Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Most Underrated Player At Each Position!

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

Get the best 5G coverage in the game at https://T-Mobile.com/MLB.Visit https://www.directv.com/jomboy to learn more!Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code JMBASEBALLUse code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2025. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountCoach Trev and Talkin’ Jake decide WHO is the most underrated player at each position! Who do you think is most underrated?0:00 Intro5:23 Catchers 11:35 Catching Honorable mentions12:35 1st Base16:45 1st Base honorable mentions17:38 2nd Base21:40 3rd baseman27:00 Shortstop31:30 Honorable mention shortstops38:54 Left Field47:10 LF Honorable mentions48:20 RF 51:50 RF Honorable mentions52:18 Centerfield59:00 Picking DH1:05:00 Starting Pitchers1:09:50 Pitcher honorable mention1:12:00 DK Bet the Cycle 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 today. We are doing it. The all underrated baseball team. Vets, rookies, everyone. Let's talk ball. Chris Bubich. Oh, out. Hello and welcome to talking baseball presenting to you by seat geek code.

Talking 2025. I am Jake Storelli. That is Trevor Plouffe. Rob Chiracco is here. We got an intern Molly. We're cranking. Summer Motie. is here. Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone. Hope you had a good time. But now we're in it, man.

The calendar is going to turn to June soon. And we're debating what to talk about this week. And I think we landed on what I think's going to turn into an annual episode because it's something we dance around a lot. There's the famous Aaron Boone, Jose Ramirez situation last year. He's like, dude's not underrated. He's Jose Ramirez. Underrated means a lot of different things. to a lot of people. What's it mean to you, Trevor Goof? Well, yeah, I mean, what kind of question is that to start the show? Yeah. I don't even know. I mean, you want to get into simulation talk this early? Oh, man, no. I take it back. How are you?

I think underrated means for the most part that these are guys that have had tough spells in their career and are breaking out of that, or it can mean that they're on the, trajectory to become stars, but haven't gotten there necessarily yet. I think there's a couple ways you can define underrated. And I think we're going to see a couple different of them, you know, as we go through this exercise. But I like giving these guys shine because, you know, you have the guys that are social media darlings that, you know, MLB and MLB network love to talk up.

But, you know, there's other guys in the league that are getting the job done and really helping their teams on it. And I hope that's what we get accomplished in today's, today's episode. Yeah, there's a little bit of gray area, but I think we can have fun with that because it's, it's who, for me, it's the, who do you think they are, the perception of you? And, you know, they might be a tier or two above that, whether young guy, old guy, or whatever. How are you, coach? I'm doing great.

You know, we had the long weekend, coached a lot of baseball, had some fun during the evenings, which is a good thing. I want to talk about that at all. just some vino over like over the fire you know i went to this one place that um has a massive fire place you know it's surrounded it's covered it's not just open and uh i was i was you know i was the fireman i was getting the logs situated the right way clearing the stuff out in the middle so the air flow was going so the heat could you know could heat us so the heat could heat okay well i uh actually i don't know

It's kind of not what you'd expect from me a little bit. But, dude, if there's a fire, I got to be in the mix. Like, I just start staring in there. I like getting the airflow going. Like, it's, there's, it hits, it. Say it, baby. If the, if the world ever came down to it, you know, I've been watching Last of Us, you know, it's a post-apocalyptic world. If the world ever came to that, I feel like you and I will be people that go-getters.

We'd survive. We put ourselves in the line to help whatever crew we were with. Yes, Trent. You're absolutely. I would die for my crew. We don't need to lead. I won't die, but I would die. I'm going to do everything to not die.

I'm going to tell you I'm willing to die. We're going to boil all the water. Let's land the episode there, too. Let's get into the all underrated team. We're each going to put one together, and I think we're going to have some overlap to double highlight those guys. And it's all brought to you by Seekkeek. Like I said, Summers here, people.

there's only a couple more NBA games left, but if you want to see those, you can go with Seat Geek. There's only a couple more NHL games left. If you want to go, you go at Seat Geek. And they are MLB's official ticket marketplace. So this summer and then fall, go see some baseball games with our partners at Seat Geek and save yourself 10% off any tickets with Code Talk in 2025.

It's the number one rated ticketing app. That sounds good. That sounds pretty good. So go check them out. Go see whatever you want to see. And you know what? You know, I'm a big sports guy. But when there's an off day this summer, go to a concert.

Get a little weird with it. Concerts are kind of the best when you do them right. Like, we'll... What do you mean do them right? No. No. I'm a changed man, Trev. Code talking 2025, 10% off your next set of tickets at Ckeek.

Download the app. Talking 2025. Trevor, where do you want to start? This is always interesting because it's, do you do catcher, do you do the infield, do we do pitchers? Pitchers are weird for this exercise. After we do pitchers at the end,

you do our starters and levers at the end. So let's go numerically, and I think we should start with the catchers. Okay. I guess, well, Trevor, why don't you open up the board? Because I do like who you're going to talk about, because I think for this season, the stats are shocking.

I'm a little nervous because they're a young guy. There is quite a few people that you could talk about in the catcher category. There's been some really fun starts to the season. You could talk about Carson Kelly, who's, you know, he's been in a league for quite some time in the way he's hit the ball. There's guys that just came up or, you know, I guess not just came up, but Drake Baldwin of the Atlanta Braves and what he's done. There's a bunch of, like, catching.

tandems right now, really around the league, that have gotten off to a really good start. This one's interesting to me because we had a guy who we talked about all the time with the Red Sox and Connor Wong. He's, hey, this guy's doing pretty well after the Mooky Betts trade. Did the Red Sox win the trade? That was the joke, right? Another guy has come in there and solidified that position for them, and that guy is Carlos Norvias. 2.91 average. He's got five homers, 17-9. runs driven an 827 OPS amongst catchers that's tied for third best among all the catchers with 150 plate appearances is only behind Cal Raleigh and Will Smith.

Will Smith is just never going to get an award on the show. You're not part of this exercise, Will. It's relax a little bit. You're too good. You're too good. How about that? Carlos Servius is kind of like doing everything. He said 381 this month.

He's got a 1.0.0.0. in the month of May. And I'm like, all right, has this guy grade out defensively? He's there, Jake. He's doing a really, really good job defensively as well. So if you're putting those offensive numbers up

and you're also getting the job done defensively the way he's doing, I don't know how many people outside of Boston really know guys his name. And that's kind of like what I consider underrated. Yeah, he's, he was. he's a framing guy he's got a good pop time

like he kind of like does everything right he's a good pick for this exercise like I said I was a little nervous to to put him out there just because hey baseball can happen fast for anyone and we don't have the biggest sample size but the sample size he's playing with the best catchers in ball

and we haven't talked about him a lot this year and you know I've got another it feels like talk about a lot of Red Sox and I think I've got a couple guys on this list that haven't been talked about, which just makes it even more weird that they're not winning ball games, but it's basically they're starting pitching.

Man, and I guess this one has another chance to sting me a little bit because he was basically a Yankees 40-man clear the roster trade to the Red Sox, which, like, Yankees Red Sox, do we need to put the wall back up, like the Verdugo trade? Things are getting a little too chummy.

That, yeah, for what he's done this year, I'm happy we're highlighting him. I want to see a little more, but he's been amazing. So I'm just reading your vibe right now. You're not really going for, you want more of a sample size for your underrated. A little bit. Is that going to be a common theme for you,

or just kind of pick and choose? It's a little bit of a theme. I do think, again, it's where underrated gets tricky, that a little bit of your prospect profile comes into line and like the expectations of it that, I don't know. It's kind of like what you said with Carson Kelly, dude. Like, if I thought Carson Kelly was going to be who he is on his current baseball card the rest of the year, like he's the answer.

