Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Selecting the April-May 2024 All-JM Team! | 845

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Careers get made today. It is all JM. We're diving deep into this Treveson Studio. Kaylin Clark, Click. I'm judged 74 miles an hour down the line, double. Hello. And welcome to Talking Baseball.

Present to you by Seat Geek, Use Code, Talking 10. Go see the big fella as New York probably sweeps the twins this week. I'm Jake Storelli. behind the ones and twos is David Mendelsohn and in the studio getting nasty making MC studio come out east and I'm east I guess Trevor Plouf what's up guys how's it going yes uh the twins might get swept um if louise heel could pitch every game for you guys that would be something um fun night at the ballpark though yesterday i know it wasn't exactly the outcome that i was wanted, but the place was jacked. I guess there was the Juan Soto basketball jersey giveaway.

Tomorrow. That's tomorrow? Tonight. Tonight. Oh, tonight. They were all wearing it on the field yesterday. Yeah. All the, all the guys were already wearing on the field yesterday. Oh, I need, I was actually I was literally told, I told Justin Shackle. Yeah, saw him yesterday. What's that? Blitzball, Jamboy Media, Yankees Radio. I forgot he played Blitzball. Blitzball one. I told him I was like, Shaq, I don't, I don't bust out favors. But I was like, I might need. you to put one of those basketball jerseys to the side, he goes, bro, you're my third request. He's like, you should ask Trevor. Oh, oh.

So you got in the mix. This is called leverage. So when you get to the studio today, I mean, I've got a lot of, I've got a few little birdies out there. Dave, do you want one? Kind of, yeah. Oh, okay. You know what?

I do it for my friends. You know when my Lord Veris kicks in, my little birdies. Little birdies out there? You are. You, like, him slash little finger together. Maybe I'm Littlefinger. I'll show you a little finger. I'm excited for you tonight.

Because yesterday is kind of your, you know, you traveled in, long day. I wasn't feeling great yesterday. Yeah, you know, Chinese food dinner and bed last night after the game. Is that what I heard? Yeah, it was. That's not Trevor Ploof in the city. Yeah, I was tired, bro. It happens.

Even I get tired sometimes. You're a road dog. I'm not tired of this. Giving out the most prestigious award in baseball. And part of me actually believes that. Because we have no bias. No bias. You know, we're not selling tickets.

Can I tell you something pretty sick? Yeah, sure. I heard a rumor that a lot of people that do business with Juan Soto are in the building tonight. Okay. To see the effect of Juan Soto Jersey Night on Yankee Stadium and how powerful it is to be a part of the Yankees. And is where, where did this come from? So when his offseason free agency comes up and they're talking about selling shirts and jerseys and stuff, the effect of Juan Soto being in New York compared to other options. Is this, are we doing talking baseball right now?

Let's give out some all J.M awards. I'm excited. It's brought to you by Seekkeek. I told you, cold you. Code talking 10. 10% off any tickets on Seatkeek, whether you're a new customer or not. Kind of a stool, not really a seat, but you get the picture. So basically, if you're going to a game and you'd like to save some money,

use code talking 10 at Seat Geek, 10% off your next order. There's a link in the description. The app is so easy to use. I use it. Went to the Knicks last basketball game this year using Seatgeek. I don't even want a discount. I want to pay full price. Hmm, I'd want to spend more money.

Then don't you see him. Anthony Swarzak used to say that for real. Swizzle. Is he on the team this year? Is he on 18? Where's Swarzak? He's fishing down in Fort Lauderdale. Has he announced his retirement?

No, he actually was throwing this office. I don't know why. But what he does is he catch. I don't know why. Oh, yeah, he's a lifer for sure. There's outs in that body. Is he going to be on the whole? John Boy Media team. No bias here.

There's no bias here unless for A.L. Catcher you do cast your vote for Ryan Jeffers, who has been nothing short of magnificent, Trevor. I don't think, look, okay, we're getting into it now. I love this. I don't think it's biased for me to have Ryan Jeffers in the conversation. I understand what Sal Perez has done. I think he's the biggest reason that Kansas City is where they're at. Think about this, dude, with Sal Perez. You say that and then I look at their shortstop and I just don't know. I get that. I get that, but you kind of expect that from a guy like him. Like people are expecting a big year for Bob Wood Jr.

And what he's doing is spectacular. No doubt about it. The pitching has been spectacular. I get it. But when you're getting your catcher, who's also playing a little bit of first base, a little bit of D.H to put up numbers like he's putting up, you know, at his age. This guy was on the 2015 World Series team.

It's 2024, people. Yeah. Like all of his teammates are coming back to celebrate like the AL championship run in 2014. And he's still catching. They're doing the 10 year anniversary team. It's insane what he's doing. Sorry, Phil. It's got to play today.

It's crazy. So look, I just think that, I mean, he's, I know Bobby Wood is the new face of the organization. But Sal Perez is like a statue. Sal's the body. Bobby's the face. That's the body. It goes, we should, normally we announce all the candidates before we dive fully into it.

Adley Rushman is on the list and deserves a mention, but the big thing for him, man, his splits righty versus lefty. If you're a lefty pitcher, Adley Rushman is the best hitter in the league against you. 442, a 701 slugging. That's with that wall moved out in left field. Righty Adley Rushman is like a sick puppy right now. Unfortunately, versus Ritey's OPS at 641. So the perils of being a switch hitter sometime.

We'll see if that, I would guess water's going to find its level in both those numbers. You like that? I do like that. Both those numbers get a little closer to each other. But for where we are in the season, I think that knocks Adley out for now. Connor Wong's on this list, which... Yeah, snaps for Connap City for Connor Wong. He's putting together a nice little career for himself.

Who we're, you know, is currently getting mentioned with top prospect, Adley Rushman and Salvi Perez, who we just talked, you know, we're talking statues with that guy. I don't know, Trev. I'll give you another 30 seconds to talk about how good Ryan Jeffers has been. I mean, he's been with Royce Lewis out, Twins offense, kind of not clicking, you know, one or two guys at a time going. Jeffers has been the steady force in the offense.

I want to see him actually catch more. Christian Vasquez has actually caught more games than Ryan Jeffers. So he stayed in a lineup at D.H. I couldn't believe he wasn't in the lineup last night. The numbers are close, okay? Like, Sal just kind of has him beat a little bit and kind of in everything. They're the same amount of doubles. Jeffers has him in Homer's.

Sal's got more runs driven in He's got one more walk I mean the numbers are closer than you want to admit Okay so don't be like saying No he's so biased Why are you talking about Ryan Jeffers Look at the numbers bro A little teaser for NL catcher

Because I think it's a similar topic For like everything just gets edged out Ryan Jeffers has a Christian Vasquez problem currently That dude we're hitting the point of the season Like you might have to tell Rocco Like I'm We gotta win some ball games Vaski, I think, you know, is

receives well. I think pitchers like to throw to him. You stop, bro. It's nice having you and Steve. I know it is. You're looking at me funny. I don't like it. But yeah,

what I think is it will happen because having Jeffers in the lineup is paramount, but you're eating up a D.H spot if Vaski is catching. So we need the D.H spot. We as and me and the twins. He'll end up catching more. I'm going to, I know,

You and Jimmy or you and BPD are going to vote for Sal. So I'm casting my boat for Ryan Jeffers. Great. Cool. I just said we had no bias. 154 WRC plus for Sal, 152 for Jeffers. It's an 892 OPS for Jeffers, a 916 for Sal. I mean, these numbers are so close.

