Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Who Will Breakout in 2026!

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

Book your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.com Reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money at rocketmoney.com/talkin. Please ensure the link in the description is hyperlinked Save on essentials. Save the everyday with Amazon. URL: https://www.amazon.com   Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake predict who will have a breakout campaign in 2026 for every division! Also   0:00 Intro 3:25 AL East 9:45 AL Central 16:45 AL West 25:45 NL East 32:30 Pat Murphy Joins the show 39:20 NL Central 52:53 NL West Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. We're doing 2026 breakout players and our first special guests in a long time. Watch out. Let's talk ball. Mizorowski. Vinnie Rotino. Oh. They said to write.

Fowled off. Didn't get out. Did not get out. Hello and welcome to talking baseball Wednesday, March 4th. Three weeks away from games that count. Bang. That's real people. I'm Jake Storrelli.

That is Trevor Plouf. Rob Chiracco producing, Dalton Feeley, putting together our stats and info. And Trev, this is a, we're trying to do the unpredictable. We're trying to pick the breakout players for this MLB season. And, you know, towing the line, you know, Roman Anthony, that wouldn't be a legal pick. that's everyone's in on that. So we're going to dig a little bit. We're going to have some hits.

We're going to have some misses. That's baseball. That's life. How you doing, Coach? I'm doing well. This is an episode that I think is a Redeemer one for us because we did this last year. We only picked one per division.

And it didn't really work out well for us, which is, you know, it's kind of why we stay away from prospects and we stay away from some of the young guys. Sometimes you just don't know. but I think I feel a little bit more confident in some of the picks this year and maybe we'll see a couple of repeat. Yeah. Or one.

So, A, Trev, a little secret, a little secret to life here. You know, last year, you and I, we did six picks. We did one from each division. This year, we're each doing one. So we're spreading the chips on the table a little bit. That gives us that that's like GMs trading for prospects. You see those trades? That's why they trade for four prospects and split out of one.

If you have one of those guys hit, you're a genius. Yeah, last year, Jackson Holiday, the Minnesota Moose, Matt Walner, Logan O'Hoppy went back on us. Dylan Cruz, hopefully a big year. Nick Gonzalez was hurt. Let's see. And then our guy, High Song Kim, who we just, we talk about more than any baseball show, at least in the States,

at least in the States. We can't stop talking. We were begging for him. On the other team, I saw him Kim would be a superstar. That's going to be my whole pitch. We were begging for him in game seven of the World Series. He finally came in. So we had it the whole time.

And like I mentioned, there's a one-of-one treat in the middle of this episode coming up. Make sure you guys are tuned in for that. I think we got to get into it, Coach, because we were doing the math. And it's like, all right, if we each pick a guy and we spend a few minutes a guy, this turns into a jam-packed up real quick. And because it's Wednesday, we start out in the AL East. Trev, this division had more options than I thought. A little spoiler, NL. West was kind of tough to find the young bloods that might break out who aren't Rockies.

2026 AL East, who do you want to go with, Coach? I'm going to go with the guy who's been around for a while. But, you know, I think he's far enough removed from a Tommy John surgery. He's removed from a, I'll call a Little League park at a spring training park. Yeah. Gets to go to a real ballpark. I'm happy. A new organization for him.

And to be honest with you, he just kind of passes the eye test. I'm going to shame boss of the Baltimore Orioles. If you look at his numbers overall last year, is a 487. A lot of that damage was done at home. at Yankee Stadium South. That's what they call it, right? A 5-9 ERA over 82 innings there, a 3-8-6 on the road.

But again, if you just look at him through, he's got elite velocity. All of his off-stasy stuff ticks up. And it's, I mean, just look at that. Yeah. If we can get my guy a full healthy season in a new ballpark, he just seems to me like a guy who we're going to look back at this off-season. The Orioles need the starting pitching.

They went out. and they got Chris Bassett great. But I think this is going to be the biggest, the biggest plus on their pitching side that they acquired this offseason. And we're going to say, man, a lot of teams missed on this guy. Because, again, you can go into the peripherals,

but if you just watch the guy throw, he has electric stuff. Well, Trevor, I don't know if they missed out on them. I just know the Ray's got our guy Slater DeBrun. I don't know if you remember our day when we got lost in that gentleman. Does he have a rap album? I think that was that guy. Yeah, and man, watching Baws over the over a couple years, A, like you mentioned, at home,

he got killed last year at a high A baseball stadium where the ball was flying. And then watching Baws throughout the past couple years, it just feels like some days he had it and some days he didn't. And I don't know if that is, if that's consistency with pitches. I don't know if that's consistency from him coming back. from his like Tommy John, I don't know. Could it be coach? Could it just be like figuring out who your body is as he be, is he 26 now?

26. That's the other thing, man. We're going to get excited about some pitchers who get the call this year at age 26. He's just been around the league for a while and that's because he has different arm talent to him. He struggles third time through the order, which I think can be a location aspect, maybe a pitch sequencing aspect to his game. Like, you know, let's not, let's shelter some pitches for that third time. A lot of pitchers that are able to pitch deeper in the games do that.

We'll say, okay, I'm going to go with these three pitches first two times through the order. Then that third time, you know, I got this pitch first pitch for a strike and they haven't seen it yet. So like that's all maturity type stuff as well. But again, I just think the arm talent is there. And new home, new environment. I'm looking for him to break out this year. Yeah, I've liked him this offseason. Craig Albernaz, his manager, said,

Boz's upside is a Cy Young Award winner. So that's good. That's what you want to hear from your skip. And, you know, Shane Boz, if he's about to get pulled in the fifth inning, does he go, does he tell Albernaz? I thought I thought I was your Cy Young guy. What happened here? Yeah, I mean, just tell him, hey, I have,

just keep the quote like in your podcast. Just give it to my receipt. It's on his glove. Trev, my guy where I'm going to stay, or our last ALE East pick, man, Boston's got a few of these dudes, and maybe I'm just living in fear of them. Marcelo Mayer, when I first saw him,

A, that's just baseball hair. Maybe you can spin that in hockey, but that's baseball hair. And I like, if you've got something that I know is going to work, and his glove at every position is going to work. Along with having nice minor league statistics, here's a play he made.

