. I think it's the right pick. Like he The postseason was insane I remember when he was, there was a couple moments

where he was like, I'm not getting out and I'm probably going to hit it out. Like if you keep me in the park, that's a win for you. Was it Walker Buehler he hit the homer off of? He thought the series was over.

He hit three against the Dodgers. And, you know, his two games against Atlanta were technically better. So I don't, he's insane. And man, with the lineup you kind of have brewing over there. It's him and Jackson Merrill.

We had the conversation a lot last year. OPS landed around 830. It's a big year for Tatis. It's almost similar to Vladdy. Like if Fernando comes out and has the massive full season next year, like he is back fighting for the throne as a top five guy in baseball. He's been away from that for a little bit now. And I don't know.

I'm not betting against it. Like he still feels like the same guy. He was the coolest guy in the sport. Yes. I think a little of that war off. Yeah. I constantly go back to that. You just don't see players like that too often.

A guy that captivates the sports. I mean, the kids love Tatis. Okay. Okay, Trev. It's good. It's good. My team's going to have to be built a little different, and that's fine. That's how I've gotten through life.

I think I'm actually going to debag crew you here. I think I'm going to use my util for Gunner Henderson. Yeah, I think... I thought we're waiting till the end to do that. Okay, I'll let you do it. See, this is where it happens, but I'm doing it. I can't have Gunner end up on your team at this point. I need the lefty-righty action of him and Bobby.

that, okay, now I am worried my team's getting a little too white, and I will address that in later rounds. Because you know I'm taking out. I will address that in later rounds. But yeah, I think he's the best player on the board. You know, I think the rest of the way, there's a lot of nice young ballplayers that we're going to highlight, but, you know, a nine war season to have that in your bag

at the major league level, that's what he did last year. That's my righty, lefty combo. I mean, that's the current, that's currently the only way I can fight the fire that you're putting together on your squad. That's a little bit of a loophole right there. I'm a gamer. I'm a gamer. If that's what you're saying. I thought we talked about this before that we had to go through and the leftovers got utiled just like we do in all JM, but I'm going to let it slide. Good. I'm going to let it slide. Now we're at, I think, a precarious state here. The names change a little bit.

I'm almost, I almost want to start, or excuse me, end my outfield. Just get over. Because you haven't drafted an outfielder yet. That's, man, sometimes when teams talk about their general managers, like, I think that's what happens. They're like, I just got to get the outfield done. And then let me, I'll figure out everything else.

I mean, yeah. I think there are some huge names in the outfield still. And, you know, you got to get three of them. If I take the first three outfielders off the board and all of a sudden, you're picking from the bottom. Say something about White Lankford. He had a great year. You don't.

He don't want to match Wyatt up against him. I do like those forearms. He had a great end of the year. Watch out. I know he did. He had a great start to the year, too. Wasn't he like a spring training god too? I think he was spring training god.

Kind of faded hard. Got better as he went. I think I am going to do that. I was going to go to a different position. Let me just fill out this. I have the old. I need the young. I need the young dynamic dude.

And I think he got lost in the shuffle this year. You know, of all the Jackson's, I think he ended up, I think he ended up number two. Because Jackson Holiday did not, you know, he didn't do his thing this year.

Yes. Or last year. That's okay. But Jackson Meryl got a ton of hype, you know, I think, I don't really know why. Like,

Brewers were good too. They won the division. For some reason, Jackson Trio, maybe was because he started off slow. Yeah, a little bit. I think that might have been what it was.

April was not his friend, but I think from like, what was the date? There was like a date, May something, he was just incredible. I'm taking Jackson Trio. I'm pairing him alongside.

I mean, maybe I will go in all Latino team. Because this is shaping up to be quite a spectacle. Kind of making me look bad. And that's okay. I mean, I'm not trying to do this. I'm just trying to pick my guys,

man. So I will end my outfield, with Jackson Trio who turns 21 21 people on March 11th of this year ended up last year with a 3-9 war

791 OPS I don't know man I don't know what else there is to say he was the best player on the Brewers a team that has some pretty dang good players When Yelly went out, he really stepped up. So I'm taking this guy to round out my outfield,

and I think I got it right. I love that for you. I'm glad you think you got that right. Talk to yourself. So wait, which- Jackson Merrill, I'm sorry, dude. I was going to say, you were Jackson Merrill a pick ago, and then you just talked yourself into two outfield.