Jeffers is out slugging in 547 to 531. The OBP is kind of the separator here. I mean, Sal's hitting 321. Sal's hitting 321. That's a bad-hip thing. Speed kills. Okay. I love Ryan Jeffers.

I'm a Ryan Jeffers fantasy owner, so I'm appreciating him. Just every Salvi numbers is a little better. He's striking out fairly significantly less. It is Salvy. Congrats to Big Salvi Perez. I'm happy. I wanted that. I wanted that.

Ryan Jeffers, maybe we'll see you next month. I'm excited for that. Stay in the mix. first base. This is one of the ugliest ones. I'm very interested to see where your brain goes with it. Vladito is in the mix. Yes. He's a huge may. Yeah, and it's good to see, and it's one of those like, sometimes, I think one of my favorite parts of this exercise is getting compared to your peers. and to see that Vladdy is one of the best American League first baseman, not too far like the NL,

the National League First Baseman aren't going nuts. There's two guys. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Ryan Mountcastle, shout out. Bachelorette buddy. Josh Naylor, who I believe is the returning, all-JM first baseman. And our guy, Pasquatch,

Vinie Pasquantino back in the mix. another part of this Royals up-and-coming team? I don't know. Salvy won last month, too, so he is chasing a daisy. What do you see at first base? Because it's tough cutting these guys up.

So when it's this close, I like to kind of, it's tough because he hasn't been playing that well as of late. When it's this close, I like to go to kind of like what the impact of players had on his team. So I'm kind of leading Josh Naylor here. The last month hasn't been great,

but the guardians are in first place. They were carried by Josh. They've been kind of carried by, you know, whether it's David Fry, whether it's Josh Naylor, whether it's Jose Ramirez. Like these guys separately and sometimes collectively have carried this team. The power is there, 15 home runs.

I mean, Vladdy's got five. Mount Kelselsa's got six. Right. Everything else is pretty close. Runs driven in. He's got 42 to their, Vladi 25, Mount Castle 20, Pasquintino 36.

Like, that's kind of what I'm looking for out of my first baseman. So I think I'm leaning Josh Naylor. Maybe you can convince me otherwise. Yeah, I, Nailer, those home runs stand out. It's first base. There's something about that. Like that's baseball a little bit. Seeing him with a 15 burger on the board,

while everyone else is sitting 5, 6, 6. Obviously, the other guys have more doubles, and that's kind of usually how that works as you go down the list. Plus, Vlad's a third baseman now. Right, that's true. It's one game. Glad's back. A lot of Vlad's expected stats, I mean,

nailers are good, but Vlad's are better, and that's kind of been that way the last couple years for Vlad, like the expected stats are better than the actual, numbers on the back of the baseball card, which is interesting to me. I honestly think if I had to bring it down to two, I think it would be Naylor and Mount Castle. I think where Mount Castle actually gets hurt just the slightest bit, his four games in June have been nut job, but I currently don't see those.

We don't see that. That doesn't exist. This is through May, April and May. It's not one month. Don't forget March. And a couple big March games. Can you do this? One.

Two, three. That was hot. I thought you were going to do the finger wiggle thing. I've never been able to do that. I don't know what that means. You see when people cross their hands and they get the two middle fingers that wiggle. Oh, yeah, I don't want to do that. Yeah, I don't either.

There's definitely a couple people in this office. This is pretty close, man. This gets tricky for us because as we mentioned, we have zero bias. Nailer holding it down. it doesn't feel like anyone's taken the crown from him. You know what I'm saying? He did not have a good May. I'm looking at his May stats,

or just say the last 28 days, 161, 245, 425 for a 670 OPS. And Vladie's gone the other way. Right. And had a huge May. But he also... It's a collection of work. His April and March,

Vladdy had a 678 OPS at 2... So it's like they're going opposite direction. Corrections right now. And Vladdy having a big June so far. Here's what I... I will cast my ballot for Josh Naylor, and then I will put an asterisk on that and say, I think we're going to see a new ale first baseman next month.

And I don't know if it's Mount Castle or Vladdy. It's definitely a tough one. So we're both a nailer. It's done. It's done. That's a tough one, people. I think that's going to change. I do.

Oh, you don't know. He can go off and do. Although I will say, You know, we were eyeing a little teaser for the people Iying some home run derby tickets yesterday. Okay. And if you remember last year was super right-handed, so we were like, oh, do we want to get left field, right-field?

There's some lefty candidates this year. Josh Naylor would be a fun home-run derby guy. Are we all going to wear cowboy hats, please? Oh, please. It's time to arrange that. We can talk to our merch people. Congrats to Josh Naylor. Going for the daisy still.

Second base, another ugly one, man. I wish I could chew off more. Jose Al Tuve, you're returning champ, and still kind of the best offensive profile. I think the problem is he's going up against two of the guys with the best defensive profiles. Andres Jimenez, who has won a platy, with Marcus Simeon, who is a perennial,

all J.M candidate. War loves him. The offensive numbers are clearly, I'll say clearly a tier below, but a guy that has a massive defensive impact on the game. And Luis Renhifo's on this sheet and balling out. The games are a little short, and there's some util stuff there.

What are the tea leaves showing you, Trev? Well, do you remember when Alex Bragman was so mad at us that we didn't choose out too big, we chose Andres Jimenez. And then he, like, apologized to me. And then we started texting. No, we didn't beef. And then he would, he apologized.

We didn't beef. He just like, he reached out to ask. Yeah. Was interested in beef. But there was no beef to be had because Jimenez had been playing so well. I eat all the beef. I'm so hungry right now. Do you know what's in our freezer?

Yeah, I saw. I need, like, I want that. Kershaw's beef. Teezer for future ad. Kersh. And I'm actually, I have a friend of a friend of a friend. friend who's friends with one of Kershaw's friends of friends from growing up. Okay.

I don't know how to, I don't even care about that at all. I don't know where to go here, coach. This one's tough because it is, okay, when you think about second baseman, right, I kind of think of it as a defensive position. It's not really that anymore.

We're seeing, you know, you kind of want to offense at every single position, if I'm being honest, but, you know, that's where Simeon is getting to B-War from. And, you know, I mean, He's leading in war, F-WR-W-R-B-War, over all these candidates, but 301 OBP. Don't like that.

A big OBP separator guy. How many times can you get on base and cause some havoc? That's bringing it down for me. I mean, Marcus Simeon's line at the end of May, just so everyone knows, 249, a 301 OBP. So, okay, if you're doing that, you need to really be popping it. Nine home runs, which is the same as El-2. So offensively, he is clearly a peg or two behind this crew.

You always get... God, damn. You're doing this on purpose. No, we're doing this on purpose. Simian does lead in doubles. So I guess extra base hits. Simian has the most extra base hits. They've both...

All these guys have played in a lot of games. Simian leads in runs and runs driven in. He leads in walks. He's got less strikeouts than Altovae. stolen bases is a thing still. So I think we're choosing, and correct me if I'm wrong, between Simeon and Altuve? Like, is Jimenez out of this?

He's been, this is one of those things that's brutal. He's been hit 10 times already? Yeah, that's pretty crazy, right? This is where our comment section goes nuts because I don't know who's right. Has Andres Jimenez, is Marcus Simeon, played better defense this year. I'm sure you could look up whatever stats you want.

