Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Who's Baseball's NEXT Breakout Star From Each Division?

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

Use code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2025. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Download the DraftKings Sportsbook... app and use promo code TALKIN Talkin' Jake and Coach Trev breakdown who they think will be the NEXT breakout star in Major League Baseball and Coach Trev gives in depth reasoning on HOW players can take the next step! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:01 Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Break out! Who are going to be the new dudes in Major League Baseball this year? Not you, Coach. Let's talk about it. Roki Sasaki. Bunt. Can't feel this position.
Starting point is 00:00:22 Can't feel. That's his one weakness. No splitters. They didn't talk about that in the Scouting Report. He can probably do that fantastic. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball, presenting you by Seek. Coach Trev out in L.A. Myself, Jake Storelli, and Rob Seraco here in New York City.
Starting point is 00:00:43 New York City in February, baby. Doesn't get better than that. We are less than a week from the pitchers reporting. The pitchers have already reported, by the way. Everyone's already at their spring training site. Did that? I don't want to back in your day, you, but like, it feels like this is, is this new, or is this just social media being like, hey, everyone starts running their
Starting point is 00:01:05 place February 1st so if you're down here you might as well start throwing there's a little bit of that nice nice call pop I think there's a couple different reasons why guys would go down early you want to make a good impression or maybe you live in a cold weather state you want to get acclimated I think that's a big thing for guys is allergies you go to these places but you need time to adjust I'm telling you yeah you got to get down to Florida early get down like everywhere is different and I feel like you know sometimes you make that change You just get a little bug or whatever. It's just nice to get acclimated.
Starting point is 00:01:41 So, yeah, if you're in a cold weather place or somewhere that doesn't have great facilities, you just get down there. If you have somewhere that you like and you're a veteran, maybe you show up the day you have a report. But I would say 85% of the guys go down at least a week early. Yeah, I mean, all the pitchers now, it feels like a requirement that, you know,
Starting point is 00:02:03 I saw our guy Jared Jones, saw him twirling the pill on Instagram. It's that time. You got, I forget what day it was. It was like a week, about a week ago. There was like five or six baseball players that did their like end of winter post. And it's like, yeah, let's go. Let's go.
Starting point is 00:02:21 Putting it out there for the clicks, baby. Yeah, you know, I think there are guys also like, yeah, I'll go down to Scott Steeleer really. Right. Do you know what I mean? Like get down there, get with the boys, have a few dinners before it just gets crazy. There's a lot of reasons, man. I used to go, I used to go early. I just like to get down there and again,
Starting point is 00:02:39 just like have some time to settle in instead of getting down there and like the next day you're up at, you know, 5.30, like going to, it's just, you want to, you want to get there. You want to get there. Put some spikes on. That's another thing people don't talk about, dude. You got to, you got to get your spikes on. That's why I start wearing my timboes, my Timberland in the winter. You know, it's just a different. You got to get the legs used to it, the click.
Starting point is 00:03:07 You wear them in July? Just like, okay, I know it's coming. Just one day. Just one summer day. Trev, we spend a lot of the offseason talking about the free agents and the trades. Then I've given this speech before. And then every year we're like, well,
Starting point is 00:03:23 turns out this team is great this year. Turns out the Pirates pitching is good because Skeens, Jones. Who else are it? Louis Ortiz, who they sneaky traded this off season? Pirates for clicks. Young guys getting better is probably the most important part of every baseball team. And every year there's breakout, there's new talent on the scene. And we were thinking of the different ways to slice this.
Starting point is 00:03:51 Because you could go to every team and be like, oh, this guy, he's got, he's got all the tools. This guy's got. So we wanted, we're going division by division. Who popped out, Treft's taking his American League. I'm taking my National League. So we're going to highlight one guy from the division. We'll mention a couple of the Jess Mists or guys that it looked like. But Trev, even before that, you were mentioning this to me,
Starting point is 00:04:17 and I was like, I don't have much to add, but you talked about what it takes to break out. And is that a fundamental change? Is that a mental change? Is that feeling failure for the first time and growing through that? So I kind of, I want to hear you talk about that. Yeah, I think it's a really fun conversation. I definitely had a situation in my career where I had a breakout like month.