That was the NL outfield all last year, bro, that we just ran laps around it. So your outfield's done. Yeah. Wow, okay, so I'm going to wait. That's the good news. The only problem is the positions I'm looking at, there's one guy I want for weird reasons that I was trying to pocket him,

that I still think I'm going to try to pocket him because I don't think you're going to take him. A couple of these positions are weird, man. Um, third base, second base catcher. Um, hmm. No, I want to take my weird guy there because it ties into my team strategy. Um, I think I'm going to go with staying in the infield because I can wait in the outfield. Ugh.

You got a, you know what? You're going to think this is a jab at you, but I think he's the best player at the positions I'm looking. looking at, because I'm looking at catcher, first base, second base, and third base. The infield minus shortstop, I could have said. And I'm not even sure this guy's going to be playing this position next year. I think he is. I think Mark Vientos is the best player at those positions left on the board. I'm going to put out-of-the-park mark at third base.

You know, I think him and your boy Royce have similar arguments, and there's a couple other bodies on there. second base, it feels like a pile of a lot of similarity. Catcher a little bit of the same there. That Mark Vientos, the way, you know, we ended up laughing. People wanted him on the all-JM team. And we were like, yeah, we wish the Mets played him a little more. He had 27 homers in 111 games, an 837 OPS.

And then he came in and he mauled in the postseason. He had a 998 OPS in the postseason. So I will take Mark Viento. and I'll put him as my third baseman. He's another guy that, similar to Jackson Merrill, you could just tell that the light bulb or the confidence changed. He realized, I'm a dude, and I'm going to be a dude. And that just changes everything with your preparation,

your mindset when you're able to truly believe that, not fake it, because that's what you have to do. You have to fake it, and then all of a sudden it becomes a reality, you start to relax a little bit. A game slows down a little bit. And I think we saw that with Viantos. Game was slowing down for him.

It's a good pick. That was probably going to be, I have a couple guys who I'm choosing from. He was one of them. So that's good. Thank you. Thank you, though. Is he white?

I mean, he's listed as like Connecticut and Florida, but didn't we do this during the postseason? I think he's He's got He's got some flavor No doubt I'll research it Okay

He was mother was born in Nicaragua And his father was born in the DR So okay We're Bro up a fan of Arod and manny Oh I love out of the park mark He's not

Don't say that Don't steal that from our guy Who? Cana that's out of the park mark He's out of the park mark That's his, I think that's his Instagram handle. Don't, don't steal that from our guy. He's not really out of the park mark.

He's kind of like, homers. Kind of like one for three and a walk mark. He's a cowl guy, man. Bob Milvin loves Calgary. I love me some guy. I love me some more. We'll work on a different.

Okay. Where too, boss? So I can wait on shortstop, third base, starting pitcher. I think I got to go second base here. And this is actually is an interesting discussion here. Ricky, I'm excited to see where you go, because I talked myself in and out of guy. I think there's three guys here.

With all due respect to our guy Jackson Holiday, I think he's going to be something special. It didn't show it last year. I want to see it before I put on my team. I think you can go with the guy that probably had the best year overall, and that's Luis Garcia Jr. You can also go with like a guy that I love watching play in Bryce Terang. who is a defensive wizard kind of does, he's just a ball player. You know, he's one of those guys where a coach would say,

give me nine Bryce Terrings and I'll beat you. Right? You know, who says that the Burr's coach. Pat Murphy. Fun office. Yes. The whole, yes, the whole order. Yeah.

And then I think there's Matt McLean. Yeah. Interesting. I truly, truly believe in. I see a little Brian Dozier in Matt McLean, kind of like a leader type. shorter stature guy, big forearms can hit homers. So those are the three that I'm thinking.

And man, it gets a, I think I have it. It's Louise Garcia Jr. or Matt McLean for me. I'm going to leave Bryce Turang out on this one. And then it just goes to, really, I think about what is this, what are the people on social media going to say about my team? Oh, boy. I think this guy has more potential or potential to be like really, really good.

So I'm going to go with Matt McLean as my second baseman over Luis Garcia Jr. Over Bryce Terang. Don't forget about what this guy did on the field before he got hurt. He's going to come back. I think he's going to be the same player. I think he, you know,

when you take a year off the way he did, it just lights a fire under you. So I think he's going to be healthy. I think he's coming to this year. I think the Reds. Maybe we say this every single year. I think they're a sneaky, sneaky-ass team in 2025. They got some players there.