I bet you could watch however many highlights you want, and it would feel equal. And then offensive profile, like, Andre Semen has nine stolen bases to Simeon's one. That's impactful. You mentioned Simeon with the extra base hits. Simeon's in the 100th percentile on fielding run values.

He's in the 100 percentile in outs above average with 11 already. Sure. That means something to me. And what about him? Well, we used to give, I mean, we gave Jimenez the benefit of the doubt a couple, or I guess it was last year because of that. Amen is right now, according to baseball, Savant, is in the 84th percentile with garbage.

Out above average in the 93rd percentile of four. So Simian's really kind of running away defensively if you're going by that metric. Okay. So let's say Simian over Jimenez for now. Okay. Are you, so it turns into. I'm comfortable with that. It turns into a Texas two step then.

Like that? Would you rather have Al Tuve, who has a very, a solid offensive profile? 795 OPS feels lesser than it normally does. I'm voting for Marcus Simeon. I'm voting for Marcus Simeon. The defense has not been there for Altuve. He's minus two an ounce above average, on the 22nd percentile.

A lot of the expected stats are down on him as well. So I don't, you know, he's a wizard. So I don't care about. expected stats with Jose Altouva because he just knows how to place the ball. Like that's, that's the truth. But I'm voting for Marcus Simian. Marcus Simeon.

Okay? No bias. If Altuve had like a 900 OPS or something like that, like really running away with it offensively, I would probably think a little bit differently. But he's not. Do you see any stats, Beberton, that feel anything different? Non-statet.

The, you know, typically in a situation like this, we might defer to, like, how good of a team are you? Both of these teams are underachieving a little bit. They've both been a little disappointing, which would be points in Manez, but I think we're all sort of an agreement. He's just shy of these two on the whole. I mean, sure.

He's in a discussion 100%, but I think I've made it my mind. B-Wore loves Simeon. F-Wor has Simeon on the top. Again, that's probably related to defense, and the I-test does pass the stat test with Simeon. Walking K-rates are like same neighborhoods. I think.

I'm not going to say you talked me into it. Because you can't. If I was putting together, in all Jam team, an American League team to go face off against the National League team

and these were my current options. You pick Al-Tubei. I would take Simeon. Oh, really? Okay. I think that would be like my nine-hole second baseman. Play defense. If you put it that way,

I would pick Al-Tube. We're talking about... Wow, we... I swear, if you said, hey, tips passing in the night. One game. Yeah. Put your dudes out there.

Like, I know what Simeon can do. Really? I just think Al-Tu-A is like a winner. Like, he's... But, like, that's not what we're doing here. That's not what we're doing here. We're doing body of work. OPSS, Altuvee gets some steals.

God, H-town, Funky Town, city where the top drops. Marcus. That's a tough one. Hey, man. That's going to be contentious in the old graphic. We do. Offense matters a little more than defense. It's just a fact of life.

But if you're playing the best defense, Al-Touvae's defensive numbers, father time is real size does matter sometimes for me um that I don't know if you're offering me probably the best defensive second baseman and one of the worst

is that fair for Al Tuvei I mean he's not a rise by the end of the year he'll those numbers will kind of even out it doesn't match the vibe but according to the metrics we have available to us, the public. I mean, I think he's Altovae's starting to get jetered

because his range is getting limited. Name it on Mike Petriello. Marcus Simeon. You met Mike Petriello this night. I did. I had a great conversation with him. We talked about outs above average. We talked about DRS.

I said, can you please just add a few like percentiles for me on that savant? He said no. So it's tough for me. Kind of lame by both of you. A little bit. Congrats to Margie. Simeon.

This gets a little easier. Does it? Slash, it's a two-horse race. It's a two-worst race. You know what? I'm happy you said that because I was thinking, were you going to throw Volpey in here? And you're not.

I love what Anthony Volpe has been doing. He is making great strides as a baseball player. I like him too. What Gunner Henderson and Bobby Wood Jr. have been doing is special. And a final assistant, Corey Seeger, who decided to end the month by homering in every game he played in,

so you might see him later. But right now, it's his player comp, Gunner Henderson. Yeah. And Bobby Witt, Jr., for Seattle, which you can go shot for shot with these two. Bobby Witt, Jr., the batting average, has a gap. The stolen bases have a bit of a gap, although the caught stealings, Gunner can punch back. Gunner Henderson with 18 home runs by the end of the month

to Bobby Witt's nine. Bobby Wood Jr. has more runs. They have the same RBI. If you start going extra base hits, Bobby Witt Jr's right there with doubles and a couple more triples. I think defensively, Bobby Witt gets a little bit of a head knot,

although I think Gunner's got some highlights this year. Bobby's in the 100 percentile outs above average. She's got 10 already. You mentioned batting average, but on base percentage they're almost identical, Cool. 359, 368 for Bobby Whit Jr. leading that. This is tough for me because Bobby Witt's played so well, and I love watching him play.

And he also, I think, hit two homers last night, which doesn't matter. We didn't even know that until I just said it. Still don't know that. I think as close as it is, I think Gunner has done enough to get my vote. He does lead in OPS. He does lead in,

well, they're split the F&B war. Way to Runs Grants Credit Plus. Gunner has them. Runs driven in. They're almost identical. This is tough, man. Should we be? This is tough.

This is a little fake clickbaity. Should we be doing more about the young short stops in baseball? Like, dude, Jeter Nomar Rod was such a thing. Yeah. It's tough company. but like Gunner Top prospect has been going nuts We're not doing a lot about it

Even if I want to throw Volpe in the mix Bobby Whit Jr's insane Ellie de la Cruz Like we've got a crop of young short stops I don't know I might have to put Dalton on research on it Because I wonder if that's one of those things You feel like you could say every year

Wow Angel Barola Should we be talking more about him? But I don't know It feels like we There's a next crew of short short stops that are already here. The more I look at these statistics, the more confused I get.

Both these guys have just played MVP caliber baseball. Like these are like, yes, maybe I mean, I have to, I'm just spitballing here at the top of the top. These are like maybe two of the top four MVP candidates and all of baseball.

Four or five, yeah. You're talking judge, you're talking Soto, you're talking these two. Yes. So having to choose between them. Big Salvi Perez.

I don't know. I mean, he's... We'll get votes. Yeah, he's top ten. But this is probably the hardest decision I think we'll have to make today. I think I'm going to go Gunner. And that's not easy to do. You know what?

I'll put it into the gods for this one. Because I don't think Bobby Witt Jr. is getting appreciated properly. I think we're... We kind of got used to Gunner and Baltimore being successful. the transformation Kansas City has gone through and I think Bobby Wood Jr. is a massive amount of that. You could point it.

You can say something about Gunner in the orio. He is in the middle top of that. We could each just point and shoot at stats that I'll go Bobby Wood Jr. And I'll make BPD say one name. Love that. This is the only one I tried to preview. I've been going back and forth for a couple days.

I do just have a Bobby Whit lean. It's the Royal, Little Royals magic. Their triple slash on the hole is very similar, but I'll give a slight edge to some batting average there. They're so close. Congrats, Bobby Witt. Runner Henderson now out. Oh?

Oh? Silver Daisy. Out? Could look back and be brutal. Could not. Could get the fan vote. I can save the days. The util film vote.