This is literally last night against Puerto Rico in the scrimmages. A little second baseman backhand flip. Also just seen him at third base feel at home over there. It's a pretty lefty swing, so sometimes that's how we get. I mean, that's how you could get sucked into any ball player. I don't know.

Like even if his, I guess he's a guy that if the offense ends up league average, which I think he can be better than that. He's like one of those guys that you look at war at the end of the season and you're like, wow, did you know Marcel O'Mare at four and a half war? I think he's a ball player. I like him. Put on some muscle heading into spring training, 220 pounds, but he feels fast and explosive.

You know, another guy dealt with injuries last year at the wrist. there's also an aspect of when you see a guy that you came up with and I'm talking about Roman Anthony kind of go off and I guarantee he considers himself just as good as Roman Anthony coming up through the minor leagues like we're neck and neck and when you see that happen at the baby level I'm telling you man it is so freaking motivating like I want to be that guy now and you start to work harder and harder

and you start to realize what it takes and what you need to do at that level to get better so I'm I'm in. I like the pick. He's got some quotes. He says he feels like a whole different person right now to compare, compared to who I was then. I think I'm just stronger, bigger. I think you change a lot in eight months in every way. I think you mature a little bit. That's what you want to hear of these guys. Yeah. And he, I guess if you want to get a little more nitty gritty, not super nitty gritty. He hit righties decently last year. But versus lefties, he really struggled. So even if you're a plus defender who can hit right-handed pitching, That's a good way to play 120 games at a high level. Struggled with the breaking ball a little bit. We'll find out early on in the season what that's going to look like. Trev, in your AL Central, it's time for the Best Western Traveler Checking, brought to you by Best Western.

We highlight someone on the move, and that's where I'm going to cut you off at the past, Trev, because I decided to drink the Kool-Aid all in last night. It was me. On the couch, watching the DR play the Detroit Tigers, as we do during WWB season. That's another league there forming. I'm in on McGonigal. And this, like some people are listening to this right now, and they're like, well, dude, Shane Baez's pitch for years.

Kevin McGonigal is the second prospect in the game. Tough sport. And I don't know if he's going to get the job out of camp, and I don't care. A, you know, Connor Griffin has. has stolen the hype train this year because he's the number one prospect and we want Pittsburgh to be there. McGonigle on Detroit, who one of the best odds to make the postseason, a shortstop position that's been in question for a couple years.

He's 21 years old, 5-9 with a sweet little lefty swing to him. I think I saw him have three hits against the DR last night, lead off Homer against Sevee first pitch. The minor league numbers are there. I don't know. I do think some dudes are different. 123 walks in the minor leagues, 84 strikeouts, Trev.

That is sicko stuff from the kid that I don't know. I'm going all in on McGonagall. You know I love that ratio right there. And I knew as soon as you saw Sevi give up that bomb. First pitch of the freaking game, short, compact, swing. I mean, we've heard about this guy. He's had a great. spring so far. And we, you know, you see his name on the TPPs and the prospect list. And then you

kind of get to see him in action here. And I mean, he's doing it, coach. He's doing it. And he's, is he not slated to for sure make the team? Are we, are we, are we past that yet? I don't know. I, you know, the tigers, it starts getting into roster. It starts getting into financial stuff. It starts getting into all that that. That I don't know how the tigers are going to handle that, that, you know, every year we had that wait three weeks to get the top prospects called up, that I could see Detroit spinning that game. I could see them not. It's kind of gone now. We've got Framber, we've got scoobel, like, let's run. It's, there's no incentive to keep him down anymore. I mean, you want to get another year of control, so I understand that. But, you know,

you can get another draft pick. So what do you, especially with a guy like this, you're so highly right? I'm curious what they end up doing there. You know, it's, it's, it's, The way I think about it all the time is, is he one of your 26 best position players in your organization? That's it. That's kind of easy. I think he is in Tre. And we don't get into the scouting a lot,

but an 80 grade hit tool, which like the scouts, they don't give that out. The last one was Vladito. So let's see what that is. And hey, make sure you guys go check out Best Western. Life's a trip. Make the most of it with Best Western. bringing you today's episode, 4,000 hotels worldwide, wherever you go, Arizona, New York, Florida, Minnesota.

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Trev, where could you possibly be going in the American League Central? There's a couple places I could go. Should I talk about Jack Caglione? Should I do that? Oh, should I? Big boy. He's, I mean, potential's there, 120 miles an hour off the bat in spring training. I like it.

I like it. But I like another one better. And this is a, I'm, I'm flubbing the system a little bit right here. Because I think he had a pretty good year last year. Although, you know, in only 207 plate appearances, it's my guy, Luke Kuchel. Here we go. Tommy John's surgery in 2024, working his way back from that. Comes up, starts with a great start to the season last year.

Then Kyle Hendricks comes in and hits him on the freaking wrist, ends up breaking his wrist, or his forearm, whatever it is. has to work back from that. I fell for Luke Kishol when I saw him out on the batting cage net. Okay. Like the turtle almost every single day during his rehab. This guy, he, you know, a lot of guys will just wallow and self-pity like I would do. He was out there learning from guys, talking to guys about baseball.