But I think we both think he's going to come back down to Earth a little bit. And he did this last month, but still actually had a very solid month. I guess I'll tell you where I went and you might hate. So how about this? I wrote down my pick and my backup. at each position because I know some of these are going to make you hot. And this first one would be the biggest test of it. I went Gabriel Moreno.

Because I just, I think he's with the elite catchers. I think he kind of had his young moment where he was, he was the big piece in the trade, the Dalton Varsho trade. He came up, he was a little bit of a firecracker. Arizona goes on their run and you're like, okay, they got this top prospect catcher. he mashes lefties, whatever. I guess, hey, Giants fans, turn your ears off.

We talk about Patrick Bailey, I feel like a lot, because I think he is the best defensive catcher. But Moreno's like right behind him, and Moreno hits, where Patrick Bailey, every time I look at the offensive stat sheet, I'd get a little scared and I'm like, Giants fans, kind of keep it to yourself for a little bit. I think Moreno has been amongst the best catchers.

Got a gold glove in the bag. Offensively, like, he's just, he cruises. Like, right now he's a 108 OPS plus. He's a 105 OPS plus in his career. And he's still 25 years old. That, I don't know, I feel like there was the hype train. It kind of went away a little bit. And this guy should be mentioned with the top catchers,

and we kind of skim past him a little bit. Okay, I don't hate the pick. Now I kind of see where your heads are with the underrated team. Just this, I move the target. I'll be enough Moreno and Nervaes are back to back on the war leader sheet for catchers 1-9 F-4 for Moreno and 1-8 for Carlos Nervaias and the stats are pretty similar. So I don't mind that pick. You know, every time I watch Gabriel Marini is hitting a home run against the Dodgers,

the Dodger killer, and I think if you're a stakes fan, you have to love that about him. So I'm good with that pick. Okay. Any other guys, I think we should mention some in passing as we don't, as we do not pick them. Like Ivan Herrera. So I guess I'm going for the beat. Yeah, no. He was,

younger guys. He was there. My backup was Hunter Goodman, just being like he's playing really good for the Rockies. If he was on your team, we'd probably be talking about him more. But he's currently in hell. I mentioned Drake Baldwin, Dylan Dingler's another guy who's really established himself and done a really good job this year.

But I think I like our first two picks. How about that? Well, Trev, you're going to like first base a lot more because my backup option is who you picked. And I'll put that on ice for a second. because he's been one of the best young hitters this year. This one is my most veteran player. And again, you're going to get filled with testosterone either way

and want to swing at me or not. I'm going Reese. Reese Hoskins, man, like, think about it. He was one of the guys on the Phillies. When the Phillies were starting to happen in form, it was like, oh, Reese Hoskins, he hits 30 home runs and he gets on base. Okay, he goes to the, Brewers, when that happens, we're all like, damn, like the Brewers got us again.

Like, how savvy of a signing is this? He was coming off a major injury, like a unique, not normal baseball injury where he plays last year, 26 homers, 82 RBI. You know, the war and some of the other stats aren't as impressive, but this year he's come out and he's been Reese again, where he's got a 387 on base, seven homer. and 854 OPS. He's basically playing like Vladdy, and if you look at the first base leaderboard,

it's all the guys you know. It's Olson, it's Freeman, Vladdy, Harper, and then it's Reese, which for me was just a reminder of like, Reese kind of used to be considered not one of the guys, but like a top 10 first baseman or wherever you want to put them. That's gone away a little bit. And I think when you're like, okay, very significant injury, new team, and now he's back to doing this,

Like I think we should all be back on the restrain. Yeah, look, I love the pig. You know I'm a big fan of Reese Hoskins. One of the first guys I saw wear a crop top in the locker room. So that's always going to stand out to me. No, he's national. He's hitting the ball in the air a lot more, which helps out with the slug, obviously, especially when you're talking about a ballpark like Milwaukee.

I don't mind that at all, Coach, because he's my buddy. I don't think he's underrated, though. I think he is rated. I mean, I think everyone thinks of Reese Hoskins as a pretty dang good ball player. Maybe I'm going with like unknown. Well, your pick is who my other pick would have been. Yeah, I'm going with Jonathan Oranda of the Tampa Bay Rays. I mean, he just got off to a really, really good start this year.

I think coming into the year, something around 250 plate appearances in the big leagues. And now he's, you know, he's going to rack up. If he stays healthy, obviously a full season of a bats. And man, it's just like he can kind of do everything at the plate. I'm watching him right now play against my twins. He took Brock Stewart up top on a hanging slider to win them the first game on Monday. The numbers are awesome, man. He's in 309, seven homers, 29 runs driven in Jake, 889 OPS.

He's not a negative at first base. So sometimes I look at that, I'm like, okay, look, you don't have to be like a baller defensively. Like if you're just a guy that does the job the right way, great. he's a stick though that's what he is and everything he he looks like he can cover the entire plate and when i see guys like that it's really stable i like to i guess that's a good word for it stable at the plate like not getting fooled a lot it's what he looks like up there man um slashes slashes it like it's he's he's not trying to hit home runs he's running into enough but like He's in control at the plate.

That's what I like to see. And look, we're looking at a guy here who can possibly be like a 30 homer guy at first base and kind of, it doesn't have to be that. It can hit for average as well. So I'm into Jonathan around. Every time I've watched a game that he's played in, the bats have just been quality. So, you know, of this list that we have, you know, of the first base right now, first base is usually a position that's got more veterans.

to it and those guys are you know typically i don't know if you call a lot of them underrated uh but iranda for me is a guy that's just not yet rated at all so get to know him because i think i think he might be an all-star this year i think if your if your baseball team plays the raise this year pretty much everyone walks away being like oh that guy that guy's a problem who's who would be the other raise all-star uh he might be an all-star it's cool other rays all-star god here here we are, 16 minutes in. I don't know. They have pitching options.

Like you could go that way. Brandon Lousa actually turned it on and second base is kind of thin this year. But we'll, let's save Ray's All-Star Talk for literally any other time. Other guys that we had on our sheet, Soderstrom, for me, that's a little bit like, let's see just a little bit more,

although he's been fantastic this year. Kind of the same for Torkelson. But he's been like one of the, the stories of baseball, like the Tigers and won one pick. And then Josh Naylor, like I don't know, I feel like Josh Naylor is exact. In my head, Josh Naylor is Josh Naylor? He's a one of one. And when he went to the dimebacks, what did we say? That's the perfect fit for him. Like Cleveland, like, wasn't the best fit for him. I know he had success there. Yeah. But like he needed like some energy. Like I just think of Scottsdale. Yeah. And Josh Naylor just working to.

together. I don't know about Cleveland and Josh Naylor. Just hair. Obviously did good there, but. Hair flowing in the streets of Scots, Vegas. Second base. This one gets, this one's not as clean, coach. So I left this one open on our sheet because I've marked the rest of them. I don't really have a good answer here. So I want you to maybe convince me.

My first thought in this for some reason was Glaber Torres. So Treve, how about this? We can pick one of pop. This might surprise people, and maybe we should be tidy here, because no one really jumped out of like, hey, you got to watch this guy. For me, it's kind of the glove and the bat. It's Nico Horner and it's Glaber Torres.

Like, Nico Horner, this offseason was trade rumors. It was, does he fit the Cubs and blah, blah, and he's got no homers, and we get sucked into that. But he might be the best defensive second baseman, and he's hitting like $2.90, which that still matters to me. That means when he's at the plate, there's a chance he's going to get a hit a lot more than other guys. And then Glaber, dude, it's like reverse Yankeitis where he's kind of hit every year. Obviously, the defense isn't what he majors in, but he's kind of balling out this year.