Okay, he's going to win that. Always finds a way. Last month, Bobby Witt did win the fan vote. Okay, so Bobby Witt, going for that. Let's finish off the infield. Jordan Westberg, I swear some of these get easy. Well, the whole outfield, luckily, is pretty easy. American League first base, Rafael Devers,

who decided to go on that all-Homers diet for a little bit. Isok Paredes. He's doing it. Respect on his name. Yeah. His stats are silly. So are Jose Ramirez, perennially. Is that the right word?

Annually? Perennially? Are they the same? I think so. Okay. Annually means year. Perennial means maybe a little bit less descriptive. Not exactly a year, but a time period.

And that I just made up off the top of my head. Your defending chance there is joy. Gordon Westberg. All of these guys have OPSs between 859 and 901. I think all these guys play a fine hot corner. I think there's some range between them. Yeah, I mean, Devers to J-Ram Westberg, I think there's a little bit of a gap,

a little backhanded compliment. It's tough to ignore... It's tough to ignore some of your like... I was going to say pre-thoughts. Okay. This is another very difficult, if we're just going by statistics, and we're talking numbers here, people,

which we kind of are, I think Jose Ramirez has enough of a separator for me to kind of, at first glance, say I think he deserves it. He's got the most runs driven in. Yeah. He's got the most run scored. He's got the most home runs.

Stolen bases. Got the most stolen bases. um the highest slug he's been hurting o bp but i think his may was really really good um he's on the team that i believe is maybe second or third with runners in scoring position oh you love that well i mean that's how you win games now i do expect you know some teams to come back down to earth but like he's i think more than anybody on this list jose ramirez is a reason why his team is in first place. I have everything you said is right.

And as you scroll over the scene, like, Devers, again, I know this isn't a stat, people care about as much anymore. Devers has 26 RBI to J-Rams 57. Why do you not care about? That's a month. It's a silly thing for people to say, I don't care about runs batted in. R, when we take over the dimebacks or the Rockies, and we tell our front office, we want more RBI and our team wins the NL West.

they're going to be like, these guys broke the sport. Runs batted in? I have a useless anecdote. BPD, remember this for talking about, Stanton did the interview after the game last night. And Stanton, everyone think about that life cycle, going from MVP to like second fiddle to now he's like third fiddle. Doesn't do as many interviews as he used to,

especially, you know, bad years the past couple seasons. He came out, A, he had to, answer a ton of Luis Heel questions, which like one or two you expect, but he got a lot. There was a point where Stan was kind of like, a kid's good. Yeah. Like, I'm, I'm here. We're talking about a pitcher. I don't do that.

He could have just interviewed him. And then he had a good, he had a good retort. One of the reporters almost tried to get him and they were like, hey, Stanton, you know, besides homers, what have you been doing well this year? Which, A, that's kind of a, that's a, that's kind of a dude. question when you think about it. I'm sorry, whoever asked that. And you saw Stanton, like, his eyebrows turned and like,

oh yeah, buddy, you want less of the home runs and you want something else. And he goes, Stan, what he also does have, his numbers with runners are in scoring position are really good. So he was like, well, you know, when there's guys on base, I'm getting the job done. That's right. And I was like, yeah, Stan, drop that right on his forehead.

Counting stats matter, and J-RAM is winning every single one of them. that I think it's Jose Ramirez. I'm going to Jose Ramirez. Kind of everything I want out of my third baseman. Jose Ramirez. Most doubles, most homers. Step up your defense, Jose. Striking out the least.

Don't make me talk about it. Step it up a little bit. He's Barry Bonds. Better. It's wiping bags. Congrats to Jose Ramirez. Knox Jordan Westberg. Off.

Off the third base mantle for now. Does name recognition matter? No, counting stats matter. Say Matt Veerling's name. He's played a little bit third base. Make that a shirt. You're going to hear more about Matt Vering later. First, I have to tell you about the American League Outfield

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Trevor, the good news is American League Outfield will probably be our easiest moment of the day. I think we get to highlight two MVP candidates and I don't want to overstep my bounds but I think an Abe Lincoln MFer. What about Willier at Bray? We're not talking, Willier?

If you're new to the show, you do need a center fielder. Luckily, Aaron Judge, the 6-7-290-pound guy does that for the Yankees. while having one of the best months in baseball history. He plays on the corner. Hey, Jake Myers and JJ Bladay. Good seeing you on the sheet. It's tough.

Good seeing you on the sheet. Centerfield's different. It's not different. It's different because Aaron Judge is playing center field. The guy that plays to Aaron Judge's left, stage right, is Juan Soto, who is the only guy staying, toe to toe with him this season. Yes.

And then, yeah, if you're a listener of the show, you know I was referencing Kyle Tucker, who's the only other guy with War and the threes. He was leading home runs for a while. He also steals bases. He also plays very good defense. That Trev, I love your guy while you're a brayu. Stephen Kwan was banged up for a little bit.

Taylor Ward's on here. I don't stop the fight. Yeah, no, this is a three-horse race. Judge, it's Soto, it's Tucker. These guys have been the guys for quite some time. Yeah, a little bit. So no need to discuss it really further. And just saying,

congrats. Should we even read some of these stats? Because they're kind of nutty, some of them. Whatever you see, because I love to. I mean, Judge has 20 homers through May, and how many did he have in May, 14, right? 15. That's insane. And Soto's been everything that the Yankees could ever ask for.

And Kyle Tucker continues to basically push himself out of Houston. I think, like, where is he going to go? Is Uncle Stevie just going to say whatever you want? So, yeah, snaps for those three guys. That's easy. Sometimes you get an easy one. It's three of the best players in baseball, so there's a weird part of me that feels like I'm not highlighting them enough.

But that's the great game. Congrats to them. At designated hitter, your dong. Won it last month. He is competing against Ryan O'Hern. who mashes right-handed pitching. Giancarlo Stanton, who we just referenced, who's hitting homers,

everything else is kind of lacking a little bit, unless those runners are on. Brent Rooker, Trev. Yeah, I think this one's quick, too. I think you're right. What the hell did Brent Rooker do last month? He's always had this in him. He's always had this in him.

He's very much a student of the game, very into, you know, swing mechanics and all that good stuff. I mean, he's kind of a masher, man. And he gets lost because he's playing for Oakland. Yeah. West Coast on a team that nobody cares about right now, but he's out there doing his thing.

So I think, you know, all the stats support it. I mean, he's got more runs driven in. He's got more homers than him, but he's got 11 homers through May. the OPS, the F-war, like, he's got it for me. 330 batting average in May, 407 on base, 997 OPS in May.

He outplayed Yordon. He did. Designated hitter, hitting's important, all three triple slash lines. He's got the best. His OPS is in the nines. The other three nominees are in the sevens. If you're someone just listening along,

we love you, Yordon's OPS at the end of May, 792. Brent Rooker 905. It's not, you'd think it would be more of a fair fight and Yordaun's coming, but congrats to Brent Rooker. This is kind of crazy, uncharted territory for Yordaun. Who, did he win it? Who won it in, uh, he got April and then I think he had a big slump at one point in May. He had a, like an O for a week and a half or so. Well, congratulations, Brent Rooker. Congrats, Brent. Um, so for our final A.L position, It's a weird mix.