He's an absolute rat. And he does a lot of things really well on the baseball field. I think he's going to get better at second base. know there's a chance he plays some outfield, but he's just an absolute dog. He's got speed. He can steal bases. The swing is super compact. He shoots the ball to right. He can pull. He is a big strong guy too as well. So it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up hitting for some power at some point. That's kind of like not his game right now. But man, you just watch this guy play day in and day out and you start to fall in love with what he can do on the baseball field.

I'm excited for you, Trev. I know when we were going through some second baseman this year, me and Jolly doing the tier list on Waken Jake. He's really excited for Luke Echel, and you can see why. I mean, like you said, he checked every box, seven homers in a small sample. 17 stolen bases like that's, what's that? Those are projections.

Oh, these are the projections. Yeah, he's still 14 last year. Jake, how about you? You love the strikeout to walk ratio. in the big leagues at 22, 19 walks to 29 strikeouts. Okay. Yeah, right? Man, we've got a few of those.

Is that, that's all we have scouting-wise? Hair and walk to strikeout? I mean, as a young player, I think it tells a lot about your bats ball ability because most of these guys are going to have the bat speed at that age. But it's like, do your mechanics allow you to make contact and make good swing decisions? I mean, we're, I hope to God, we're getting back to that. Rookie of the year nine last year.

So, again, this is a little like, yeah, like, did he already kind of break out? But just not enough played appearances. I think he still qualifies. Only 49 games. Breakout could mean a lot of different things. And, yeah, I think if Luke Kishel puts together a full season, that's a breakout. And let's stay healthy and let's do it. No one is shocked you went with a twin.

Let's wrap up, wrap up the American League. And Trev, how about this? If you think Luke Keishel could get you in trouble, this is mine where I'm, again, breakout can mean a lot of different things. I'm going with Jack Leiter. I think he's the guy. Obviously, Al Leiter's son, we got the baseball lineage. He was the second pick in the draft.

So this isn't, again, depending how you label prospects and breakouts. And you could argue He broke out last year He had a really strong second half He had a 3-28 ERA He put together essentially a full season 29 starts last year The Velo is there

Mowing down lefties Coach Trev I know you like that That if you If you can take down your platoon side That opens up the door And man I love one guys How do I phrase this

I like when guys feel baseball. Jack Lider gets called up as the second pick in the draft. Hey, welcome to the show. Texas, 2024. He gets rocked around the ballpark, man. Just one of those definition of this level is just completely different. My guy, John Boy, my pitcher whisperer, sometimes he'll see a guy's fastball and he'll go, oh, no, that doesn't work here.

When he first saw Jack Lider get to the Biggs, he's like, that's, That's going to have to change. It did 29 starts at 386. I just think he's going to launch himself into the echelon of like, if you're talking best pitchers in baseball, I think Jack Leiter is going to be a part of that conversation. Whoa. Yeah, man.

Okay. I love the arm talent because of the lineage. I think he has an idea of what it takes at this level. And I'll give you an example. I mean, he needed to get another pitch going a little something to get him off that sense of the four seamer. So he learns a cutter from Garrett Crochet. Hey, Garrett, can you teach me the cutter grip? Sure.

He learns that. He's going over scouting reports with Nathan E. Ovaldi. So, like, those are the things that you have to do as a young player. If you get beat up your first go around, you understand there's adjustments that need to be made. and where do you go to get those like guys that have had success in the big leagues? And I love this quote from him. He goes, obviously I want to go deeper into games and throw more innings this season.

It's finding ways to be more efficient, getting quicker outs. And when you do find yourself on those two strike counts, how do you end the abat right there? That is, I love the mentality. Quick outs. And then when you have two strikes, like what's my pitch that I can go to? It's not going to be an uncompetitive pitch. It's let's get end the abat right here so you can go later into the ball. ball games. It's all of mentality. I think you got to give some credit to Al right there,

but, you know, Jack understanding the assignment and getting it done. I could see him making a big leap. One of the best pitchers in the game? Hey man. Why not? Like, the arm talent's there. You know, you're talking about he learned the cutter from crochet, which, hey, baseball is so bizarre. Oh, the biggest left-hander in the world taught you as cutter. All right. Do we think he's like, In my mind, every time I think of Garrett Crochet, I'm like, this guy's a monster. He is, right? Like, I'm not just like, something like a fish tail or like, he keeps getting bigger. Second biggest player I've seen.

Judges one and then it's Crochet two. Like, they're just... Chapman, too. All this Chapman and Garrett Crochet together is just frightening. Yes. Yes. And yeah, I don't know, man. Like, you mentioned, scouting reports with Avaldi.

Hey, maybe have a convo with Jacob de Grom when you got a second. Or text, dad. who pitched in the league for about two decades. Yeah, he's got the support system around him. He's felt baseball. Everything is there that I, I, you might hear his name in the Cy Young draft when we do that in a couple weeks.

Oh my gosh. Trev, where are you going in the AL best? This is an interesting one for me. Because I think he's kind of like fighting for a spot right now. So like I need him to win that spot. to be a breakout player. You don't need that. You don't need that.

I'll go with Cam Smith. We got to look at him last year. He came over in that Kyle Tucker trade from the Cubs. And right away, he looked the part. He's 6-3-220. He's one of the fastest players in the big leagues as well. I honestly didn't have that. What I think of Cam Smith,

I went on the savant page. I went on the savant page. Oh, his sprint speed is that. Okay. I watched some video on him, and I noticed a few things. he has you know obviously there's some whiff there he's a young guy he only played 32 games in the minors before getting called up to the big leagues is the third fastest in the

draft era crazy pina in cavilia and john olirut and then him and i think paul malder's like four games behind him so like that's when you don't have that time in the minor leagues to develop like there are going to be times when you get to the big leagues that you're going to struggle this is what i saw early in the season cam smith was really using his athleticism. Like he was kind of a little bit more upright. The hands were a little looser. And then I think there's the slump there towards like July, end of June,

I believe it was, where some more strikeouts started to happen. He didn't feel comfortable in the box. And he started to crouch down a little bit. He started to have the hands a little closer to the body because he just wanted to make contact. And it's like, okay, I like the adjustment. But like we need to, we need you to lose to use. use your athleticism again and feel comfortable in that approach because that's what's going to,

that's what's going to get the power. That's what's going to get, you know, that's the way he needs to hit the big league level. And I think just a couple more at bats, he'll start to feel more comfortable doing that and we'll see kind of that breakout. To me, it's a no brain for him to start in right field for the Astros. Yordon's got to get out of left field. He's got a D.H. We got to trade one of these guys, Walker, Apparedes.