And he's always been able to hit. Let's do it this way for me. If we had the name guys who like, who would you want on your team? We can't obviously name the top second baseman. You can't name Catele Martin. Right. Is the answer, Bryce Terrang? It's interesting.

What he brings on a base pass, what he brings defensively. And right now his OPS Plus is like 96. So he's going to, like, he probably will end the year as a league average hitter. But my second baseman, I want to be able to field the ball. And I want you to cause havoc on the base pass a little bit. I think that's where I lean and what I want priority wise. I feel like Corner was to rank. before Terang

and now we talk about Bryce Terang a lot like he had the hot start last year that I don't know I feel again like there's a little Nico Horner fatigue when he might just rack up another five and a half war season and we don't talk about him like that so I'm putting Horner on my team get out of here

Glaber I already did that you go Nico I'm gonna go Bryce I just if I'm building a team of guys that we don't talk about enough I think I'm, I think Bryce is my second basement. You can have Nico, I'm down for that. We both have good second base. Good quality second baseman on this team.

Getting coached by counsel and Murphy the right way. I like where we landed there. And yeah, again, there wasn't too many sexy sex. People in St. Louis are like, what about Brendan Donovan? Yeah, I know. It is a little rude. Maybe our first tough one of the episode. We're going to have to leave some people out.

Keep St. Louis rowdy. Like, keep winning games. games just ruin the NL this here Cardinals let's go you know what I enjoy San Luis okay I think I would have been a hell of a Cardinal yeah you would have just like I want to do things the right way you'd have your own Pilsner right now what a loser I was just no fucking swag I tried people I'm gonna counter you on that Rob if you can get the picture of Trev in his first game that's that's the most swag you had um wearing the throw back uniform.

Oh, that's my first homer. That was your first homer. Excuse me. That was in Cleveland, the old time of uniforms. That's, swag was different. Carl Povano was pitching that game. And he was like, I'm not wearing these fucking uniforms.

They were so baggy. So he, he was Chris Dale before Chris Sail was he cut his sleeves. Nobody talks about that. Nobody told Carl Povano anything. He could do whatever he wanted. I know. need more of that. Everyone just tells

I miss guys like that. Okay, let's go to the left side of the infield and let's go to the hot corner. We'll finish with shortstop because I think we have the same guy. Who do you got at third? Because there were a lot of options here. Yeah, you know, going down the list right now of third basement, again, this is another position that's typically veterans and guys that have established themselves

maybe aren't underrated. They've just, they're rated the right way. The list of third baseman is interesting this year. I'm on fan graphs like third base page right now. Alex Bregman at the top of it as far as F-war. And then your guy, Esauk Pradesh, Jose Ramirez, Mani Machado. Then there's a couple guys there that I think we could pick for. Fifth and six and F-4 for third baseman this year are Zach McKinstree,

who's bounced around the field playing a little bit of outfield and third base. And then it's the pick that I think I'm going to go with. And it's Michael Garcia of the Kansas City Royals. One of the only royals that's actually doing things offensively. 308 on the year. Okay. Five homers. He's driven in 25.

He's got the 836 OPS. How about this, Jake? He's one of three players in Major League Baseball who has a 300 average and 10 stolen bases this year. The other two are Jose Ramirez and Trey Turner. Two of my guys. So I think Again, I think what you're going to say is I want to see more of it.

I want to see more. I understand that. I'm approaching this exercise as underrated this year. No, I, Trevor, I'm okay with it. I think I'm actually going to land there with you because, you know, the ESAC Paredes speech we've done before and dude, if he was, if he was playing at, what's a stadium with a big left field?

Yankee Stadium. Like, Issoc Perreides on Detroit or the Yankees? Like, he's a lesser ball player. So, hey, I'm happy for him. I'm happy for Houston. Josh Young with that thick neck, we just want to see him out there a little more. McKinstree is tricky because of the U-Till thing.

So I think I'm going to join you because for him, he was a guy that called up and people were pretty excited for. And there's times when he had the league. heat off spot, but it didn't really go his way. He's still a young ball player, and I guess the other thing that I'll drive home and put him on the team with, he's 25, like, he stole 37 bags last year. Like, if he was on the second baseman list, I think he might have gotten involved more there, so he's not your prototypical third baseman, but it looks like the lightbulbs gone

on. And I also like, I don't know, just believing in basic baseball stuff. like Bobby had it on the screen there. And hitters counts. He's raking this year. Yeah, that's got to be a good feeling as like a third year ball player in the league, recognizing pitchers and stuff a little bit more.

Yeah, I'll, uh... And the Jose Ramirez Trey Turner stat, yeah, that obviously does it for both of us. There's only two players right now with any at bats on the Royals that have an OPS plus over a hundred. Excuse me, Drew Waters is at 101. Thank you. but then it's Michael Garcia

and Bobby Whit Jr. They, and the City Royals fans, let me know about these seven caught stealings. What? He's got 10 bags and seven caught stealings. Maybe we should tame down the running a little bit. Maybe we slow it down a little bit.

I don't have the percentage in my head. You know, mass not my thing. Right. It's not good. And no, it's crazy. His percentages the previous years are incredible.

Career. I wonder if it's like a, what is that? Career 70 steals and 60. team caught stealing, which is really good, and that includes this year. I'm not sure. We'll get our Royals fans on that. And Royals fans, the standings are starting to get a little nervous. Can I tell you something? I'm looking at this, like Royals, like, you know, leaders in war. Bobby Witt's second on the team. Michael Garcia third,

number one, I think we'll probably talk about later. It's insane. That's called foreshadowing. Nice. Is it? Yeah. Yeah. A little tease, too. Tees. Anybody else we miss at third base before we move on? Not really, man. Third was, again, there's interesting arguments, but like our people know about ESOC parades because they're the best in the world

and they just hit the subscribe button. Before we do shortstop, the position you and I were both called up at. I don't tell the people about DirecTV. Today's episode is brought to you by DirecTV, the ultimate destination for baseball. fans. It brings you right into the heart of America's favorite pastime. Bottom of the night. Bases loaded. Your team star steps up and they got a big hit. Why not? With DirecTV's MLB coverage,

you can catch all of those amazing moments. And you don't need the satellite anymore, people. 2025 that if you're with Direc TV, take the roof off. You don't need the satellite. All summer take the tarp off. Baseball isn't a sport. It's a passion. Direct TV is your home for baseball, passion, the crack of the bat, all enjoy it from your living room. Head to directTV.com slash John Boyer, scan the QR code on the screen to learn more. The shortstop position, Trev, I'll bet, well, actually, no, I will bet lead off because I just did, I essentially did a whole Wake and Jake episode on this guy because I was shocked.

You like this part, Treve. I'm Memorial Day Sunday. I'm on my phone scrolling on Instagram, which is a problem in and of itself. But I see someone's Instagram story, and it says, are we ready to have the conversation? And I was like, what conversation? It's Geraldo Pardomo's agent who I follow on Instagram.

Because, again, my Instagram is one of the worst feeds you can possibly find. Nice guy, though, Rafah Nieves. And yes, he wants to talk about his young star shortstop. And I'm not ready to have the conversation of, you know, we're not elevating him over Bobby or I don't think Gunner yet or a lot of these guys. But it is going to be interesting to see where Perdomo lands at the end of the year if he continues like this, Trev, because he's fifth and F-WR of all players. Judge, Raleigh, PCA, and Otani.