We've made it a fan vote. Again, all JM is constantly evolving. We want to hear what you guys got. I think we have to include Gunner Henderson. Oh, yes. Yes. I wasn't here last episode for this. Yes, the best remaining player that we didn't have.

It can be a circle back, a correction. David Fry. I think David Fry is in. Because he's been mashing. One of the best players in baseball and a true util. Your guy Matt Veerling has played great, Trev.

Honestly, I might just put it to those two. What about Jordan Westberg, I think probably deserves to be in there as well? If you want. Comparing him to Gunner, if we're putting Gunner Henderson in there. Right.

It's Gunner Henters. You're just splitting bird votes at that point. So the fans are voting for this. The fans are voting. Fans get to vote. Fans, I mean, it's a pretty easy one for you guys. Is it? It is.

We just said Gunner Henderson was a top four MVP. I don't think we said that about David Fry. I don't think we said that about Jordan Westberg. Not yet. You toss out two of them on there, but we didn't say that about him either for this year. I'm curious. Let's move on the starting picture.

I'm very curious to see where you lie in here because there are some guys that have been, throwing, you know what, out of the ball. Luis Heel, Tanner, Howk, and Seth Lugo, all have ERAs in the ones. Corbin Burns has been Corbyn Burns this year, 72.2.2 innings. Terrick Scoobel,

Dark Horse for Cy Young this year, has been living up to the billing. Luis Heel has been on a historic pace recently. Seth Lugo has been breaking baseball, essentially. And Tanner Hauk has an argument above all of them. Wow. Tanner Halk won it last month. Here's what I'll say.

I hate to do this to a guy that has me looking into temporary neck tattoos. Luis Hill gets innings for me, or gets eliminated because of inning. Because of the inning. How can Lugo both have 78? innings. Yeah, Luis Heel has 63. It was one less start. It was one last start.

I think, again, that helps Tanner and Seth. Well, he just might have missed it by one day. Okay, so give Luis Heel a six-inning start, and he's still... I get that. He's still there. The thing that gets me for Luis Heels, he's only giving up 29 hits on the year. The opponent's batting average against is crazy. He's a sick puppy.

I just saw him pitched last night and carved my twins up. That was in May, or that was in June. Yeah, I didn't see that. You didn't see that. The walks are what gets him. He is effectively wild, if you will. So I'm okay with taking him out, and I could say we're going to go with a two-horse race here.

How can Lugo? I'm looking. That's where I'm at. If we're eliminating heel, I feel compelled to eliminate Scoobo for the same reason. This is where I go then. If we're going between those two guys, I mean, they're almost identical innings pitched,

hits against, but the walk rate is better. I mean, that's pretty close, too. The homers per nine, Tanner Hauke has. God, they're really close. They're way closer than I thought it was going to be, right? Same number of quality starts. The whip is under one for Tanner Hauk.

It's 0.96, but Seth Lugo is at 101. The FIP. Tanner Hout kind of runs away with that at a 216 compared to Seth Lugos 3-2-2. I'm going to cast my vote. I'm Tanner Halk. Um, this guy pitches his home games at Fenway. Like if you start going into ERA Plus and FIP, he's the guy.

Um, and dude, there's, like, and dude, we're picking rabbits out of a hat here. What does that mean? Like, there's no wrong- Magic? There's no wrong answer between these two. I don't think that's what picking rabbits out of that. It's not. It's not.

That's magic. You're right. Um, there's no wrong. answer is what normal humans would have said. I'm going how, I think there's something to pitching with that in Fenway Park. A walk and a fly ball can be two runs.

And he has been nothing short as special. So I'm howking. Yeah, I mean like Seth Lugo's had an incredible start to the year. The one home run given up through 12 starts is awesome. And again, you don't walk anybody

and you don't give up home runs and you still strike people. out. Uh, yeah, Howck has it for me. Who has the one home runoff of Tanner Hauk? Ooh, fun game.

Let's see. Tanner Hauk, putting something together. I want to say it was like a righty to right field. If I remember correctly. No. It was not. You have it up?

Taylor Ward. Righty, okay. Got him in April to left field. Okay. Angels won. Um, Was it was in Anaheim or was it in Fenway? It was in Fenway.

Okay. In Fenway. Angels won that game. Shout with a Jack Flaherty, I believe, leading the A.L. In strikeouts right now, our guy, your fingerprints are all over him. Scoobel also, you know, sometimes we become ERA hoes. 082 whip. Yeah.

That guy. But again, like, think about. Scoobles' ERA ain't bad. Towing the slab for a home game. and you're at Camerica versus Fenway? It's different. What do you think as a hitter? It's different.

I mean, look, Fenway gets big at some points. Like, right center's big. Like weird pyramid thing out there, triangle thing out there. But, yeah, I mean, it's different. Fucking pyramids. It's a ballpark you pitch it differently. I am Egyptian by marriage.

It's true. I am, I am, Egyptians fuck with me heavy. At least twice. Congrats to the All-JM-A-L team. get to our familia in the national league. I referenced this very early in the episode, and if you've known the story of Will Smith on the all-JM team, it's perennially just getting inched out by someone.

Yeah, that's so true. And I think Sir William Contreras is doing that again. Yes. Elias Diaz? Elias? I think Elias. Leas? Ebers is, he'll check that out for you.

Kelsey Winger, let us know. J.T. Realmudo, always on the list. Hot boy list. Those two are getting outplayed. Him and Reese, grab-assin at home played. How do you not like that? Two slaps on the book. William Contreras and Will Smith.

Trev, I'll let you run through the conversation. With a sad tone in my voice, I'll let you know it is William Contreras for me. just because every stat he has them by a half inch. Just a little bit better. Yeah, I mean, look. Brutal, dude. William is in the, I mean, they're both possibly in the MVP conversation, but William is, like I said, just in every single statistic.

I mean, you can go down to walk percentage. But the OBP is there. You have a catcher here with an almost 400 OBP through May at a 394. He's slugging 502. So Will Smith has him there at 511. OPSs are so similar. 896 for William, 869 for Wilson.

Let's go look at the savant fielding values. And, you know, I think I'm also contraris, but I just want to see. Okay. What are you looking at? The savant fielding value. So William right now is the 20th percentile, negative two outs above average.

The base running also very low, which you expect for my catcher. Now I'm going to go to Will Smith. Four stolen base is zero cuts. stealing for William Contreras. Okay. Just an FYI for the people. And I am getting it up right now.

So bear with me. Treves getting it up. The fielding run value is neutral for Will Smith. A 53rd percentile, zero outs above average. The base running also low, 36 percentile. So we're going by hitting. We're going Williams. Congress.

Congrats, the trade that has blown our mind throughout this season. And yeah, a guy going for MVP. And Will Smith, I could see you even ending up on the fan vote. Because casual 5-11 slugging after Mookie, Shohei, Freddie. Like, that's, he gets overlooked and he gets overlooked on this list, and it makes me pretty mad. But congrats to William Contreras, has been incredible. Catching fielding is so weird, bro.

There's the blocking, there's the framing. It all depends on your pitching staff, the umpire. Hey, if I had CB Buckner five times and he was giving this far off the plate, that helps your framing. I don't know. William, you won that one. MVP candidate so far, William Contreras. At first base, I believe this is a two and a half horse race. The other horse gets hurt by these two guys pretty much constantly.