Starting point is 00:04:42 And there were certain reasons for it. But there's there it can be different things for different people. I think you hit one. I think the most important thing is what you said last right there. A lot of these guys and, you know, we're going to talk about a few of them, fail for the first time ever in baseball. Like truly fail. like they feel like they are not a good baseball player.
Starting point is 00:05:06 At the major league level, in front of everyone, they feel like the world is crashing down. And that is something that you have to learn. I went through that in the minor leagues. That was the first time I was not a good baseball player was in the minor leagues. I tasted failure. I had bad years. And it was very difficult.
Starting point is 00:05:25 But you have to mentally just overcome that. You have to understand that it is a game of failure, especially on the offensive side, and you just have to find a way through that. And guys cope with it differently. I developed a mindset that I just was like, you know what? Like,
Starting point is 00:05:40 I don't care what is happening. I'm going to be confident. And it's like sometimes it's like not great for me. Like I just think I'm good at everything when I'm not. But that I had like that was a learned skill for me. It wasn't something I just like had. And some people go that route. Other people have,
Starting point is 00:05:57 you know, have that first failure. make mechanical adjustments. I think one of the guys we're going to talk about or that I'm going to talk about, I think needs to make a mechanical adjustment to become a breakout star. So there's the failure aspect of it.
Starting point is 00:06:13 I think there is a playing time aspect to it. A lot of times, you know, if you make it to the major leagues, chances are in the minor leagues you were playing every single day. And, you know, that allows you a little bit of runway to, you know, go O for four. or over a series, but you know you're playing every day
Starting point is 00:06:33 and you can, you know, get through that. And then you get to the major leagues and maybe your position is blocked or maybe, you know, there's a couple guys and you're only playing three days a week. That's a huge, that's a huge adjustment for guys. At the end of my career, when I wasn't a starter anymore
Starting point is 00:06:50 and I was kind of coming off the bench, I just didn't know how to do it. I think people don't give those guys credit enough. Guys that can come off the bench, like a Miggie Row. or you know there's there's a ton of guys you could mention guys that don't play every single day but still are able to keep their you know their timing or the confidence level up i think that's a big part of it so some of these guys on this list will be guys that maybe the opportunity to play every day is finally going to come um so i think there's that aspect to it but you could
Starting point is 00:07:23 really you could really talk about a lot of different things and I don't mean to be like so long-winded about it, but I feel like I'm pretty verseness because I've just seen it from a bunch of different angles. For a hitter, I think you can get away with a lot of things at the minor league level that you can't get away with at the major league level. I've mentioned this on the show before.
Starting point is 00:07:47 In the minor leagues, you're going to face a pitching staff that, you know, there's a couple guys that, okay, this guy is a true man. major league and you know that. The other guys, you know, maybe they're finding their way, but you can make do against those guys, the lesser guys on the pitching stand. Well, we see it at the major league level that like, think about how we talk about relievers and starters. If you have, if you don't have a third pitch, there's almost no chance you can be a starting pitcher. That's how, that's how good hitters are that on the minor league level,
Starting point is 00:08:23 like you might be seeing a guy who, yeah, he's a prospect, but right now he only has a fastball. So it's like, okay, so let's work on that. Or I know one of the stats that we've, and I think there's different ways to get access to it now, but in the minor league levels, I think there's some guys that you might look at their stats, and it's like, this guy's been an 850 OPS, why isn't this guy more of a prospect? But he only hits fastball. So it's like, okay, well, guess what? If you get to the big league and that's the only pitch you can hit, you're not going to be a big league.
Starting point is 00:08:53 So keep going, sorry. I think I've told this story before Or maybe I haven't I had a hitting coach Floyd Rayford Sugar Bear I actually just had a great conversation with Eddie Murray about him
Starting point is 00:09:10 and he had a bunch of great stories name drop my bad He was my hitting coach We were in AAA We were in Pawtucket And We were getting diced up I forget who the pitcher was man
Starting point is 00:09:23 I forget who it was but he was one of the better pitchers in the internationally that was AAA in the internationally What's that? Clay buckles It might have been hit no I think he like race through the minor leagues And so we're getting diced up
Starting point is 00:09:38 And I'm watching Floyd And he's just pacing up and down the dugout And every once in a moment He's like go to the trash can And just like kick it And his heads down is this Just like worst body language you'll ever see Nice.