I think that gives them their best overall defensive alignment and just line up in general. So we'll see how it goes, but I'm big on Cam Smith this year. Yeah, he a tale of two halves. In the first half, Cam Smith 277, 347, a 765 OPS, while learning a new position.

And you talked about the athleticism, which, yeah, you're right. Like I didn't think of Cam Smith like that, especially when you saw his body. Like, you're, we got some beef. Second half, 41 starts, 52 games, 154, 247, 489, which I mentioned, I mentioned, I said with Jack Leiter, I was like, I like guys that kind of feel baseball for the first time.

Like, Cam Smith probably never had a slump in his life. He played 32 minor league games from college, from high school, from AAU. like Cam Smith never probably had a bad week. I'm sure maybe he has one that he remembers. And then you find yourself in Houston like in the playoff run and now you're fighting for playing time and you're in your first career slump. It's where baseball can test you mentally that I like him having an off season

to go work on things. He hit lefties last year. Can we build on that? Or can, you know, your focus be like, hey, let's figure out what the righties are doing to me. And I don't know. I think you and I still have a respect for Houston. And remember in the Kyle Tucker bidding war,

other teams were in. But this is the guy that, like, led the package for them to move on from him. Got to make the team. Got to make the team. No, I'm obviously going to get baby a batts this year. Got to make the team. I think he will.

I played 134 games last year. Like, that's a full say. That's probably the most games he's played in a year. Yes, it is. That's pretty silly. A little center field so far. Okay. There's playing time for Cam Smith if he wants it, Trev.

That's that old school Minnesota Twins coaching. Trev, let's jump over to the National League, and we will start out east. And it's brought to you by our friends over at Seatgeek. It's time for the breakout forecast brought to you by Seatkeek. we're keeping our tabs on players all season long. That's kind of what we do with our friends at Sea Geek and this whole episode. I'm going to get fishy on you, Coach Trev.

And they got options, man. That whole roster's got some young and some spunk. I'm going to go with a guy. I watched his Major League debut. It's always in the eyes, Coach Trev. It's always in the eyes. Jacob Marcy, center fielder for the Florida Fish, center fielder for team Italia coming up in the World Baseball Classic.

This guy put together 55 games in the second half of last season, 292, 363, and 842 OPS, 5 homers, 14 stolen bases, controls the zone. That's what he did in the minor leagues. the defensive numbers rated out well one NL rookie of the month in August the month he was called up just hey how are you kid

welcome to the league he controls the zone we love that and yeah man I know I talked about it with Marcelo Mayer's hair this guy's eyes look at this Treff I mean this is if you're a bat

if you're a pitcher that's got to freak you out a little bit or you fall in love. Or you get hypnotized. Either way. Look at that. Are we the same? No. No, we're not.

No, he's playing centerfield for team Italy. I am not. I mean, look, you know I like a guy that can kind of do it all. Plate discipline. He's got speed. He's got defense. I mean, he is a ball player. And you put him out there in center field and let him run around.

young guy, 24 years old, I'm all in. Like he's got that, he's got that electric kind of feel to him. And it seems to me like he's just a guy like, he's the Marlins center fieler for the foreseeable future. And isn't that a nice thing to have? Look around the league, Jake. Like how many guys are like, yeah, that's our center fielder for the next five years. Not too many.

Not too many. Central Michigan guy, put, put that in my veins. This guy's begging to be traded to that AL Central one of these days. But for right now, Marlins fans don't need to hear that. He's real. He wants to be playing outside. He wants to be outdoors. He wants 42 and rainy.

I'll tell you what. These guys have come from the Midwest or the South. They get a little bit of Miami or a Hollywood, and they love it. So you don't even know. His first game, his debut was against the Yankees. One hit a double. three walks. You come up to the show, you want to swing the stick?

He's like, no, I'll take my free bases. He had like a historic opening weekend against the Yankees. He's a ball player's ball player. And Seekek, they're still there right now. Use code talking 2026, 10% off your next set of tickets at Citegeek. Where are you going in the East Treve? This one kind of tugs at the heartstrings a little bit for me. Because, you know, I just don't like injuries, man.

but they do happen during the game and it was something that I struggled with and I can't imagine Cade Cavali and kind of like what he had to go through so in March of 2020 he's diagnosed with the grade 3

UCL sprain he goes under Tommy John misses the entire 2023 season 24 just a ton of rehab setbacks he had influenza and a dead arm phase so he only made a few minor league appearance Yeah. Crazy.

And dysentery too. He had that. Was that real or a joke? Okay. That was just a little, that was just a little organ-trial joke. I don't mean a joke about this. I'm trying to tell you why I like this guy.