Shout out to my guy Jake Croninworth, who people were talking about as a salary dump this off season. he's been playing great. Frederick Freeman. Always around. Bryce Harper, always around. And then Christian Walker, man, the offensive stats are in the building, and defensively, he is a stud.

I do think he gets outshined by the two stars I mentioned before him that I think it's Freddie or Bryce. This is a Will Smith-William-Contrera situation. I think Bryce Harper is William in this instance. I mean, just a little bit better than Freddie in almost every statistic. He's got more homers, the same amount of runs,

more runs driven in. He's got one more walk. The OPS is higher because of the slug 895 for Bryce, 842 for Freddie. The F-4 is at 2-1-16. The B-Wars are similar, are the same, 2-1-2-1. Way of runs created plus. Bryce has about 148 to 142 for Freddie.

So I'm going to cast my vote for Bryce. In a tight race, he just has him by a little bit. You're unfortunately right. I have no bicker encounter for you. Freddie is Freddie. Bryce is Bryce. Talk about favorite ice cream flavors. He's got him.

13 home runs to six home runs. That's a real. That's a gap. That's a gap. At first base, that's a big gap. Freddy's got him in doubles because Freddie just says the double guy. Always. But the slug shows Bryce, 520 to 5.20 to 5.

a $4.52 for Freddie. When you're splitting up these guys, the numbers that it comes down to, Bryce Harper has him beat. He will knock. Did Frederick win? Yeah, Freddie won last month. So Freddy's out.

Bryce is in. Congrats to Rice Harper. First baseman Bryce Harper. Bryce also slapped resuscans on the butt, too. A lot of butt slapping in that game. So if you're into that, go check that. There's a reason I watch.

William Contreras also won it in April, so he keeps it rolling at NL Catcher. Bryce, Bryce Baby, takes over at first base. At second base, Cattel Marte won last month. He has a very good argument for the throne. Luis Arise, who always ends up here and the defense arise argument that we've done a lot. Tyro Estrada, my young sweet prince, is around. Bryce Turang, man. Go get it, Bryce.

You like speed. I like defense. I like watching him play. I really, really do. 298 batting average, 361 on base. I think this comes to... He's in the conversation, bro. For me, it comes down to him and Catel.

Rise, you know, I know he's been great for San Diego, but again, like second base and... The defense and is even playing second base. Tyro is a note off from these guys. Bryce Stott is there. Living in a one host town. I'll go. This is something I go to.

I want to look one thing up. Because this turns into power versus speed a little bit. Terang 19 solom bases. That's one of the biggest numbers we've seen before we jump over to NL shortstop. Ketel Marte has been a massive part of the snakes lineup in the snake's season. Terang did take over the lead-off spot

for Milwaukee for a little bit. He's now jumping between 9 and 1 a little bit. I want to get his month-by-month splits because I thought he slowed down. I was going to give my speech about Catelle and always being in the middle of the lineup, my Eddie Rosario theory, blah, blah, blah. Tereng was leadoff a lot, so I don't know.

Are you, what do you like? If there wasn't a 19 stolen base to one stolen base difference, I think this is Cotel Marte, and we just move on and snaps for him. That's really caught my eye. I do love, like I said, watching Bryce Tray and play defense. Some of the expected stats, I know we don't always look at those. They're not great offensively for him.

And if you're just looking at the counting stats, you know, Cattels kind of got him in most categories too. He's got, I mean, more games played, so he's got more hits. He's got one more double. He's got seven more home runs. He's got 13 more stolen bases. He's got eight more runs driven in, same amount of walks. I think I'm casting my vote for Cotel Marte.

Whew. Bebs, give a vote because I've currently flip-flop twice. OPS is Cotel Marte. I mean, the same F-war, B-War-Goes Marte, 3-1 to 2-5. I was prepared to say a lot of things I really like about Turing and how, like, King Cattel both right there. Something that's sticking out to me, I think, because Turing didn't get put into the lead-off spot

regularly until this month. In only three more games, Marte's 50 played appearances ahead. Like, he's just played more, which I think matters. Maybe you can take that as negative points on some counting stats, but for me it is Katel.

Hey. A little bit. Another month of these numbers and stabilizing. And I'm very excited for that conversation. I am fine giving it to Catelle. Both of these guys have platoon splits, so at first I was going to knock Catelle for that, but Tarrang has it too,

but Tarrang has it on the better side. I love some steals. Give it to Tarrang. I'm giving my vote to Tarrang. Cattel gets it, and he stays. Such a cop out. Yeah, you'd never do that. I didn't start the episode often.

The Twins player, the Twins catcher to start that. His thighs are incredible. Speaking of, Mookie bets. Is that it? Do I need to say anything else? I think that's it, I mean, he is playing a little bit of second base.

He's going back and forth. The middle infield are Mookie Bets, but primarily shortstop. The numbers are just, he's just kind of got the numbers. Willie Adamas, coming hard. Are these strikeout numbers right for some of these short stops?

Dela Cruz and Ezekiel. You don't like that Zeke and Ellie are, striking out a little bit? 77 and 74 where it's this is through May are they going to strike out 300 times

Ellie Dayla Cruz leads your National League in strikeouts and stolen bases just from that he's out for me okay that's in that the strikeout percentage is unbelievable

Tovar's getting his ticket punch too those aren't sustainable like you can't have that push can come to shove Is he like a three true outcome guy? Because he's walking at a decent clip too. A note on Mookie, he kind of stopped mixing second base in this month. One start there in May.

Yeah. A lot of people are talking. Chris Rose wants Boba Shett to go play shortstop for them. Mookie back to second base. Gavin Lucks be part of the trade to Toronto, and I could see it happening. I would put Bichette at second and keep Mookie at short. Made it's motto. Zeke Tovar deserves some love.

He's doing some really good... Like, that's a little Rockies effect. He's a 22-year-old shortstop that plays good defense and has been hitting this year. Ellie Dele-Cruz, you know, people were talking about... Hold on. We just back up real quick. Yeah.

Brent Rooker has also a 33% strikeout percentage. So I have to mention that. I can't be... But he has a beef cake. He has an OPS over 100 points higher than his competitors. Yes. So that's what he's doing out there. There. Ellie,

Ellie had a really tough May. What are we even talking about? Coach, it's mokey bets. I like highlighting players. It's mokey bets. Rockies fans are overall excited about Tovar and there's ways to cut up that rookie year. Willie Adamas. I like Willie.

Willie's coming. I had him getting traded to Dodgers and said they'll play him in the postseason. Shady race, the official sunglasses of my postseason. You look great. When I get out of this office, it's Shady Ray's. Flex on everyone a little bit besides my Shady Ray sunglasses. I got, well, shout out to that news and die a movie,

but I got tag teamed on the train ride home yesterday. What? One guy over here, one guy over here, they each pull out the headphone at the same time. Jake? And we were just yucking ball on the train. And I was doing that in my Shady Ray. race.

Summer's here, dude. So you're on the train with your shades? You wear your shades inside? Oh, yeah. Who would ever do? Who would ever do that? Kind of need to. You're going to wear sunglasses this summer.

Give Shady Ray's a chance. They've been partners with us for a while. Really cool company, really good people, and they make an amazing product with a loss or broken replacement guarantee. So if you lose or break them, they'll send you a new pair on the house. Go to Shadyrays.com.