Do we talk about those cats a lot? We do. How much have we talked about Pardomo? And dude, the contact and like all of these squared up percentage, whiff rate, the way he's controlling the zone is like only similar to Louisa Rice. And I think the only missing element to his game was power, and he's got the power swing going a little bit this year, that, okay, for all underrated, it's how much for me,

How much do we talk about you? Where do we think you are on the pantheon of your position? Dude, this guy's 25. I didn't kind of realize that because he's been, they're starting shortstop now for his fourth year. And like last year, he racked up three and a half, four in 98 games. So it all kind of makes sense

that if he's taken even a slight leap offensively, where is he among shortstop? If he's taken a big leap offensively, watch out. You and I have the same guy. I also picked Perdomo. It's fun to watch him play. And right now currently, you want to talk about Bobby Witt and Perdomo.

They're tied for 2.8 F4. Right? At the top of the position. Yeah, you're right. You mentioned all the things. He's, he not only does he not whiff, but he also walks too. I think a lot of times when you are contact oriented, you don't walk as much. And those things don't necessarily go hand in hand.

but he does. His walk percentage is there and he added a little bit of bat speed this year so that's where a little bit of the increased power came from still below average bat speed but that is also typical of a guy that has a good contact rate. So you don't need to do everything

on a baseball field. You need to do the things that you can do, do them to the best of your ability. I think that like suits Perdomo to a T. The guy can go play defense. He's steady there. He's going to give you quality. at bats. It's one of the things that they talked about. His GM had a quote about him. Mike Hazen

was saying, the people that should be most excited about us signing Perdummo to the extension is Cotel Marte and Corbyn Carroll, because he turns the lineup over. He gets tough at bats in front of them. So when they get up, you know, he's on base. The pitcher's just, you know, gone through a tough of bat, maybe off his kilter a little bit. So he's been incredible this year. He's He was a fun guy to follow last year and kind of like I would just call him a steady Eddie at shortstop. But this year is taking it to a whole new level. So I agree.

And I also have Geraldo Perdomo is my pick as the underrated shortstop. He's been amazing. And yeah, in April, he actually hit second a chunk. They moved him back down in the lineup. You know, I normally knock guys. If you're down in the lineup a little bit, I call it the Eddie Rosario effect. because I think being in the middle of the lineup and guys, you know, you're part of the biggest threats

of every four times through, but it's part of their strategy is almost to move them down. And Trev, my last little thing to a little bit of lead in your pencil, 33 walks, 25 strikeouts. You know I love that. I know you love that. So the shortstop position is interesting to me because there are a couple guys we could have talked about.

I think Jacob Wilson is such a fun watch, but we do talk about him a lot. And I think a lot of people know his game and understand his game. He could be a pick, and I would have no problem with that. I can't wait to go. I'm going to Sacramento. I'm going to go watch him play in person. Done it already at Dodger Stadium about he's one of my favorite new players.

So check him out if you have it. Did you befriend him on Instagram? I did. He did not. It's not reciprocal yet, coach. You'll see him on the field. It'll be cool. I am off social media.

No, you're not. I saw your ball. ever going to be able to. It's like a ball. I saw your ball in play post last night. That was good. You did great. That was tough for me.

I know. You're not a natural. You're a genuine. Where's our intern, Molly? You got it. We'll get her your social handle. One guy I want to talk about that before I move on. Do I think might be the actual answer here is Jeremy Pena.

It's just consistent production. Again, he's another guy that kind of just like does everything. at the shortstop position that you want. And I guess because the Astros have had success and because he got off to such a fast start, so we talked about him a lot, his rookie year, maybe that's why we're kind of like not interested in calling him

underrated because maybe he is rated and it is whatever. He's won a Gold Glove. He's won a World Series MVP. He was an ALCS MVP. you know he just i mean he's already racked up 15.6 career war people um just consistently here's here's the here's the here's the war numbers for jeremy pain yeah dude 5.0 his rookie year then a 3-9 then a 4-1 and he's already got 2-7 this year that's a star player like that's not like an average that's not above average. Those are star numbers right there. If you're doing that consistently at the

shortstop position, you're a star. And I don't know if we talk about Jeremy Payne by that. Should I change my freaking answer? I think the thing for Peña, who was a candidate for this, he's up to his offensive profile. Like a lot of the stuff we said about Perdomo, we could have said about Peña. Perdomo's offensive peripherals look like they have a chance to be special. I think Pena has turned the knob up this year, but it's where does that land? Because the defense has always been

there, and he's incredible on that side. But, you know, like, it's been a very league average bat the past couple years that, again, he's 27. He could have added more to it that, yes, if he has, I think if he plays like he

has this year, I think he's a star. If he plays like he has the past couple years, I think it's like, hey, you have a very good shortstop and it's not a worry for you. A four-war player? Right, but that doesn't carry you. Pena, that player doesn't carry you.

It's very good. Go around the league and see on each team how many four-war players they have. It's probably going to be one per team. Yes, but also I think shortstop war gets cooked and we need to have a conversation about it. Oh, okay. No, I'm not having this conversation.

Do you think I-KF's a star? Does he put up four war seasons every year? At shortstop he has. I'm going to go look right now and tell you what kind of war Icaf is putting up. I mean, he was a gold Glover and an All-Star at one point, wasn't he? Yes. If you play quality... Hold on. Hold on, because now you're making me think, hold on.

I know. This is... Okay, first of all, he's never been a four-war player. He had one season of a three-nine in Texas in 2021. Okay, three-nine. I'm sorry. so off on that. But that's,

it's been... Okay, they had a 3-6 in 2024. Like, we're not... I guess that's what I'm saying. Like, at shortstop, if you play a quality shortstop, it's easier to get to four-war there than a lot of other positions.

And now... Yeah, because it's hard as shit. It's an extremely valuable defensive position. You know, I know. It's where we got called up. I'm just saying there's some guys that have a four-war corner outfield position with an 870 OPS that I

do think can be more valuable. More hitter oriented. I get it. That will be more all around. Let's not have this debate right now. I'm deciding if I'm going to change my answer to Jeremy Pena or not, and I'm going to take 10 seconds to do it. Can I throw you off in the next 10 seconds? Yeah.

Because C.J. Abrams should have been mentioned this whole time too. For some reason, we're overlooking him. And part of it is because of the defense. I think we talk about him a lot. I think we talk about C.J. Abrams a lot. We did. And then we stopped. Remember how weird the end of last year got?

Where he kind of got kicked off the team. And also... With me and him were out in the casinos together. Also his defense. Like we've talked about... We saw some of the clips and it's like, okay, maybe he doesn't stick there. Dude, 884 OPS. People, the Nationals fans were mad and I said, I just watched him play.

It looks fine. They're like, I had one guy send me all the miss plays. That's stuff. Like, dude. Hey, and you want to... CJ Abrams age, 24. What if he's gotten better? Three, two, one,

Geraldo Perdomo. Okay, okay. I, uh, dude, again, Abrams, what he's doing this year, he's in 294 right now, an 884 OPS. So again, shout out.

The glove, and we haven't talked about those, those pesky gnats a ton, this year and they're good. If we talk, okay, if we're going to mention everybody, Mason, Wynn, Cardinals fans, I know, we know about-Cardinals fans pissy. That's my new model. We know about Mason Wynn. He's had a great year. That's how Ali Marmal wants the boys playing. You know that. The Cardinals are underrated as a team. Yes, there are underrated team. Except for Katie Wu. She's a star. Let's put that in the bottom of the graphic with just like a little asterisk. All underrated team Cardinals. Because we glossed over Brendan Don.