So only a few minorly appearances that year. So he was sidelined for a thousand, 76 consecutive days before he came back to the major leagues in August of 2025. And he looks the part, man. not only does he have a 55% ground ball rate, which is excellent. He's also got swing and miss stuff, 95th percentile on chase. People don't barrel him up, 95th percentile barrel percentage. So, like, he's a guy I root for because he's coming back from injury,

but also has the chance now fully healthy with the arm talent that he has to really establish and spell himself. you know as the Nats new front line starter I mean he's obviously going to get that opportunity there and man I don't know like it's just you root for guys like that

because you I mean if you don't know about a Tommy John recovery schedule it's brutal and you know you're sitting there for for freaking almost three years without being able to throw the ball something you've wanted to do your entire life and just wears on you you finally passed that I'm just excited to see what he

does in 2026. Yeah, it's, the nationals have opportunity this year. Our guy, Josiah Gray, coming back. I'm getting excited for that. And yeah, Cavali, man, this guy, he was a big prospect, and he got, he got thrown in the absolute grinder of baseball. I thought he was thrown for my team Italia. He opted out. He's, he's working on being in his best position for the Nazis here. So that's, That's kind of an adult position from a guy that's been through a lot. I think when you deal with injuries, I bet you're like, yeah, I can't take any chance. Yeah, sorry, sorry Italy. I know we're not, you know, we're trying to make it out of group.

Vinnie, stop calling me. Yeah, right. Stop calling me. The National League Central, Coach Trev, which I think before we get into it, this is where we should drop our surprise of the episode. We snuck something on Coach Treve this morning with our coach. who we shouldn't have called coach, but we did. We kind of blew that part.

But today's special guest, first guest in a while. It's Pat Murphy. Trev, I got a little surprise for you this morning. Holy shit. Murph. What's happening? What's up, dude? You better have some good stuff for me.

Trev, our power rankings really made the rounds, as you well know, that we got some some brews. Brewers people reached out and said, uh, why don't, why do we get coach on the show? And I don't know if you guys need to figure it out because you had them at 11th, Trev. I don't know, man. That's, that's, that's exactly where you guys want to be. Just like, you know, a little bit of respect, but, you know, you want that bull to more material.

You get it. That's what I, that was the other thing that I was excited about. I was like, wait. If I have them at two is, is coach going to be mad at me that I'm, I'm hype in the Brewers this year? Because that's not normally where you guys live. Yeah, but I would have had no idea, so I would have never known. So we would have seen each other and give each other a hug and everything would have been fine.

I wouldn't have had any idea you did that. The one I keep going to last year, you know, and we live in a different era of coaching, as you know, a lot better than me. But your South Freelich quotes last year, crack me up, the $5.9.70 keep your resume ready. Like, how does that relationship go throughout the year? I mean, Sal knows I love him. That's the most important thing. And the rest of it's necessary. You know what I mean?

It's necessary. That's every year. Who's the guy, who's the brewer's arm this year that's like the hot gossip of camp? I feel like I'm, I'm deep in Yankee world. LeGron Hay's throwing 103. Who are the Brewers guys lighting it up? We didn't have anybody throwing 103, but this kid we got from the Mets, Sprote. He's certainly legit.

There's a kid Harrison that we picked up that's throwing the ball good. It's fastball kind of plays better than the number. I'm trying to think who else is throwing really good. D.L. Hall pitched against us yesterday for Great Britain and threw the ball great. Oh, wow. He shut us out for three innings for pitching for Great Britain, even though he's not on that team. but we just made that arrangement.

That's fun. Trev, I know, again, this was your little morning surprise for you. So I know you don't like being put on the spot, but you got anything for Coach Murphy? Are you into the WBC at all? Do you have a team you're particularly rooting for? Yeah. Yeah, the USA.

I'm not really rooting. I'm just following along. But, yeah, I mean, I've been involved with the Dutch team, the Netherlands twice in my life in 87 and 2000, Sydney. So I always pull for them to do well. And we have so many players. So I just love tracking our players in this deal. Hopefully we cross paths during the season.

I would love to see you, man. That would be great, man. That would be great. Yeah, our own. I got one more baseball and then we'll hit you with one silly, and let you let you kick off spring out there. The NL Central has a little more buzz this year, like the Pirates put together in offseason,

the Reds, you look around the field, you just see talent everywhere, obviously what the Cubs have put in. Does that change your guys' approach to the season at all, or is it like, hey, we're going to play Brewers' ball and we've got to win one game at a time? I mean, they have, you have to be like that because the league's been getting better every year.

last year the Cubs were as good a team as anybody in baseball. The Reds made the playoffs also. No other division had three teams in the playoffs. The Pirates were building, but now they've really put forth a club that needs to be reckoned with with their pitching staff and then what they did in the offseason. And don't sleep on St. Louis. Now, they traded some veterans, but they have some really good young players. So between the Reds, the Pirates, the Cubs. Yeah, it's going to be a dog fight.

And we're just, I mean, we're living on reputation. We've got to figure some things out here in order to maintain what we're doing. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned all those teams, great teams, sure, but you guys won 97 games last year and won the NL Central. So, I mean, there is something about that Brewer's magic that you guys got going on there. It's always a pleasure to watch your team, especially when you're at the helm. You guys, you just, you seem to be able to get the most out of everybody. Yeah, I don't know if that's true, but thanks for saying.

It is. It sounds good. And, you know, when you're getting old, it's kind of a fun thing. People say nice things. You're like, damn, that's pretty cool. But the truth is, factually, we got good dudes, man. They're the right people. And they like to be challenged.

They like to be told they're the 11th team out of 12. and so it's, you know, it's motivating. Anyway, it's the right bunch of guys. And that's what makes it fun. Well, again, this is a flashback. It's a bigger memory in our head than it definitely is for you. But we went to the Brewers. We became a fan of you.

I want to say it was 2021 or 2022. We did the sausage race with our guy, Jimmy. before the game, you were busting Rowdy Teles's balls. He had like a game-winning double off the wall, and you were like, you blocked that ball. You missed it. And it was just such good baseball talk, man, that we, it's what we love drinking in.