Starting point is 00:09:55 And so I'm like, I'm like, Floyd, like, what's up, dude? Like, why are you so upset? Like, this guy's like the best pitch in the league. Like, you know, we're, like, you know, we've been hitting well. Like, this, you know, this guy's good. And he looks at me and he goes, Buffy, what do you think this guy's going to be in the major leagues? You think he's going to be an ace?
Starting point is 00:10:18 And I started to think. I'm like, probably not an ace for the Red Sox. He's like, this guy. guy's going to be a fifth starter in the big leagues. If you guys can't hit this, you ain't got a shot. And that clicked for me. I'm like, oh my gosh, you're sorry, that's the difference. Minor leagues, you'll get guys that are good. You'll get guys that are kind of filler guys, especially when I played when there was more divisions in the minor leagues, more leagues, you get filler guys. And that is something that's why they paired the minor leagues down. It's because
Starting point is 00:10:54 95% of those guys really had like no chance they were just there so the guys they thought were going to be big leaguers had guys to play against it's a dirty truth of the minor leagues and every once in a while one of those guys broke out and became a guy so you know whatever the difference in the major leagues is
Starting point is 00:11:14 you just it's every freaking day you were facing someone that was the best pitcher in the minor leagues it's every single day it doesn't stop so it gets daunting as a hitter you have to overcome so much. And I think that's where a lot of guys struggle initially is.
Starting point is 00:11:31 Man, there's just no let up. So you, there isn't somebody that you can just bank on, okay, man, I can take a breath. And I'm going to face 88 or 91. And, you know, and this guy only has one plus pitch. It's like, dude, every single day you're facing someone. And they might look like not that great compared to their counterparts,
Starting point is 00:11:52 the aces of the staff, but they still have major league stuff. And I think that's where a lot of guys struggle at the big level for the first time and have to just figure out like what they can do to combat that. I think that's what we'll get into.
Starting point is 00:12:08 For almost all of my hitters, I think that's kind of where I see the adjustment coming and the breakout coming. Well, let's get into a little bit. I dish the AL2. You know what? This is just for me. The American League is brought to you by our warehouse games.
Starting point is 00:12:26 Go check out what's going on right now. Well, two things. Blitzball that's taken off. It's become nuts. You guys might have seen it on TV. Whoops. We are filming our next Blitzball Battle. Six coming up next week.
Starting point is 00:12:41 Geez. Start stretching, Trev. It's an amazing product. You have to go watch it. Competitive, drama, all of it. It's unreal. And right now we have slapball coming out, which if you're not familiar with slapball,
Starting point is 00:12:57 it's a sport we've made up. But people love it, and it's like our favorite thing in the office. We kind of made up a game in our warehouse. It's competitive. It's fun. People love watching it. So go check out our warehouse games channel.
Starting point is 00:13:10 Subscribe to that. A lot of breakout players there. Who you got in the ALEs, Trep? Couple good ones. You're going to Dominguez, right? Dominguez from the Yanks, right? They saw him. I hope so.
Starting point is 00:13:22 I got a lot of his baseball cards, bro. You guys kept hyping the guy up. I think this is kind of a layup, but I think it lends itself to a good discussion. It's Jackson Holiday. Okay. We know the pedigree.
Starting point is 00:13:38 1-1, I believe. Yeah, 1-1 pick. We know who his dad is. We know who his family is. His brother's going to be the 1-1 pick going to the nationals. Congratulations. You won the off-season. A highly touted guy.
Starting point is 00:13:51 breeze through the minor leagues. He's 21 years old right now. And everyone just kind of expected him to be, you know, the next guy to come up with the Orioles and have that success. And we saw, I mean, a ton of the guys have done that. You had the farm system. We saw the numbers in Norfolk. They were scoring 30 runs a game. And everyone was waiting for these guys to do it. And sure enough, you know, Adlead came first. And then it was, you know, Grod. Then it was Gunner. And then it was Westberg and Colton Cowser, all these guys can have had success, and Jackson Holiday was going to be the next guy. And we're like, oh, my gosh, this team's going to be, they're going to run the AL for the foreseeable future. And he came up and struggled.