I know. Mason wins out. Oh, if Libertora doesn't make this freaking team, I'm out. Oh, boy. Let's head towards the outfield and some of the guys that throw the ball. Trev, where do you want to go in outfield? This gets a little tricky because we always like to highlight a centerfielder. We do kind of have them separated center left and right. I guess of these guys who jumped off the most for you.

So, okay. interesting to me because I have one guy that's played primarily left field that I want to highlight on my team. Yeah. Because I do think this guy is underrated. I think he's a quality ball player that kind of gets overlooked, maybe because of stature, maybe because he played for the Cardinals. You're going to stature us right now. You've got a good style. If I said stature and with good style, I think there's two guys that talking baseball,

fans will be like, all right, he plays outfield, stocky, good style. Maybe the first one they would think of is, like, maybe as a joke, Tyler O'Neill, right? Yeah. Because we've joked about his. He had a rookie outfit. We need to move past it. We got to burn. Okay.

We need to bring that up as much. It's an outfit you don't move past very easily. Yeah. This guy, like, people might hate his style. But like, I think if, like, you're a stylish person, you like his style. I'm going with Harrison Bader. I think that there are times, Jake, where he's carried an offense. He did it for the twins earlier this year.

He did it for the Yanks and the playoffs in 2020. They didn't make the playoffs in 2023. 2022. He did a bunch of homers. This year, what I like about him is he is a well-rounded baseball player. There's going to be games where he can carry a team offensively for a week or whatever. He's kind of a streaky in that way where he can get some. bombs fine but he's going to run the base as well and he's going to play a banger of an outfield

he's going to play defense as well so that's why that's why i like him obviously i watch him a ton because i'm at the fall of the twins but when when buck has been out or carlos craya has been out like this is a guy that you can lean on like almost like a veteran presence as well i don't think he's ever really got the flowers that that he deserves the numbers on overall in the or offensively. They're okay. 276, five homers, 21 runs given, 720 OPS. But again, like, the way he plays left field, like he's just, he's all over the place out there, man.

Going and getting it, and again, on the base pass as well. So I feel like this guy's never really gotten his due. So I'm going to go with Harrison Bader in that field. Yeah, his, I like it. I think this is your kind of first veteran. And it's a really good example because, you know, I think when he was coming up with St. Louis, the defense has always been there, and it's amazing. Watching him play center field and now left field, it's a different level.

Like, very few people in the game have ever played that level of defense. That you're right, like the base running's there, which obviously is part of the speed and defense thing. It is just a great point that he can get hot. I know. It's streaky. But a lot of the players that you think about of the Harrison Bader ilk aren't guys that do that. You're thinking, like, I don't, an Ender in Ciarte, like someone who could just go and get it in the outfield

and play gold glove level defense out there, not a lot of them have the party trick of being able to get hot for two weeks in the bag where, you know, Bader's end of year numbers, you know, career he ends up. up around league average, with a lot of that being really hot or really cold, I don't know if he should be docked for that when a lot of players with his defensive skill have less of an offensive profile. Yeah, I think that he's not, you don't bring him on the team to carry your offense, but

for parts of a year, he can. Yeah. But you have a steady outfielder who's going to, I play the game aggressively. I also think that rubs off on the rest of your team and call that whatever you want. You can say that's bullshit, but it's true. You got a guy playing like that.

It inspires people to play a little bit harder. Yeah. And he's been a good leader for them. He, uh, his, and he's also had some injury history and stuff that I, it's a great pick, Trev. And his 162 game average coming off the conversation we just had, he averages three war.

So if he's out there for a buck 62, he plays at a very plus level. level. Just there's some offensive inconsistencies. Great pick coach. Proud of you. Hey, I went a little, this guy has been splitting his time exactly between left and right, and he's just been a star of this season. Kyle Stowers. He's my picking right. I know, I know, and that's fine. That'll stir the pot even more.

And Trev, you asked my young guys and how am I going to grade them, blah, blah, blah. You know, Stowers, this is his first breakout. He's 27 years old. He's kind of been a negative leading up until this point. He was part of the Baltimore player generator crew of, okay, here's another like young, blondeish outfielder. I don't know. They're all like top 15 prospects.

It feels like the breakouts happen, man. His offensive numbers, 300 batting average, 369 on base, a 528 slug. where he stands in those categories are with the elite of baseball. That, yes, young guy, 27, it's 50 games. You could do that with a lot of guys. And I'm just not going to do it with him. He's gotten the opportunity to play,

which, you know, when we revisit this Baltimore kind of era of baseball and let's see some of the next steps of it, he's one that could look very interesting. You know, we did this with Joey Ortiz a lot last year, who hasn't necessarily been playing up to that level this year. Stowers, he's been playing a 244 weighted runs created plus has him third of MLB right-fielders behind Judge and Tucker. He's been one of the best players in baseball, end of story.

Yeah, I mean, he's my right-fielders. We put it on the sheet there. He's an interesting one because he has made some adjustments. And as a hitter, I think there are some things he does really well. And he, like, figured that out and made these adjustments. He's got elite bat speed. But he was kind of like, he wasn't up in the box, but he was a little further up in the box last year.

So he moved back in the box. And he was a guy that was kind of getting beat, like deep. He wasn't getting the head out on the ball, even with that bat speed. So he moved back in the box. He's catching the ball out a little bit more out in front. He's still a guy that drives the ball, left-hand hitter drives the ball, to left center. And he's doing interesting stuff with the Velo machines because he got beat on fastballs

last year. He just didn't hit him. So he moved back in the box, gives you a little bit more time, a little bit more recognition phase. But he's doing these drills. And this is what I tell people all the time. There's one thing that you can do to combat what we're seeing in Major League Baseball now with pitchers.

You have to Velo train. You have to go high VLO train. Whether that, if you want to swing at it, swing at it great. They have the foam balls now. so you don't just get your hands blown up. But at least you got to track it. So he's been doing this drill this year that's really helped him where he's like cranking the machine up to 100 miles an hour.

And then he's not standing 60 feet, six inches away. He's getting close. Like he's getting up there like 50 feet away. And he'll take swings there and just, you know, kind of get his timing at that speed. And then he'll move it back to 60 feet, six inches. And you can imagine, you know, what that would do to you. If you get your timing down for a fastball that's coming at you really closely at that speed,

and then you just move back 10 feet, you feel like it's slow. You feel like you have all the time in the world to see it. And that's the feeling that he has at the plate right now. That's why he was able to take. I think we're showing the Mason Miller Grand Slam, the walk off right here. Yeah. That's how you can do that against the guy throwing 101. He's just, he's practicing it.

And he's reap the benefits of it. So I like tangible changes that turn into results. And here he is, man. And, you know, look, I bet he was pissed when he got traded from the Orioles saying, like, I want to be part of this club because this has got a great group of players and we're going to win for quite some time. Well, the Orioles stink this year. And he's gotten off to such a good start. I know Miami's not, you know, running the league or anything, but he's done a good job with where he's at in the circumstances, making these adjustments.

So I'm all in on him. Shout out, Sal Freelick, we need a brewer on the list always. Or excuse me, I jumped to right field again. In left field, Kevin Lux continues to be good as he gets moved around the baseball field. Jordan Beck, one of your few Rockies options could have got some love here. And anytime I see Miguel Anduhar on a list, I get a little jazzy. I think James Wood is another one here. I think people are starting to really talk about him and the things that he's done.

So I think he could have been, I think he's still underrated. So we could have put him here, but for some reason I feel like he's getting talked about enough right now. I have someone with that that I underrated, because James Wood, the big guy and like it's kind of happening if you're in baseball. Dude, Wyatt Lankford is just happening. And people kind of aren't talking about him enough. But it's kind of weird because if you are in baseball,

those guys are like massive prospects that are playing well. So there's not a ton of. but I guess on a more national level, which I guess we are. Yeah, every time I look at Langford stats, I'm like, he's killing it. Same thing with Wood, though. Same thing with Wood.