So we're Brewer supporters and we're Murphy stands. Well, I appreciate it, man. You got to keep it light. Trevor can tell you, man, this thing is, it can get hairy. It can get in your head. there's a lot more pressure on these guys than ever before. So I think keeping it light makes them realize,

hey, we're all in it together. And, yeah, hopefully they can take that and know that they're safe and that they're wanted and, you know, play really good. Beauty. Well, thank you so much, Skip. Enjoy spring training. And we'll, man, games that count in about three weeks. Jesus.

That would be nice. That would be fun. Thank you so much. Today's episode is sponsored by Amazon. When life throws you a curveball, Amazon's everyday low prices on essentials help you save the day. Amazon has everything you need whenever you need it. From planned purchases to unexpected moments,

they've got everything in one place, saving you time, money, so you can focus on what matters the most. And for us, what matters the most is having as much time as we can to watch baseball. All. From tech to clothing to daily needs, anything you need to prepare for the start of baseball season, Amazon has everything, all in one convenient place and can deliver to you anytime, anywhere. Whether it's routine shopping or handling life's curveballs, shop Amazon, save on essentials, save the every day. All right, so yeah, a little bit of funny business. our, well, A, our coach Trev had to get it fired up a little early this morning. So it was kind of a double surprise, 6 a.m. on the West Coast and you hop into the Zoom and Pat Murphy's waiting for you.

A little intimidating. As nice as he's been to us and like, you know, he's got that funny bone in him. But he's, you know, he can he can like kind of stare at you and scare you a little bit, man. And like, I respect him a lot. I want to like, I want him to like me. I don't really feel that way around a lot of people. I don't really care usually. It's kind, it's kind of like he knows if you're putting in the work or not. Yeah.

And you know what, dude? That's why I told him. I said, you get the most out of your players. I don't know about that. But it's that because guys are a little scared of them. Yeah. You love them, but you're also scared of them. It's perfect.

You don't want the eye of Sauron staring at you. And he's kind of got that. Did I do that right? I mean, Sauron's a little tough to put on that Murphy. That's like all of the evil in the world is Sauron. Yeah. Okay. I didn't mean it that way.

You just, you don't want, damn it, I tried to get some Lord of the Rings in. Don't tell him that. Trev, I'll piggyback off of it because I actually, hey, if you want to hear from someone's mouth that's a little more important than me, me. He hyped up Brandon Sproote, who they got in that Freddie Peralta trade. So like, don't, don't be surprised how that guy's throwing the ball this year. And coming in, I actually,

well, Annie mentioned D.L. Hall, who that was the piece they got for Corbyn Burns, people, who, like, he had some injuries last year. If you look at the Brewers pitching depth, I'm just, again, I already planted my flag, but watch out. And a guy that we, again, this guy maybe hates Jacob Mizorowski. He doesn't. Logan Henderson got called up last year. Five starts. ERA of 178 in those five starts. 33 strike counts to eight walks. He was kind of a two and a half pitcher guy that obviously when you think of starting pitchers,

you know it's very hard in this league if you don't have that third or fourth pitch. Let's see what he's working on. He threw the cutter to lefties, so he's got something going on there. And, I mean, Trev, you talked about it with Cam Smith. This guy's going to be fighting for pitching time for the Brewers, so that's my biggest concern. Also, though, we've got a nice little right-on-right change-up, which we talked about.

The change-up is a pitch that comes with experience or time, that if you are a young pitcher, especially a righty that has that, that can be a complete neutralizer and something that a lot of guys don't see. So I don't know. I could have picked a handful of young. Oh, look at that. Look at that.

That looked like, play that one again, Bobbo. That looked like a Maddox two seamer. Stuck the landing a little bit. Yeah, I could have pitched a handful of guys for the Brewers, but I went Logan Henderson because he also did it last year. You could have picked Jacob Mizorowski to break up. out. He kind of, he was, he was an all-star, people would have hated that. Well, he, he was good for like three starts. I was, I was saying, we got to talk about this guy with Paul Skeens. It kind of fell apart on him a little bit there, but he has the talent to really establish himself, I think so this year. I don't think that would have a crazy pick.

Pitching coach Chris Hook for the Brewers. Didn't have that. Yeah, Henderson, as you mentioned, fastball change it primarily, got the cutter working out, curveball working. And, you know, I just like guys who understand. what needs to be done at the big league level. Like work needs to continue to happen. I love, this is another Murph, just like prodding this guy. A quote from him is, I'm not shying away from who I am. That's primarily a fastball and change up. But the book's out of me.

Merv said it a lot last year that you can pretty much flip a coin and guess which pitch I'm throwing. I want to be able to eliminate that. That's crazy. No, I mean. No other managers talk like this. I love it, dude. In a day and age where it's easier to learn a new pitch, like faster than ever, like, okay, I'm in.

You don't need four pitches. You just need one extra one, man. You need to throw it 10% of the time. That's it. I love right-on-right change forever has been like the most underused pitch, I think, in all of baseball. Guys that have a good one. Obviously, it neutralizes the lefties as well. But think about like James Shields when he was going on.

Really good. Jeremy Hellickson had some years where he was filthy with that change up. You don't see it a lot. And I'm not really sure why guys shy away from it. Maybe because it just like doesn't show up. I don't like, I feel like the other pitches get all like the hoopla when we're talking about spin and induce vertical break

and all this stuff like that. And change is just like, oh, it's change up. but it's a if you have the right arm speed on it i mean it just helps your fastball out so much i think i've i've got two theories on it uh one i i think there used to be a lot of guys that threw a change up to throw a change up um that if if you like changeups now have to have movement like if you don't have a change they should have movement i mean a good circle change will you know almost flutter like a splitter Exactly. And I think, so with that development and, dude, this is one of those cases where snaps to baseball moving forward and having more analytics and numbers, I think it just became simple as like, wait, if you throw a good pitch that moves, there was just, like, I remember learning the game growing up. They were like, oh, right on right, you don't throw a change up. That's just a bad fastball. And like, that is so dumb. That is such dumb, just like male energy that.