Starting point is 00:14:32 You know, over last year, 280 plate, plate appearances, 189, 255, 311 slug for a 566. At times looked just overmatched. And I think he's one of the guys who I talk about, you know, this is the first time he struggled. in the big leagues and all that pressure that comes along with it, especially playing in the AL East. I know people don't want to hear that, but there are divisions that are a little bit more stressful than other divisions. I think the travel on the AL East can get a little weird sometimes.
Starting point is 00:15:04 I think there's weather almost everywhere. The Central is not great in weather, but the ALE is another one of the weather's not great in early in the season. All these things come into play. but for him it's I think it's a mechanical issue okay like I said in the minor leagues
Starting point is 00:15:24 you face guys where you can you can have some mechanical flaws and still make up for it with your natural ability if you watch Jackson Holiday hit he's got he's got like a a leg kick it's an early leg kick but I just think it's a little bit too big right now
Starting point is 00:15:43 and what I tell even my youngest guys, you know, my 9 U SoCal Padres team shout out we had our first practice of the spring. Is it spring yet? Whatever. Okay. Had that yesterday. I talk about eliminating excess movement all the time because these guys
Starting point is 00:15:59 are so freaking good, Jake, that you just have to. Last year, Jackson Holiday on forcing fastball's negative three run value and I think it had something to do with the height of his leg kick. Now he gets it up
Starting point is 00:16:15 early, but because it's high, it's just harder to, it's harder to catch up to Velo, unless you're perfect. Like, your timing has to be so, so good. I always give Mike Mustakis as an example of a guy who I really liked his lower half, because he got started really early, but his cleats like scrape the ground. Like, he never, like got his foot, like, super up. It was more like he coiled with his foot just like, it's like, I swear they were scraping the dirt. Holidays more of an, and you see this, I think a lot more from new school hitters as we're more into biomechanics and how do we, how do we maximize our power?
Starting point is 00:16:56 Like we're getting, we're doing as much as we can. That's great because you can do that in the cage and you can do that in your training facility and you're going to get crazy exit velocity numbers and it's all good. But the guy on the mound now, he controls what's going on. So I think with one slide adjustment, I think we see Jackson Holiday turn into the guy that he can be. He has barrel accuracy. He knows what to do. Everything works. It's just, I think, having that timing right day in and day out will come with just a little bit of a swing adjustment,
Starting point is 00:17:42 just having that leg kick just down a little bit. I don't mean he has to he doesn't have to get his foot down earlier. He doesn't have to completely can it. It just has to be a little bit smaller so he can make those adjustments. He doesn't get blown up by a fastball. It seemed to me, and Orioles fans, let me know. The times that I watched him, I felt like he was in between pitches. And that is the worst place to be.
Starting point is 00:18:06 You want to be on time for the fastball with the ability to adjust to the breaking ball. And all that means is you're starting at the right time, but you can control when you start your swing. And the higher your leg kick goes up, the less control you kind of have. And there's outliers. You know, I'm sure there's going to be some fucking hitting coach out there. So actually, bro, that's not right.
Starting point is 00:18:30 There are outliers in the game. Okay. And I think people don't discuss that enough when they're talking hitting, Jake, is that not every person can move their body the same. Like, I don't know. go check it out. Some guys can make those moves. Some guys work on them.
Starting point is 00:18:47 Who comes to mind? Justin Turner, Batista. There are guys that can do it. Their bodies work differently, whatever it is. I think Jackson needs to make that adjustment. And if he does, I think he's going to be the guy. I also think he's just so young and there was a lot of pressure. So swing adjustment, yes.
Starting point is 00:19:11 Time in the big league. dirt on the spikes. That means something, dude. He's seeing the best pitching he's ever seen in his life. And like you sometimes you just need a little bit of an adjustment period. So I'm going Jackson Holiday. I think he's I think he's got like the glove to play. He's got all the actions. He does everything right. And that's not like something crazy to say. He was the one one pick. I think he was the number one overall prospect in the game. So kind of a layup for me there. but with those small adjustments and just a little bit more time seeing that type of pitching, I think he's the guy.