Who's your right fielder? Okay, let's get the corners down. This one, I'll be high and tight on this one. I can't believe where Wheelyer-Arae's stats are still. I know it became a joke early on this season. I know every time we talk Red Sox and we see his name, we do the same exact speech. it's nuts, bro, for how much we talk about Bregman

and how much we talk about Devers and how much we talk... And those guys are killing it. But, you know, and now there's a lot of talk about the kids. They want to bring up all the kids and... Dude, Williur Abraeu is insane. The slugging's still in the fives? Like, that's supposed to be rare air. That's supposed to be all-star level.

And he does everything else too. So I'm high and tight with it. Weillier-A-R-Breyu continues to not be discussed enough. I like it. The only reason I didn't pick him is I feel like we do talk about, we talk about it a lot of time.

We do that speech every time. I mean, he's a reason why we're not seeing a Roman Anthony up there. Like they don't really have room right now because their outfiters have been playing well on the Red Sox. That's going to be interesting to see what the hell they do, Chris.

Or I call you guys. Whoa. Whoa. Hey. And the show. it's going to be interesting to see what they do where the Red Sox is going to go people they clearly have a need they can't they don't have the starting pitching right now

and people like every Red Sox fan we need these guys up Marcella Meyer is now because of Alex Brebben getting hurt we need Roman Anthony's like is he going to change the outlook of your team like you I mean there's a lot of things they got to do like Trevor Story's not going right now they had to figure out what the hell is going on with him

but to bring Roman Anthony up means you need to move one of those guys Raphaelah who's one of the best center fielder's defensively in the game they got to figure some stuff out I don't know but William Bray is great pick I just think we talk about him enough I think I think you're right I think we do but I genuinely think we're kind of like the only people that do you know someone told me hey a good comp for him is Bobby Abrae you I'm like okay hey man if that's your comp like that's a good player Bobby abrey who's one of those, like if we appreciated

on-base percentage earlier, he's probably... I'm gonna go look at, I'm gonna go look at his pay. I don't know if I've been to a Bobby Abrae. You're about to have like a panic attack of how... I know Bobby. But you don't. 60 career war? Is he not...

Is he a steroid guy? No. He's just a pre... He's like one of the last on-base percentage guys. We didn't appreciate. And because he was a little rotund, I think people, also didn't appreciate it.

So if he had 12 more homers, he'd be a 300 homer, 400 stolen base guy? Trev, he's like, oh, Jolly Olive should be in the Hall of Fame guy. He's so close to all the round numbers. Oh my gosh. That's where I almost tell you, like, don't compare Wheelier-A-Brayo to him because that's... Bobby Abraeus is like a lot of 400 OBP years, no doubt about it. A career 395. from the day he touched an MLB field,

he got on base at a 400 clip. All right. I got to do more research on this. I got to get in my Bobby Urbrew stats. Okay. Finishing off the corners, as I mentioned, Sal Freela could have got some luck. Carrie Carpenter, I think people,

if you know, you know. McKinstree's on this list at like every position, so maybe we need to put him with the Cardinals asterisk. You're a cardinal. Yeah. He kind of seemed like a cardinal. A little bit. He probably was there.

Now, Centerfield, Trev. I think rounding off, we are doing D.H. And a couple pitchers, but Centerfield, where'd you go? This one was easy to me.

There's a guy out there in Los Angeles who's just flying under the radar. Not if you're here, not if you're in L.A. And not if you're a big Cuban baseball player fan like I am. But it's Andy Pahease, man. Right now, among center fielers he's fourth in f4 the guys in front of him are pete car armstrong who's like

holding the cubs ransom for whatever money he wants so like yeah we'll still talk to you about contract extensions can you imagine if you're a guy and the the billion dollar enterprise that you work for is like yeah yeah what do you want how many millions do you want like that's got to be 85 you already offered you 80 but that's not enough you want more trev you know what i can't imagine that. I can't either. I was so close. Never got to that point.

So PCA shout out. Byron Buxton, who if you've watched the Twins this year, you could have. You know that he's been awesome and the player that, you know, he can be when he's healthy. He's about to come back off the IEL. Julio Rodriguez, he's gotten off to, you know, a better start than typical offensively, but his defense is always going to be there. He's got such a great floor. He's another one of those guys, Jake.

if you're not going to call let's just rewind get hot dude get hot if you're not going to call Jeremy Pena a star you can't call Julio Rodriguez a star well I think the past couple years he hasn't played like one I think that's part of the problem he's been another guy that's like

a five war four and a half war player and you can say oh center field you don't know how to do all this we're saying the same thing Rodriguez is a star Julio landed at 4.3 war last year he needs to do more if he needs to be the star he needs to be more if he's the guy that you walk into the Seattle airport and you see those husky eyes.

But he is that guy. He is that guy. He should be. He's handsome. He is handsome. He's handsome. Oh, and how come you didn't say that about Bobby Abraeu? Bobby Abraeu?

We weren't, we were talking about... You just looked at his page. You didn't say he was handsome. And Jeremy Pena is handsome. Is handsome. Isn't that interesting? Maybe that's where it's... Connection.

Andy Pyes to me, you've got a 1-7 war. He's behind those three dudes. He's ahead of Jung. Lee, your Cody Bellinger, Riley Green. I mean, I know Jackson Merrill missed a bunch of time. He's probably going to surpass him quickly because he's an absolute stud. The things that he's done on the field this year for the Dodgers, he's moved up and down the lineup, 271, nine homers,

31 runs driven in for the 772 OPS in center field. He's getting it done defensively as well, 92nd percentile an ounce above average. He just kind of, he's been doing everything right. I like this stat right here. He's seen eight plus pitches, Jake, 12 times this season in a plate appearance. That's tied for fourth most in the National League.

You see him, he moves around a little bit, but he's played some center field this year. So I got him as my underrated center fielder. Dodgers move everyone around. Yeah, Pahas has a great pick. I still remember the talking baseball all year. He's like, James Altman, how good is this guy? And I mean, Pahas has basically taken his spot.

And I know Alman had his own strike. so he had some opportunities. But Pahez has been great for them. He's a good pick. I just went, I genuinely think this guy is underrated, and he's a sneaky part of when this team is successful. T.J. Friedel. T.J. Friedel, I don't know.

Does anyone talk T.J. Friedel? Listed 5-8-180, so we're going to have to look into that a little bit. We're going to have to look into that. that a little bit. Funky batting stance, which again, that should be in the pro column. But dude, 2023, when the Reds got our attention, 279, 352 and 819 OPS. He kind of like secured their leadoff spot. He kind of has an old school leadoff field to him. Last year he got hurt. He only plays 85 games. In those games, he's kind of limited. Doesn't live up to the billing. like enter the Reds have entered the chat this year 52 games 1.3 war 299 381 a 794 OPS so um i i just tj

friedel i don't know who's talking about him uh but man he's kind of your traditional leadoff get on base center fielder that i i traditionally love those guys so yeah a little is that a little breck gardner a little bit right for you like a little bit okay the center field position is always interesting you know i'm looking right now at the fangress like leaderboard page and pete crows just run away with everything basically he's he's the talk of the town right now but everybody else is kind of lumped up there there's some good players there but you know tj fredel's 11th in war right now but you know his 1.4 war is only 0.5 away from number two baron boston right everyone's

lumped up there so i'm i'm in for that. And you know what, Reds? Get it freaking going. I'm about to do a show with Chris Rose after that. He's going to ask me about the Reds and like, can they take down the Cubs? Yeah, I think they can. Are they going to? History would say no. Like, I think they can and Frito will be a big part of that. Trev. One, if you ever call me Chris again, you're out. That's tough. Two, four. Another Cardinal? We forgot. Eight of the, yeah, Victor Scott. eight of the 10

AL and NL Central teams are 500 and better. The Central is alive and well. It's a central world. The Reds and the Brewers are up to 500, so let's see. Let's... Victor Scott, keep running those bases, playing that defense.