They're giving their best deal of the season. Co-talk and 50% off 2 plus pairs of premium polarized sunglasses. That offer applies to the custom Jimmy and Jake Shades. You're going to wear sunnies this summer. Please do it with Shady Ray's. They're the best. And so is Mookie Betts. So maybe that was the segue there.

Third base, Alec Bone. Kind of ran away with it last month. He was dominant. He stays hitting. That batting average is over 300. Ryan McMahon has entered the chat. Okay, Rocky's left side of the infield. Okay.

I smell you. What up, Kels? They were, like, winning some series. Uh, uh, a new contender has entered the arena. Corbyn Burns out of the AL. Yeah, a little baby kangaroo. Starting pitcher count, Joey Ortiz.

Yeah. That was bad. He's Australian, isn't he? That was bad. He's not Australian? That's Curtis Mead. Oh, okay. That's Curtis Mead.

Oh, that's Luke Hughes. Hit up, uh, Joe's McFly for his rookie card. That's sledge. Joey Ortiz. Trev, these numbers are silly. He's doing it, Coach. He's doing it, Coach.

891 OPS. As I was looking at this, I'm like, okay, I think we're going to go boom here. Like, the extra base hits are there, all these things that he's doing, you know, Philadelphia, what they're doing. But so you'd say the same exact thing about Joey Ortiz, that little baby kangaroo.

So there's an interesting. Interesting. There's a games gap here. I should say an at bat gap here. Yes. Alec Bome has 215 at bats this year. Joey Ortiz has 139. This is through May.

This is through May. And, okay, see, I was ready, about to hand this over to Joey Ortiz because every, well, not batting average, but on-base percentage slugging, he's got Bome by a little bit that I was like, dude, I think it's this cat. there is a, Alec Boehm has 6, 26 more hits on the season.

Alec Boehm has double the doubles. 22 doubles for Alec Boe. Sometimes we get intimidated by that home run number and we ignore the doubles. They have the same amount of homers while Alec Boem has double the doubles. I was ready to hand the keys to Joey. Maybe it's next month, but it's, it's Alec Boeom for me. I think so too. I mean, Joey didn't start the year off playing every single day.

That's why he has those, you know, the numbers aren't there. If I told you that he was from like a famous sublime song city, what would you say? He's from Santaria, California. We took this trip to. Don't sing it. That's all we can sing. I don't want to get copyright.

Garden Grove, California didn't know that. I had no idea about that. Yeah, I think, I think Boehm has it just because. he has been playing every single day. And Joey will get there. I think if we give him time, like through June, we might be singing a different story. But as of now, I think we applaud Joey and what he's done.

Welcome to the conversation. Yeah, well, saying, boom, you still got it. All the counting stats are there. And we take those into consideration here. Boehm's last month. And get somewhere between those two. But just the other thing that stuck out is Joey Ortiz doing most of his damage this year.

the six, eight, and nine spots are most of his starts. So what do you mean to your team's lineup more often? He's mixing in up top a little bit. I think he's seen him in the lead off spot versus some lefties. So Ortiz, you're getting there. Let's see the next step for the young Aussie, Joey Ortiz. Alec Bohm, a lot of 3, 4, 5. Alec Boam flicking off the city and now flicking off baseball.

Trev, I'm going to do something a little unorthodox if you don't mind. Is that a religion? D.H. Yeah. It's Shohay and Ozuna, although Jock and Schwerber have been fantastic. And I'd Shohay again, because Shohay is a little better in every stat, and he's the fastest guy in baseball. 13 stolen base of zero caught stealing for Shoe. I mean, all of the big bopper stats, Marcel's toe for toe.

Wow. I mean, walks to strikeout, same thing. I mean. They're almost mirror numbers. Again, I think Shohei is a baby step better than Marcel with that. When you get to the speed, it is Shohei. Every numbers. I mean, 393 OBP through June for Shohei, 388 for Marcel,

607 slug for Shohei 601 for Ozuna, one dot on the nose for Shohei through June, 989 for Ozuna. But yeah, the speed does make a difference, and I think it snaps for Shoahe. Team option 16 mil for Marcelle. sell next year. I think they're going to just go,

push that button. Opt in. Congrats to Shohay. Although he had a slower month, but he'll be there. Trev, I did that because the NL outfield is a straight up disaster.

National League, get it together. What are we doing, baby? What is we doing, baby? Treve, I think we got one for sure. We need to pick a center fielder between Cobel, Jazz, and Brent and Doyle. I think Jerksson ProFar, we can just snap. He's getting one of the outfield spots.

You are right. That opening was rude to ProFar, who bolts to nuts, farm to table, has been the best National League outfielder this year. It's going to be an all-star. I know that feels weird to say, but it's just true. And it's the beautiful thing about this game sometimes. So congrats Jurekson. He has one of the corner outfield spots.

Yes. We need a centerfielder, and we need another player. Let's do center field and try to be whatever we can be. Cody Bellinger has missed a bit of time. His offensive profile is slightly better than probably Jazz Chisholm and Brenton Doyles, although if we did OPSS Plus with the stolen bases, it would not be. which for me, I think this becomes a jazz and Brenton Doyle conversation, which Brenton Doyle and Jerks and ProFar were part of the outfield last month with Mike Talkman.

That's-National League! That's insane. Another month didn't fix this? Not really. Like, not really. We've had funky April winners before. Doyle, Profar, and Talkman, do they combine to make $2 million this year? I don't know.

Talk, or I know that... So does Shohei. God damn it. Those pesky dodgers. Oh, man. Yeah, this one's really tough because I think there are two different types of players, Doyle and Chishol.

Doyle gets a lot of his value usually from base pass and defense. A lot of people say he's one of the best defenders in all of baseball, the way he goes and gets it out there. But the offense has been decent, comparable this year to some other guys. I think I'm going to lean Brenton Doyle here because I want a defensive first

center fielder and having that guy go track it down and course. Does that make him, is it better for him because he has so much ground to cover? Like I think it's easier for him to rack up defense. There's that aspect to it. The balls hang there. This is really, really tough. Jazz hasn't beaten a lot of counting stats. More hits.

one more double. He's got more homers than him. Doyle Hasamon runs score, but Jazz has him by a lot in runs driven in. Doyle has been stolen bases, 14 to Jazz as 11. It's difficult, man. This is OPS Jazz 773,

Doyle 766. The wars, they split F-Wor and B-Wore together. Jazz Hasman, a weighted runs, plus I just taught myself into Jazz Chisholm. So I'm going to go Jazz Chisholm. for center fielder. My one game theory that got shot down a little earlier by you, and we ended up flip-flopping on it,

this might be rude to Brent Doyle. For one game, I'd rather have jazz chisholm. A little pop. He's a threat, and that's rude to Doyle, who's having a nice year. And the thing, Doyle did have it last year. I don't think he's a Silver-Dazey candidate. So I don't mind taking him off of the mantle, if you will.

I hate it. I hate it. Like gun into my head or Doyle's counting stats that far behind Jazz? No, he's in the neighborhood on everything, but. Dude, you bring in runs. And they're very similar. Well, let me check one thing. Okay.

Jazz Chisholm, and this is a theory I just mentioned. Is the Marlins offense? Yeah. Like, when you game plan against the Marlins, or if they're going to win a game, which they haven't done a lot of, it's Jazz Chishol. Friend Doyle, in the month of,

after May 8th, he batted, he never batted above 5th, a lot of 6, 7, 8. Okay. I know he's a defense first. Yeah. Outfielder.