Starting point is 00:19:51 Yes, he's, it's all there. Like the minor league numbers are crazy. Remember, there was a little bit last year that, I think the past couple years that this became a Norfolk Tides program because of everyone the Orioles had coming through and just dominating. And I remember when Jackson Holiday first came up and like the struggle was getting real. And then we looked back at AAA and he wasn't killing it where the rest of his minor league numbers were.
Starting point is 00:20:17 I think he went back down and he crushed. And his career minor league numbers and double A and AAA, like in 73 games at AAA last year, he got on at a 431 clip. Like that's special. All of his minor league career numbers are special, especially when you factor in. He just turned 21.
Starting point is 00:20:39 So I thought I was a little, surprise I, you know, a couple guys I'll, I will hire when I take over the Colorado Rockies. Are you and our friend Foolish Bailey and watch you guys fight every day? He had actual concern for how bad Jackson Holiday's cup of, cup of coffee was, because there's not a lot of guy, like, it got, it got pretty dark, a 565 OPS. Like, he was, he was really on the hitting struggle bus. I'm interested to see because it's where baseball can become sick, Trev, that the Orioles are now trying to compete and they have other bodies
Starting point is 00:21:17 that if Jackson Holiday is still really struggling, it becomes an interesting conversation. Because, okay, what if there's mentals, there's leg kicks, there's everything that gets tied into this game, that if the light bulb fully kicks on in two years from Jackson Holiday, that's still incredible. he's 23 years old. It could kick on this year.
Starting point is 00:21:41 He is going to be one of the more interesting players to watch. Probably spring training matters for him, which you can't say that for a lot of guys. Like, we do that conversation every year. I'm curious about that. Yeah, like if he struggles, it becomes a conversation. So, yeah, it's interesting. I wonder, you know, in that division, you know,
Starting point is 00:22:06 of Junior Commonero, we discussed him before and some of his Winter League highlights. Like, don't be surprised if that guy becomes a star of star. Jackson Holiday, like, if he comes out and has an April, the Orioles, you know, they were kind of America's sweethearts for a little bit. They ended up in a little bit of an abyss, and it just feels like there's a lot of teams that have had a lot of other stuff happening around them. If Jackson Holiday has a good April, never mind Adley and some of the other guys, Like the Orioles will be back to look at all these young, amazing stuff.
Starting point is 00:22:42 Yeah, I think the spring training discussion is interesting with him. If he really struggles out the gate, I wonder what they do. If it's a mediocre spring training, I think he goes and he starts and they see how he does during the regular season. If he goes and crushes in spring training, everyone's going to be like, oh my gosh, see, you just needed some time, figure some things out. So actually, I wasn't even really thinking. thinking about that. I just like, yeah, they're going to give him a shot again. But if he does struggle, I'm very curious to see kind of how they handle that. Yeah, obviously, Junior Camerro is a guy that we're all going to be watching. Yes, we've seen his, his winter league highlights,
Starting point is 00:23:21 but he's going to be a guy. We're just picking one from each division. Jonathan Miranda also on the raise is another guy we can talk about. He had a great, you know, end of the season there. I'm curious to see where they put him. Is he going to be the everyday D.H down in Tampa. I don't know if Austin Wells kind of is in this mix. He kind of already had success at the Bigley level to a certain extent. So I think that he's maybe
Starting point is 00:23:46 not the best for this discussion. But again, yeah, there's going to be a bunch of guys who were probably not going to go in depth about. So many. I thought Jackson Holiday was the right one for the A least. It's funny. He was a guy we talked a lot about and then it kind of went away a little bit. And yeah, man, I mean,
Starting point is 00:24:03 well, Raphael from the socks. Like have, there's a few guys, Will Wagner slotted to be in the middle of that Blue Jays team. Let's see it, kid.
Starting point is 00:24:12 Raphael and Tristan Cosses, I think, are already passed. Like, they've had success at the big league level. A breakout maybe means different things to different people, but. Casas, I think.