We see you. We see you. Let's get a little more. How about Jake Myers? My guy, Trent Grisham. Havi Baez is all we talk about. I thought you were going Trent Grisham. I just, I think the other shoe may drop. I like Trent. Hate that saying.

Okay. Honestly, I almost put Cody on this list because I think he's going to be, the past month or so, he's back to like 900 OPS. Like Cody Bellinger might be back to an area of baseball players that he's been kicked out of. Let's see a little more. All you guys talk about is to Yankees. Let's do D.H. quick. You got a fun one here, though.

I'm going with my guy Gavin Sheets of the San Diego Padres I'm going and really I'm basing it on this year I feel like we've kind of been going back and forth on that whether you're underrated for your career or not but I'm going for I'm going for this year

because it really has not happened for him prior to this year 2003 598 OPS 2004 660 OPS he got to San Diego he was with the white socks before. Yeah.

So think about the difference in just showing up to the ballpark. Yeah. No offense to the south side in Chicago. Love Chicago. It's one of my favorite cities in all of America. But I'm talking about the vibe, man. You got Ozzy Gion just talking shit about you after every single game. You're one of the worst teams in baseball history.

And then you go to San Diego and it's like, dude, it's the test. Oasteroone running through that clubhouse is crazy. Was there a fight in the clubhouse? Sure. There was. Ben Verlana reported that. Oh. There was a fight in the clubhouse of the

Sandy O'Padres. Well, no duh, bro. What alas. Every day. You should want that in the clubhouse. But the reason I picked him, this year, obviously it's going well for him. He's slugging.

He's got 10 homers on the year, which is already a career high for him. He had 10. the previous two years. A 268, 803 OPS. The reason I picked him is he's kind of been a consistent threat for him when some of the other guys who are supposed to be that haven't been that. When Mani Machado has struggled, Gavin Sheets has been there.

So he has been a batter who I think Padres fans will tell you have been keeping them afloat. He's some really massive hits for them as well. So like, I don't know. There's some guys here that maybe have a better track record that maybe overall in their career we should rate a little bit higher, so maybe they're more underrated.

But for some reason, this year, Gavin Sheets has just done it, man. He's just done it, and he's, he's been a big part of why San Diego is still there in the NLS, still there in the playoff picture. I know it's early on, but he looks, he looks different this year. He looks apart.

It sounds obnoxious to say, but it's a little bit of what we need to do sometimes, because otherwise we're just reading stats off a sheet. Like, Sheets looks great. Yeah. And I didn't realize, just clicked on, I didn't know he was a baseball lineage guy. His dad, Larry Sheets was an MLB ball player.

He always looked hitterish, and maybe he just needed to wash the white socks off. Dude, so on four seamers last year, he hit 231 and slugged 385. On four seamers this year, he's hitting 33-slugging 750. Hard hit percentage went from 40 and a half, to 61. He's, hey, I'm going to mash the fastball. That to me tells me he's just got the juice

from the locker room. I'm, I know, I know you're being real. I know you're being real. That's some analytics. And I think there's something to it that, you know, when we shove those nerds in the lockers, they wouldn't like it. The other DH options, I feel like our guys we do talk, I mean, Wilmer Flores has become a star of this show. Manzardo, you were on early. Pavin Smith and Ben Rice, they both have similar arguments. I, Treve, I went slightly off the board slash this guy has played a lot of DH with a little first in corner outfield. Ryan O'Hern.

Ryan O'Hern has been one of the best hitters in baseball this year. And he's from against Ritey's. He's done it the past few seasons at a very solid level. I mean, this year he's just, you know, I don't like saying bad words. He's just Gadsukes. 340 batting average, a 428 on base. 985 OPS. He's up there with the elite.

And Baltimore, I know it's already been a tough year, and I don't know if I'd be tuning into the program. A, he's been hitting lefties a little bit, 321 batting average, 4.06 on base. So a lot of bit. It's a limited sample. Free agent after the year, in a trade deadline where we're wondering how many jimmies and joes are going to get moved uh... Ryan O'Hern, who doesn't get talked about, like a 985 OPS guy,

that's what he's been doing this year. He could be one of the bigger, bigger dudes moved at the deadline. I like that. I like that a lot. I got another guy that I think is, I think he is underrated, the D.H. I think it's Say Susuki. Yeah, he's like a, he's like a,

car of people know his name, but I think he is underrated. He's a, he's a, everyone. like, yeah, he's good. And it's like, no, he's great. So, yes, underrated. Let's do the arms. We head to the arm farm. It's brought to you by T-Mobile.

Today's episode of Talking Baseball. It's brought you by T-Mobile. The network we trust, whether you're home at the ballpark or on the road. And we are on the road. Trev's coaching the youth. Someone has to. And luckily, he was on T-Mobile to show them,

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Thank you to our friends at T-Mobile. Trev, I'll let you run at the arms because it's a little bit of a sicko conversation always with the pitchers. We're going to go through this quick. You know how I like to do it. My underrated starter, we're going to go with, another reason I like this guy.

Well, I'm going with Chris Bubik. But a reason I like this guy is because he's done whatever the team has asked him to do. It's been a starter. Last year he was out of the bullpen. This year he's a starter again. Crafty, lefty, I guess I'll call him. He doesn't overpower you with his stuff.

But he does throw four pitches over 13% of the time. So it's tough to game plan for him. He throws them all for strikes and just keeps you, you know, keeps you guessing up there. Like I said, when you have a guy that can throw all those pitches for strikes, It's just hard to sit on anything. Got a 1-4-5 this year, Jake. That's second in all of Major League Baseball.

His breaking pitches are absolutely nasty. And I was talking about the guy that leads the Kansas City Royals in War, not Bobby Witt Jr. It's this guy. 3.1 B-Wore. It's going to be interesting to see what they do with, like, innings and stuff. He's like an older guy and a veteran who has started before.

But again, you know, you know, he, it's the first time he's thrown 31, more than 31 innings in a season since 2022. He's already got 68 innings this year. So I'm curious to see how that all goes. But he has had to step it up with Lugo and Reagan's on the IL. He's been a guy for them all season long. So I'm going to boobie. It's a great pick. He's been fantastic. You mentioned crafty, lefty. He's got some of the best breaking ball in all speed, which that's traditionally how we, how we think about. Stanford guy too.

That guy. Oh, appear. Treve, I don't, you know, we discussed doing two starting pitching. I have two guys from the same team, and I'll let you dictate how you want this to come out. Because David Peterson's on our sheet, and I'm like, you know what? I kind of love him, and I've always wondered why he doesn't get talked about better. Another pitch-mixed guy, he throws everything. And now the past two years, he's just been fantastic.

Third in the NL and ground ball percentage. Again, a little bit of just the crafty lefty. Like, yeah, the Velo doesn't blow you away. But guys don't hit the ball hard against them. And they hit it on the crown, which is a really good recipe. If you combine the past two years now, Peterson, 13 and 5, 31 games started, a 287. Like, that's elite that David Peterson doesn't get talked about on that level. And the other one that you might throw the challenge flag,

but if we're putting two on the graphic, give me Senga. Yeah. Dude, we talk about the Mets starting pitch, and we're like, Clay Holmes is a starter now, and hey, Griffin Canning came over from the Angels. And look at this. Senga has a 146 ERA this year, the best of the NL.