I know what we're supposed. splitting. Jazz can be polarizing. I think he's been the better. I think if you're doing an all JM team, I think you'd want jazz on it. So I will go Jazz Chisholm in Centerfield as well. Sorry, Brent Doyle. All right. Still in the mix. So Jerrickson ProFar, Jazz Chisham. We've always been a J team. So are the Marlins. Yeah, yeah. Trev, I'll read some names quick. You tell me what you see. And there is one just absolute wildcard candidate. it. I'm picking the wild card Really? I know

we usually talk about games played but he's when he's been on the field has been so much better than anybody on this list and the game is played it's not too crazy so I am going to pick Christian Yelich for the last spot in the outfield

he's just better than everybody else by far in this NL outfield when he's been on the field like by far let me read some names Teosker Hernandez, Brandon Nimmo, Brian Rendles, Tatez, Mike Talkman, returns to the list. Yelly's OPS is more than 150 points higher, more than 170 points higher than everyone you mentioned.

The way to run's created plus, the F-4, B-Wore, he's like similar or higher then, and he's played in less games. I think that he's been very, very meaningful. We always talk, if the Brewers are going to go, Yellow Chesa play at an MVP level, he's at that level right now. The two names that jump out for me are Tatis and Tayasker. You know, Teosker has 12 homers. 11 doubles. He's putting in work. Fernando,

you just want the whole offensive profile to be a little bit better, but this is also a guy that plays good defense. Final Yelie research. Otherwise, I think I'm going... Otherwise, I think I'm going... Yelly played like all of May. missed a few weeks in April. He's been incredible.

Incredible. It's been so good and nobody else is like... Yeah, if somebody was running... If anybody else is in, like, the 800s... Do you want to know what's hilarious? Do you remember which game was Christian Yelich's last of May? Last of May? It was a standout performance.

Five for five. His five hit day. On Friday, with the block ball double down the line, I asked him about that he guys, I'll take all of them. It was the last game of May. Five for five or to push him over the top. It was five for six, I think. There's some team stuff.

I feel like Tay Oscar in that bottom of the lineup has been the problem for the doctors at certain points this year. Someone come and take it. Congrats Christian Yellich. NL Outfield, what are we doing? What are we doing in the Outfield? This is supposed to be like the stars of stars. I guess the Dodgers moved Moogie to the infield.

Yeah, yeah, there's that. Ronald Coonias hurt and wasn't playing well. Who else do we need to step up as an NL out? Fernando. Fernando needs to go. I'm trying to think of other guys. For what the narrative around Tate's season has been, MMO,

Mew needs to go. Um, belly a little bit. He's been hurt. Does the Braves have anyone out? Like, Money Mike, yeah.

Bizarre. All these guys seem to get going. Bizarre. Nimmo the numbers. Corbyteros down. Like, obviously that's a big one. Corbyn Carroll. From Carol was a crazy numbers last year.

Wow. Okay, so who do we want to leave for our fan vote? I think Ozuna has to be there. He was among the fan vote last month. Ozuna fan boat. Ozuna. Rice Terang? Willie Adomis, I think, should be there.

If you had to pick Terang or Adamus, I don't want to... I think I'm going to Domis. Okay. Then let's go Willie. Yeah. And let's put Will Smith on there. Yeah. Oh, and Fred.

Oh, shit. Oh, shit. And we can... Last month, we narrowed it down to four for... All right. go Will Smith, Freddie, Willie Adomis, and... I'm missing a big one.

Orsel. Okay, put those four out there. See what the people do. Azuna, Adomas, Freddie, Will Smith. And as we come down to the last starting pitcher, we've got to highlight some of these guys, but I think I have one that I think is the best. Yeah, and some baby snaps for our original util standouts.

Connor Joe has been great for Pittsburgh. Spencer Steer has been... Okay. And Louisa Rise, we never really know what to do with that. He might just be. He might just be on the all Luisarize team. Yeah. Trev, the National League starting pitchers.

Tyler Imanaga. Chris Sale, Ranger Suarez, and Zach, wheels up. Wheeler, you have one? I think Ranger Swares is the guy. I think you're right. I think he's been the best pitcher in baseball. I think if, I think Shoda had a blow up start. Yeah.

His last one, where he apologized to Craig Counsel. and he might have taken it, but with that blow-up start, Ranger just kind of has everything going. Shout out Chris Sale for having a 0.85 whip, but Ranger Swartz has a 0.82 whip. He's got the strike. I mean, he's just got everything.

I think he's just a little bit better than everybody on this list right now. Fields his position. Oh, with the best of him. With the best of him. Check out Jimmy's three things. Has he ever won a goal glove? About to.

Max Fried is a lot of. And Max Fridge, he's got to be coming soon because he's been absolutely bawling out. Another month of this and I think he'll be on our short list. I'm going Ranger Swares here. These other guys have been incredible. There's been a lot of really good pitching performances. I mean, around the league, the league offense is down, which means league pitching is up.

But I think Ranger has been the best. Max Freed is four months of playing healthy baseball. from becoming one of your richest friends. Yeah, I can't wait. Take me to dinner. I used to take this guy at dinner. Right. Pay it forward, Max.

All those guys have made way more money than I did. Flaherty, G, Alito, and Max. Bring it, baby. Didn't realize the strikeouts got to 13. It's June. That's a June game. It's a June game. Ranger Suarez, congrats.

Yeah, you've been, might be our NL starter. Shoda would be electric. People care about that. Shoutouts, Javier Assad, Dylan C., Sunny Gray hanging around. And Reinaldo Lopez, why wasn't... He probably should have been on this list behind-upon-ed-earnings. Should have been in on this.

We did it. We did it. It's early in the year, it's still grindy, but we're grinders. So, with that, a final sweep. In the American League, Salvador Perez, behind the dish, Josh Naylor at first base. Marcus Simeon snuck up on us at second base. Gunner Henders.

Bobby Witts. Bobby Witt took it. We have Gunner as the in the util. I'm projecting him to win the fan vote. It's one of those. That's up to you guys. Political season. I think that was we had two.

Nightmare. Yeah. Split vote. Jose Ramirez at third base. The easiest spot to do. Soto, Judge and Kyle Tucker. in your outfield. Brent Rooker,

that designated hitter, with Tanner Halk? Yes. As your starting pitcher, the fan vote between David Fry and Gunner. Can't wait to see those results. In the National League,

William Contreras, behind the dish, Bryce Harper at first base, Cotell Marte at second. Mookie Betts, your shortstop. Alec Bowman, third. In the outfield, jazz chishol,

Jurekson, Profar, Step it up and L Outfield. Shohei Otani's at D.H. That's obvious. Ranger Suarez on the bump. And a big fan vote there. Will Smith. Freddie Freeman.

Willie Adamas gets the nod for you. And Marcel de Barrow Zuna. Baseball fans, we thank you so much. Soon these guys are going to be starting. All-Star voting is going to happen soon. I'll say it's next week or so. We can see some friends of the family. Chick sucks.

Beautiful, Olivia, just texted me. Okay. At the end of April, you said both starting pictures we picked would still be in line for days. Yeah? I would have said, oh, probably not. Oh, that's good right there. That's just good old-fashioned brother-sister stuff right there.