I think we've outgrown that. So I'm happy for Logan Henderson that he's in this timeline. Can I make it about me for a second? Always. I had a great change of. Great. Really? Yeah, circle change.

I'd pro-nated it. I probably telegraphed it. But high school hitters, they didn't know. They didn't care about that. Man. That's such a good feeling, too, if you know, like, a guy's gearing up. He's like, oh, I got to, I got to let, I got to decide early because this guy's got a good fastball, and you just pulled a string on them,

that's so, that's so dirty. Yeah, and like, I mean, this doesn't happen to the Bailey level, but like, you know, two one change up in high school. It might as well just kill the guy. Like, yes. Oh, my gosh.

One oh change up. Sorry, you're swinging out of your shoes. All right. That was fun. Who's your NL Central guy? I'm going with the chalk here, I think. Really? Well, here's a thing.

Well, here's a thing. The NL Central's got a ton of people. You could talk. We're not talking Chase Burns, which I think has a potential to, he needs to be a, has the potential to really be a guy. I mean,

Connor Griffin is the talk of the town. So, like, you can go up and down the NL Central and find guys. I think it's probably like the biggest division as far as guys who we think can break out. By the way, you heard skip,

talk about the Cardinals. Everyone's, you know, yeah, that's the feather of my cap a little bit there. I'm going with Sal Stewart, uh, looking to play first base for the Cincinnati Reds. A couple of reasons. Number one,

they, I know they brought Gino back, but like they need, they need someone to be the guy. And like, it might be this guy. Like he's shown the hit tool. He's done it before a 30 second overall pick in 2020.

I do have a few qualms, uh, with him. Like, look, he's done it. Like, he had, like, he's done well in pro ball. If you look at his swing, let's get at the top right there, right before he goes to swing, there's a little extra hitch right there. And I know he generates a lot of power from that.

But it also, man, like, you can pull the shoulder, pull the head a little bit. So, like, it's going to help the chase is going to be worse because of it. I think if he, like, pre, like, almost like presets that a little bit more, or does it a little bit smoother where it's not so jerky? I think we'll see him make that adjustment at the big level sooner than later. But if he makes that adjustment, I think this guy is the limit for this guy.

He kind of has everything you need in a hitter. Big time plate coverage, power, bat speed, that little hitch right there to me. That's the one thing that I would clean up with him and I think we could see him take off. Yeah, I don't have to do my whole stuff. Cincinnati Reds, how they just live in my head. But there's so many guys I like, and it's so many,

in the great version of this, it's guys playing well and competing for playing time. In the bad version of this, it's when am I getting my at-bats? You know, I'm struggling to get in a rhythm. Baseball players are creatures of habit that, like, I've, it's kind of what the Reds have turned into, that Sal Stewart, like, Spencer Steer, Like, Nathaniel Lowe, is he going to make this team?

Because if he does, like, I look at Nathanielo's baseball card and I'm like, okay, I see kind of one bad season. Like, the Reds would have killed for Nathaniel Lowe like two years ago. That I'm very interested to see how it plays out. Like you meant, I mean, South Stewart has a real prospect profile. And if he, the Reds want him to work, which sometimes that matters a lot more than I'm talking. talking about a minor league invite for Nathaniel Lowe right now. Honestly, that's my only concern. And I think if you have him and you care about the Reds,

you're thinking about this season and upcoming seasons, you got to let him out there and find out what you have. Yeah. So, you know, scouting report by baseball America, he has both velocity and spin. He got to be able to do that at the big level. He spits on pitches outside the zone and punishes hitable pitches in the zone. had a really good strikeout rate in the minor leagues, 15.7 career, which is great.

Went up to 25.9 in the big leagues. That's why I say like that little hitch adjustment, I think we'll do him, we'll kind of get him possibly back to that number. That'd be really nice if you got a power guy that can get down to 157 as well. Trev, I, I've done this with one other player in the majors before, and I can't believe I miss this. Sal Stewart makes so much sense to me now. Miami. Miami, baby. 305. You love Miami, boys. Because, you know, a, South Stewart and the Cincinnati Reds, that feels, that felt a little grungy.

Okay. Sal Stewart, Miami, and his personality and the way he swings the bat, yes. Yes. That's my new, that's part of our front office, Trev. Miami, Cuba, there's a connection there. I'm in, dude. Okay. Sal Maxwell Stewart?

Hey Dodgers, we're going to take some Japanese players as well. Yeah, we're going to, we're international. I like it. There's a handful of reds you could have picked. There's a handful of. I'm saying the Central Division. The Pirates, we could have done, Connor Griffin, we could have done half their pitching staff.

Like the Central, both Centrals, burgeoning with young talent. Let's see what it looks like. Today's episode is sponsored by Rocket Money. Your own finances can feel overwhelming in the amount of time it takes can feel like a burden. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you fine and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. With Rocket Money, you can set budgets and goals, get personalized insights in regular reports,

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Where we're going to land the plane might have been the toughest division to go with. The N.O. West, when you look around, A, the Dodgers, we got, it's really hard to find some playing time in that lineup. Rocks actually have a lot of guys. I know you're a big Jordan Beck guy. I think the team that stood out to me where there's going to be opportunity, like the Padres, tough to crack the Padres as well. The Arizona Diamondbacks have a little bit of playing time out there. and it kind of became a debate between two guys. Jordan Lawler, former first round pick, I think, like six overall. A lot of talent.