So, dude, I can hit you on the Mets angle. Like, how much do we talk about Yamamoto? Sanga, we lost him for a year after his, his 298 ERA and 29 starts. He's back doing it again. He has the best ERA plus. He has the best at not allowing home runs. That's amazing.

We don't talk about him with the other NL elite that I'm messing up, baby. Okay. I see where you went with that. That's kind of what we talked about during the show. I feel like he's rated and everyone knows he's really good, but maybe he's better than people think. I mean for that one. I'm going to go with my second one.

with Matthew, another lefty, Matthew Libertor. So I am going to get a car. On the sheet. Another guy that's kind of gone back and forth between the bullpen and being a starter. He started in 2023, 11 games. Last year, six games, but he appeared in 60.

So, you know, some of the opener stuff, some spot starts, whatever. This year, he's been exclusively a starter. 10 games, 10 games started, 273 ERA. Another guy who, he didn't. He didn't really change his pitch mix too much between, you know, the bullpen and where he's at now. But another guy that has, you know, five pitches that he throws for strikes. Very tough the game plan for.

And, you know, you can talk about Sunny Gray and some of the guys in that Cardinals rotation. But the season that he's having is a reason why the Cardinals have gotten off to a fast start the way that they have. So we've got to get one Cardinal on here. Got to get one Cardinal with the asterisk. I like to pick from our sheet, Tyler Mali, snubbed. Part of the reason if you hear this tone in our voice and you have no idea why, there's so many directions you can go with the pitchers.

And that's why, Trevor, do you want to, how do you, I'll let you pick the top two relievers you want, and then I'll take the other. I'm going to go with one. Okay. And I'm going to, I'm going to homer it up. Oh, Danny Coulom.

He's on the IL right now, but he's one of two relievers in all of baseball right now. that has not allowed a freaking earned run this season. It's good. With more than 16 innings pitch. That's the caveat. So he's,

you know, guys that have actually thrown the ball. And he's nasty. No, he doesn't throw hard. Who cares? He doesn't throw hard, but he's going to make you swing and miss.

He's got the nasty awesome stuff. And he's been around the game for quite some time. Where the heck did I play with Danny Kulam? I think he was the ace. Okay. We'll get on that. I'm going to have to figure that out because I'm, you know,

I'm going to win horse you. a little bit. Hey, you know, we talk about guys not throwing hard. You know what's hard? 90 miles per hour. Like, yes, he doesn't throw as hard as some other major leaguers. It's still really hard to hit. It was the A's, by the way. Nice, trust. Good memory. Look at you. Um, you know what? I'm going to Mets this whole thing. Give me Brazo Bonn. He's been one of the best relievers in baseball. And he's thrown a ton of innings out of the bullpen. 32.1. So I'm just going Mets bullpen. I'm going Mets pitching factory the whole damn way. What about my guy, my bullpen?

I know. Oh, Randy Rodney is. We're a hitter show. Will Vest is so good. Pitching Ninjas got you for the pitchers. And subscribe to John Boy Media. Oh, we love pitching ninja. He actually sent me like a baseball player light hoodie.

That's become a new workout shirt for me. Nice. Why can't we shout other people? Hugs the right areas. We can. You know what that shows? You know what that shows? Yeah.

confidence. I like pitching ninja. I'm making a goof. Hey, you guys let us know who you have on your all underrated teams. So many good players in baseball. A gray area. Trev has his team up there. Narvaez, Oranda, Terang, Perdomo, Garcia, Bader,

Pages, Stowers, Bubich, Liberatore, Danny Colum, Gavin Sheets. And I have Moreno, Hoskins, Horner, Perdomo Garcia Stowers, Friedel, Libreou, Peterson, Senga, Brausoban O'Hern. Let's do our Draft Kings bet the cycle to get the people on their way through Hump Day. Second half of the week, always. It's brought to you by Draft Kings. Use code jam baseball when you sign up at the Draft King Sportsbook.

Trev, I don't know if you know this. We sneaky crushed. We crushed it last week. Three for, okay, you do know. Three for four. single, our double, and are triple. So this is what we're trying to tell you, people. Get in on the action at Draft Kings tastefully.

You want to lead off or go two-hole this week, big boy? I'm over a two-hole guy. Yeah, you are. I'm a freedole. This week, our single, Manny Machado, one plus total bases Friday, total base, base eye, Friday versus the Pirats, three homers in his last five games.

A multi-hit game in four of the last seven. Mani Machado won total basis. You could juice that and make it a triple if you needed. But we're just getting the single we're getting on. For the double, this one's an interesting one. This seems like it should be maybe further down the line. We're going to go for it. Chris Sale records seven or more K's and goes six or more innings pitched on Thursday against the Phillies.

He had a rough start earlier on in this season against the Phillies, but he's cleaned up the mechanic since then. he's gone six and two there's innings pitched or more in four of his last five outings and he's recorded seven plus Ks in four of his last five outings and possibly no Bryce Harper

in the Phillies lineup which should be interesting so that's our double for the triple this one is a triple just because it's more do or die which sometimes that's a triple that's that ball in the gap

that you're getting there or you're not the Astros to score one plus run in the first inning on Sunday versus Taj Bradley. Taj Bradley has allowed 12 runs on 11 innings pitch in the first, so if you get them, that's the time to.

Outside of that, his numbers have been pretty good. But what makes this a triple? The Astros ranked 30th in runs scored in the first inning. So that's actually what we're trying to buck here a little bit. Jose Al-Tuvra went four-for-four last night, got his game up. I think he hit a home or two. Watch out.

Two homers. He had two. He happens in a hurry. sometimes and hopefully the Astros. What is he hitting now? He was hitting first and he's like to take too long. I think he's in third now. I can get that for you.

This one I like for our home run. I like this a lot. I might sprinkle on this right now. Both Aaron Judge and Shohei Otani to hold on Sunday night baseball. Okay. Okay, a little drama. I don't got to tell you,

these guys can hit freaking homers. They both, I believe, are top three and all of baseball Otani with 20 and Judge that bum only has 18 Oh I'm sorry I'm just kidding I love Judge Easy easy

Easy puppy Judge is my new Jeter Where I have to bring him down Because everybody else is bringing them up It's a great entertainment pick Make sure you guys Use code J.M. Baseball Bet $5 and if your bet wins

So again we've been doing kind of good on these $5 you'll score $300 in bonus bets for whatever's going on on the baseball field. If you think you've got a hunch on it, Draft Kings probably has a way for you to bet it. So new customers use promo code J.M. Baseball. Bet just $5 on any wager, get $300 in bonus bets if that bet wins. promo code J&Baseball only at Draft King Sportsbook.

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Bet must win to receive reward. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. Trev, little update. Altuve has been batting third. He has played left field, second base, and DH in the last five. five games. And in those five games, he has four homers and he's 12 for 21. He's happening. The Astros are happening. Seattle is scared. Seattle wants to come into town too. Oh, baby. Trev, fantastic stuff.

Hope you guys appreciate the episode. Let us know who you got underrated. It's probably Trevor Plouf, best in the biz. Oh, my God. My God. Jake sucks. How do you play baseball in that? I don't know. I hit a Homer. A Fausto Carmona in that game. You're wearing like a winter. Opposite field, too.

By the way, first Homer's Opa, right center. You're wearing like a winter jacket. I also have a fighting necklace on. That's probably why you hit the Homer then. That's right, baby. That honestly looks like a stylish Jack Flaherty outfit. A little bit.