And this guy's going to be right in the think of it. I think he is. They talk about like the leadership, the void that Jonathan India has left there. I think this guy's could easily fill that. Give me Matt McLean. Put him at second base for me. Thank you. Okay.

Yeah. The second base, you laid it out really well, Trev, I was interested to see where you land the ship on it. I think Matt McLean has the most upside. And we'll see, you know, shoulder injuries can be a little tricky in baseball sometimes or maybe even just fine in his groove after missing a season. But you, now thinking about the graphic, might be kind of a Cincinnati up the middle for you.

Oh. Yeah. How about that? When in that Reds vote over. I mean, 2023, again, look, injuries missed all last. last year, hit 290, 357 OBP. He slugged 507. Yeah.

This is going from your second basement, dude. In 89 games, he hit 16 jacks. I'm banking on that to come back. I was the little guy screaming. Everyone wanted Ellie to go to the All-Star game that year, and I was like, man, McLean's been better than him. Why aren't we doing that? Everyone's like, shut up, you little white guy.

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your first box plus free shipping. That's code talking 50 off at factormeals.com slash talking 50 off. Free shipping 50% off your first box. Yeah, if you're on the go looking to get it done, factor they're the people. All right, coach. We've done a lot of process of elimination position by position a little bit here. That actually one position hasn't been taken. I'm between two guys. I know who you're between two. Classic.

Who do you think I'm between? I'm curious. I think you're between Yiner Diaz and Francisco Alvarez. So you get half credit. Yiner is the one that has momentum in my brain right now. Just because the hitting from that position is so tough to match. You know, 3.2 war the past two years.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's another gear in him offensively. The one who's second in my head that I planned on getting out of this draft, well, I've got catchers on my two favorite teams here, the Yankees and the snakes. Gabby Moreno, man. I was going to say, I should have said Gabby. I'm a Moreno hive. I go back to that season where when he was playing,

the snakes were winning. They went to the World Series. He matches lefties. Sure, he's a little down on righties, but he kind of has a signature. With all of that being said, oh my God, I think I have another option coming out of the clubhouse. No, I'm going to take yiner.

This team needs a little more pop. Yiner Diaz is going to be in the middle of the Houston Astros lineup this year for what you can bank on compared to these other guys I think he has the most you can bank on that I will go with Yiner Dia. It's a good pick.

I think there are like actually three or four good choices here depends on what you're looking for. Do you want offensive first catcher? Do you want a defensive specialist? and I think that is one thing about the catching position that's unique. You know, I think teams lean into one. Like most teams decide I want to do this.

Most of them I feel like go, let's go defense. Well, how many are forced to go that way? Because to find a good offensive catcher, it's so true. Yeah, yeah. I think my lean, if I was an actual GM, I would, I'll find my offense another place. I want someone that can handle the run game. I know a lot of that falls on the pitchers and being able to that. Let me just break this down.

Okay. Real quick. Perfect. If I'm a GM, one of the first things we're doing is learning how to hold runners off. Nice. Because we're worried about stopping slug and we're positioning our outfielders to stop extra base hits. You know you stop extra base hits? Keep it on first base, bro.

Too many pitchers do not focus on holding runners. just strike this guy out. I don't. No, you won't, dude. You know what they say? Those guys drive nice cars too. Like, relax a little bit. Hold a freaking runner on. Oh, it's going to take away from my pitches, though. No, it's not. It's before you start pitching. You're not pitching yet. Hold the freaking run around. Learn how to use your looks. Get a good move. If you're a lefty, no one should ever steal on you. Right. That's my rant. That's my rant. Have a freaking, have a hanging move. Not that hard. It is not that hard.

The lefty thing is crazy. It's great to me. Trev, I think with that pick, I don't think you and I have any positions we can't overlap on. So maybe we hit the accelerator just a little bit. Yes. You were spot on about my shortstop position. I wanted the tandem that's going to work together,

familiar with each other. And obviously he is the best shortstop left on the board. I will go with Ellie De La Cruz. Gosh, see Rose poised a question. Poised, poised, poised? posed. Posed. Posed.