It looks like he's getting kicked to the outfield. Sometimes that can be relaxing for a guy, sometimes that can be stressful or a guy. Let's see what it looks like for Jordan Lawler. I'm going to go back to what works with us, Trev. And we kind of laughed when we saw this on the TPP, because this was a little bit of adult and special. Ryan Waldschmidt, depending where you look, top 50 prospect, top 30 prospect.

On the minor league level, the on-base percentage is silly. Looney Tunes, like for what we've been talking about for some of these guys, obviously I just clicked away from the numbers, so that's fantastic, Jake. That's just good podcasting. Let's see. Okay, career minor league numbers so far, Coach Trev. 148 games. 288.

That's solid. That's good. 426 on base. You don't see a lot of guys. Hey, you don't see a lot of fours. And that's like, that's not 401. 426 and 886 OPS. 111 walks to 115 strikeouts in the minor leagues.

We've got some speed 33. steals. We got some pop. That, like, I'm, last year was his first year of pro ball. He went from high A to AA, thrived at both levels, that I think there's going to be some playing time to be had for the snakes this year. It could be early, like, depending how Corby Carroll comes from that industry, injury, industry, too. But, yeah, for me, it became a Lawler versus Walschman and I'll go with the devil I don't know a little bit

Oh, okay You would do that You would do that Yeah look For a guy like this There are times where You get your opportunity In ways you don't want

You don't want those guys to be out To start the season But you have to go ahead and run with it That's what Lavello said the same thing He's coming, he's emerging He's got a lot going for him He's very talented player And he's going to determine his own timeline

All around ball player I like it for your snakes, Jake. Yeah, I'm trying to get back. I'm trying to get back. And hey, Lawler's having a nice spring so far. He's 23. Maybe the future, maybe the future arrives this year.

Dalton just threw up. No. They have a chance, all right? They have a chance. Maybe I was right to put the Cardinals in front of them, Dalt. Maybe I was right. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. It's getting late.

Getting late early. I'm going with the guy, and it's a repeat pick from last year. You know what? Like he, it's high son Kim of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Not a ton of playing time last year, 161 at Bats.

He did have some shoulder brositis towards the end of the year. Started out with a bang, like really came on strong, struggled towards the end of the year, chased a lot of pitches down. But like a guy that, I don't know, he just seems like a spark plug to me. I don't know where the playing time.

is going to come from. It's an absolutely stacked roster. But whenever I see this guy in the lineup, I get excited. He can steal bases. He can play defense. He's working on continuing to kind of like get that context skill better. I want to see this guy playing more and more. And I think with like, and maybe I'm wrong about this,

but the Dodgers roster is getting a little bit older. Oh. We need to get. just off days for everybody. Then here's His son Kim, getting to play more and more. I want to see what happens when this guy gets, let's give him 400 A-Bs this year. Okay.

And just see what happens. I mean, when this guy's signed with the Dodgers, you and I both are like, okay, what's going to happen here? Didn't necessarily get that way last year again, just didn't really have a place to play. But I do believe we'll see Mookie off his feet a little bit more this year. and with that, we should get some more high song, Kim. Yeah, the path isn't that crazy to see.

If you are a B-war person, 1.7 B-war with 170 plate appearances. So you're right. If you get to 400, I mean, even if he gets to 300, you're talking about a three-war played well at second base. They moved him around a little bit. Some of the numbers didn't like him at other positions. let's see what that looks like. 13 stolen bases, three homes, like a little bit of everything.

There's a chance we see him as like the starting second basement of the Dodgers this year. That's it. It could. And if that happens, I'm telling you right now, everyone's going to fall in love with this guy. Alex Freeland on the Dodgers roster, what's that going to look like? Miggie Rojas, if you just, if you need anything, tap him on the show.

It'd be so funny if Mughey Rowe just like, doesn't play this year. Literally, it's just show hayes like catty. No, he's like, we brought him back. He's going to play. He plays every year because he's Miguel Rojas. And, yeah, Trot, like I teed, teed this, this division up, Dodgers Padres, it's tough to find your, your playing time out there.

Giants even. We could have done Bryce Eldridge, I guess, but he's kind of, We've talked about him a little bit and 21, 6 foot 7 DH. I'm interested to see what that looks like. And then the whole Rocky's roster, which we're rooting for. Go nuts, boys.

Oh. Oh, no. Hey, Trevor May put something out about, like, how to pitch. Yes. Yeah. He's on our... Basically, just be a V-Lo guy, throw a splitter. I think a gyro slider, I think he said.

sweeper, fastballs, and splitters. He's in the club. Hey, welcome. You're ahead of pitching. I think you, me. Eno, Saris, and Trevor May run the pitching. Foolish Bailey does some nerd stuff for us. And John is our Pat Murphy.

Oh, he's running the show? I don't want to be in uniform. No, no, no. I think John is like the, I think when we needed to be shot straight, it's like, hey, kid, your fastball's not working. Figure it out. Figure it out or you're going to be doing something else.

And you can do that with the hitters too defensively. I think we've got something. I want to be like John Middleton in the stands, like buying beer for a section. That's my role. That's your ownership role. I just want people to like love me. Yeah.

It's all I care. It's kind of what everyone wants for being honest. Okay. Those were breakout players. Was there only, how many pitchers were there? I guess we had a couple pitchers. Henderson, Bos, Cavali. Okay.

Okay. For a second, I was worried, you know, we get excited about the hitters big time this time of year. Thank you to everyone. Let us know who your breakout player is. Obviously, there's going to be, there's going to be so many dudes that do it this year. can't wait to see who it is. And hopefully it's every young guy on your team. And that changes the course of your team's season.

Jake sucks. Come on Pat Murphy coach. Luke Keishol. Who's that? Luke Keishol. Hopefully. Hopefully we do better than last year. Tough.

Big leagues are tough. Big leagues are tough. No other league. Camilo Doval. Oh, yeah. That's your guy.