That's okay. Okay. And I forget what it was. It was something like, does Ellie have a chance? Who has a better chance to win the MVP in the NL, if not show a? And it was somebody in somebody. And I didn't really think about Ellie. And then I went back and looked at the season that he had.

I knew he played well, but he graded out great everywhere, coach. This guy can play defense. This guy can run the bases. This guy can hit. He can hit with power. He can do it all. So, Ellie, you're my guy short. Go ahead.

Do your thing. That's good. That's an easy one. Trev, I'm in an interesting spot because I have the whole outfield. So I get to, I really get to mastermind this with what do I want? Do I want defense? Do I want offense? I think the guy that stands out the most to me,

and again, I'll just deep dive on him for now. I think I'm going to go with Riley Green. Riley Green was a top prospect. You talk about the light bulb going on. He had a five-and-a-half-war season last year, all-star year, 137 games, 827 OPS, I'm excited to see it for a full season next year. He's a part of the reason the Tigers did what they did last year.

That I think, again, reliable players, as reliable players go, I think Riley Green is where I'm start. Do you want to just pick your outfield? Yeah, I guess so. No, I guess that we're there because I'm still missing first two and second. I got to see Riley play quite a bit last year, called some games. He's, he's electric. Like he's, you know, I think a lot of times there are hype around guys on teams that, like,

people try to manufacture the hype a little bit. He's a real deal. I, he is the real. I, I think I have two more spots for three guys and I'll just lay it out openly for the people. I am between Jackson Merrill, who you, you skipped over a couple times at the end there. Corbyn K. Carol on the board, who a massive second half, the year end numbers, not as great as they could be, but also still good.

And then Julio Rodriguez is just staring at me, man. He has not even been brought up yet. But he did not have a good year last year. No, and it's weird. Like, in theory, Julio has taken a step back. He had a good year, not a Julio year. He had a good year, not what we expect from Julio. That being said, I mean, everything I've said about Seattle,

that if I'm putting Julio Rodriguez on this team, I think that feels a little bit different. You know what, man, I... We can't do that. I'm going to take Julio. He's Julio Rodriguez, right? Like, we all see it. There was some Instapost this weekend.

And his trapezius muscle was, you know, it wasn't Adoles Garcia, but for who Julio is, is like, okay, there's something in there. Give me Julio. His bad season where I'm being ho-hum about was for war as a 23-year-old. Like, Julio's got more in there. I'd love to see him with a little more help, too. But, yeah, I'll throw Julio in center, Riley Green. in the corner, and let's pair them up with...

God, Jackson Merrill or Corbyn Carroll. Kill me. I don't. Oh, no. Jackson Merrill, I'm going to look at the stats one more time, and they're going to be convincing because he was so good. He slugged five bills. Give me Corbyn Carroll. Wow.

I think there's just a little more upside in Corbyn. and he showed it in the second half, man. I mean, how many times in baseball do you see guys get off to a slow start or their swings in a little bit of a funk? The fact that he was able to recover that he finished last year down the stretch in the second half, so not even down the stretch. 259, 351, a 568 slugging, a 919 OPS for a guy that has some of the...

the best speed in baseball. I think power-wise, he can do what Jackson does. I think speed-wise, he's on another level. I'll go Corbyn Carroll. I regret it. Corbyn Carroll, Johnny Damon, has there been that correlation yet? So I don't think so.

I see what you're saying. Even something about their running style. Running style. I think like the arm as well. Like I think about that. I think, yeah, the arm. and the defense. A little weird with both of them. Dude, I know baseball has gone a little more saver metric,

the homer and the steals. What Corbyn Carroll can do power-wise and straight steals-wise is slightly above Damon. Like, he, Corbyn Carroll had 25 homers in 23. I think he landed at 24 last year. like Johnny Damon, I don't think his numbers, like his power numbers didn't get there

until he joined the Yanke. 24 homers was his largest and that was At age 32, the 206 with the Yankees, yeah. First year with the Yankees. So like, Corbin Carroll, Corbin can hit 30 next year.

Damon only stole, only stole in the 40s once. that like Corbyn Carroll with a full season and I know new stolen base rules make it a little legal he sold 54 and 23 so like Carol I still think Corbyn Carroll is a special player and if he brings it for a full season next year

the timebacks didn't have that and they had the best offense in baseball so like yeah I feel better missed the playoffs by half a game 56.3 career war for Johnny Damon you know no slouch career man he's awesome me johnny damon out there in fort myers during spring training look out people people don't forget okay so you went

julio riley and corbin okay i like that jackson merrill i'm sorry dude brutal sorry that i'm going to have you as my utility player yes don't hey by the way he was a short stop until last year i can put this guy in the infield if I want. It's going to do whatever I want with her. Andre is my, who knows? Jackson Merrill, welcome to my team as the utility player. Great.

Could you be a defensive replacement out there for Juan Soto? Yeah, you can't. Can you go play, you know, shortstop if I need you to in a pinch? Yeah, you can't. Jackson, you're my guy. I talked about the, I don't like the word swag too much, but like this guy. For some reason I was out at Petco like a lot at the end of last year. Yeah.

And so I called the game there, brought my youth team there. I was there. And I was focused on him, man. And I didn't mean to be. I didn't have a reason to be. Like the magnetic pull of Jackson Mero brought me in. So I am happy that I got him on my team. I think he is a stud.

I think, again, him and Mark Vientos found that next step. and I think they're going to be better for it this year. I think they're going to, I mean, it's going to be hard for them, especially Jackson Merrill to put up another year like he just put up, because people know he's coming now, I guess. And there's going to be a book and all these things. Software slump's a real thing. Whatever it is, he's got the confidence, though.

He understands what it takes. I think he's on a team that just exudes confidence. And again, Nikki Ponto, guys. Right. If there's a hype man, of all hype mans, it's Nikki Ponto. Thank you for letting me have Jackson Merrill on my team. 500 slug out of Jackson Merrill doesn't make sense. And I'm happy for you.

That worked out. I felt kind of dirty about Vientos. You get Jackson Merrill. What do you got missing, coach? I got third base, starting pitcher and catcher. So I got to go one more. I got to go more. I'll do this one real quick.

Third base. I'm going Royce Lewis. I think he has the potential to be a top 10 player in baseball. He thinks differently. He is, I don't know. why he's so strong. A little tidbit about Royce Lewis. He has like seven different types of bats.

Like makes, the same make, but different models and different weights and different lengths. And depending on the pitcher, he goes and he's like, oh, this one, I think this one's going to be good for, for this guy. And he just goes up there and rakes.

Please stay healthy. You're a guy. Maybe some of the, of the best potential of any player in the big leagues right now. Royce Lewis, you are my third baseman. Although I think they're thinking about making a move to second base for him, which I am against, for being honest.

But for now, third baseman, Royce Lewis, you're on my team. Man, him and Vientos are going to be fun to track because I feel like their bats have that same like little extra pop that you just certain guys have and certain guys don't. Their barrel stays in the zone

for so long. that yeah it's those two kind of pairing up age-wise and will they stay at third I'm very interested to see the next steps for both of them Royce he reminds me a little bit of Ryan Braun I don't know if I said this in a show before

definitely said it's like oh yeah kind of the bat looks long yes it looks really really long for some reason and I don't know the leverage that they create is something special great pick Brev I believe

I have first base and second base remaining that again, you took Vladdy with the first pick that allowed me to wait on this guy. He's head and shoulders above what the other first baseman have done. We talked about him a lot. Literally head and shoulders. I'll take Tristan Kossis, man. This guy's done...

Happy birthday, Tristan Kossis. Happy birthday, Tristan Kossis. How do you like that? Dude, in 717 at bat. So, you know, a little over a full season of a career, essentially. He's had an 830 OPS, man, 357 on base. You know, jumped on the moving train last season. Give this guy a full year at that ballpark and at any ballpark.

And I think 40 could be in range. And again, first base kind of feels like it's in a weird spot right now. Some of the old guys are heading towards the door. Votto just retired. Goldies on his final spots. I'm interested to see the next wave of first baseman, and I think Kossis can lead the way there. And then at second base, you know,

everything you laid out about Rice Terang where the season numbers landed last year, even with how special is defense, makes me a little nervous. You know, sometimes we just don't have enough natitude here, and sometimes when guys have the same name, we tend to overlook them. I'll take Luis Garcia Jr.

Switch hitting, bottom of the lineup, give me 20 and 20. Yes, I'll take that out of my young second basement. So that rounds out my squad. Congrats, coach. You put together a hell of a team. Appreciate that. I'm going to go quickly through this one.

For Catcher, I think there are some good players available, whether you're talking about the troll, Francisco Alvarez, Patrick Bailey is a guy who like, I want, I want to draft. I want to have him on my team, but I can't get over Gabby Moreno. Okay.

The guy, he can, he's a defensive catcher. I think he's got more potential in the bat as well. I think this guy, as he matures, gets some more advanced under his belt, a little bit more dirt on his spikes. I think we're going to see him turn into one of those guys.

It's a dual threat back there. So I am taking Gabby Moreno as my catcher. And I think this is the biggest pick of the draft. who am I going to pick as my starting pitcher? That's basically, you know, other positions are light. There's a lot of good pitchers on here. You took Paul Skeens with your first pick. And I think there's a couple guys I'm going to be deciding between.

And as much as I want to put Yamamoto on my team, as much as I want to put Roki Sasaki on my team, like upper 90s heater with a splitter that's 92, that guys just don't see that in the big leagues anymore. I'm taking crochet. Yeah. I've seen it. I've just seen it with my own two eyes.

Some of the most electric stuff in all of baseball. And I think that now that he's settled on a team that cares, or not the, I guess, did the White Sox care? I don't know. Kind of. The Red Sox have World Series aspirations. And I think he's going to relish that opportunity to be, you know, the ace there, you know,

a huge reason why they're going to, you know, have this run at the postseason. I think it's going to up his game a little bit. This, his stuff is so good. The demeanor is so good. I think I had to go with him to round out my squad. Yeah. I understand why. I think of the other names, like, let's see where your guy Roki looks like.

Like, I think Hunter Green has a good argument. Nicky. The light bulb went on. And some of Crochet's numbers aren't as pretty as he'd think from last year. But again, white socks. There was one or two blowups that throw everything off. That may, it's going to be, like, he's going to have the spotlight on him this year. Yeah, I can't wait.

I'm excited for him. Red Sox with a big off season and you're the guy. Like, that's, you know, we're all kind of going to have a front row seat for this. Tanner Bybee gets overlooked. Always. Always. All right. Let's, um, coach Trev, would, would you like to,

introduce your team. If you want to line up a fight, I'm open to it, but let's hear the fight in pluths. Can we put it up on the board? There it is. Thanks. I knew that was going to happen. At catcher Gabriel Moreno, first base, Vladito, Matt McLean and Ellie up the middle for me. Royce Lewis, my guy guy at third base. My outfield, I think I did a really, really good job. Tatis, Truro and Soto, my Util guy, Special, Jackson Merrill, and my starter. How many lefties you got that team. Corbyn Carroll, Gunner, Henderson. You got some balance, okay? You got some balance. Great crochet is

my starting picture. It's a great squad, Trev. The Soto Vladdy, it's tough to over the... We're the castaic truck driver, so that's the name of my team. Okay. An ode to my past. Didn't need to name it, but you did. Around the Horn

for the fight in stromboli's. Yiner Diaz will pop behind the dish, Trisson Casas, will pop it first. Luis Garcia. A little bit of everything, probably down in the lineup. That's fine. New nickname Mark Vientos at third. Bobby Witt Jr.

Might as well pencil him into the leadoff spot. Maybe even Riley Green right behind him. Julio in center, Corbyn Carroll and Wright. Gunner Henderson. The sneaky Util Grab. That's actually probably my two-hole hitter. And then Paul Skeen's. All-World, All-World.

Going up against that lineup. Hey, you've our... You've already commented how mad you are. We skipped that player. But please comment. Let us know who you think is going to win. What was the worst pick of the draft? What was the best pick of the draft?

Maybe we'll make the JM gaming guys sim this one game for all the marbles. I'll just make them sim it until my team wins. And then we'll post that. Good news for baseball. In the sim? We can do that? Oh, you could sim in the sim. There's a lot of good young baseball talent.

Crazy. Some of the guys that get left off. That only means good things for the sport. God, can't wait for the social media graphic. That is going to get ripped up. Go Team Jake. What's your team name again? The Cass steak truck drivers. Cal steak? Caste steak. It's where I grew up, bro. You can read a book. Right.

Castake Lake. Draft just to let you know, Paul Skeins or Juan Sox. O for one against Paul Schultz. O for one against Paul Sosito. Splinker. He did it on purpose. He's setting them up. Next step back.

There's a next.