Starting point is 00:24:21 They've established themselves as big leaguers. Like, they're going to play everybody. Raphaelah. He's a big leader, bro. No, he's a big league. He's a big leger,
Starting point is 00:24:28 absolutely. But he could, he could become like, uh, a star. Like the kid showed a lot where the stats landed was not star level. So it'll be an interesting thing. Treve, you're the king of the AL Central.
Starting point is 00:24:48 Oh, I'm going straight AL the whole time? I thought we're going to go back and back. Oh, you want to bop? I'll bop. I'll go. Hey, I'm ready to run. Pop, you tell me. You run.
Starting point is 00:24:56 Let's get the AL. Okay. Bias, A.L. Central. Yes. You know where I'm going with this one. Right. And I don't think we're going to lump. Do we decide we're going to lump?
Starting point is 00:25:07 You can soft lump. Soft lump, okay. Soft lump, Eddie Julian. I don't know where he's going to play. If he gets traded somewhere, I don't know. This guy has the ability to hit at the major league level. He just has to swing more. He's too patient, okay?
Starting point is 00:25:21 The guy that I'm talking about for the Twins is Matt Walner. And you might say, hey, try, this guy's already had success. And it's true. But he really hasn't had like the full opportunity that he's going to get this year. He's going to have a full year in the big leagues. Last year, they sent him down very early on. He struggled. He strikes out.
Starting point is 00:25:38 He's a big left-handed outfielder has an absolute cannon from the outfield. One of the best arms in all of baseball and hits the ball as hard as anyone in baseball. I think he's one of only six guys to hit a ball over 116 miles an hour last year. This guy absolutely matches the baseball. Calling the Minnesota Moose.
Starting point is 00:25:59 You know, his stats overall, that's your really good. I mean, 800 plus OPS, and 850 OPS. You asked me about him in a late-night text. I don't know where your head was at. Think about Matt Wallner. Not to your yanks. We're not trading him, all right? So for him, I think it's another,
Starting point is 00:26:17 it's a little bit different than Jackson Holiday to truly break out. I think he obviously has to cut the strikeouts down. And how do you do that without sacrificing power? For him, I think you just think about a little bit more contact because the power is there whether he freaking tries to sacrifice it or not. There are certain guys. And I remember we had this discussion about Matt Olson. When I was taking BP and I said,
Starting point is 00:26:43 I think you got a little more power in there, bro. He's like, I'm going to hit 40 home runs. Stop talking to me. And you're going to be out of the game in like a year and a half. You lose her. I think for him, if he. Nice wife. What was that?
Starting point is 00:26:58 Matt Olson would, that was the end of Matt Olson's conversation. Like, oh, you got a nice wife. Sorry you're a scrub, but you have a nice wife. That's not true. I'm a very good friends of Matt Olson. And he would give me a hug if we saw each other. We had the last supper.
Starting point is 00:27:10 I don't know if you remember that. Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Chad Pinder, you know. Then they all left. Before they got rich rich on you. They did. I told them they're all going to get rich. That's you and Chad Pinder. Except me and Chad Pinder.
Starting point is 00:27:24 So for Maddie Wallner, I think what will truly make him break out, number one is a full season. Like this guy has 40 Homer potential. He's got to strike out less. There's no doubt about that. And so, again, And how do you do that if you're him? You just got to focus on contact just a little more.
Starting point is 00:27:43 You know, and you don't want to take away. I think people say, oh, you don't want to take away his power and his ability to kind of get that ace swing up. Two strikes, you just got to, I think that is the main thing. Put the ball and play with two strikes a little bit more, have that mindset, which the twins did at the end of the year. I was on the broadcast talking about it. You got to just battle with two strikes. Like you have a chance that, you know, early in the. count to go up there and try to do damage. But when you get to two strikes, if you really just
Starting point is 00:28:12 tone it down a little bit, you'll find that you still have power. There are times, Jake, man, where you say, I'm going to take my two strike approach. I'm going to choke up a little bit. I'm going to spread my feet out. I'm just going to try to be simple and put the bat on the ball. And all of a sudden, you will smoke a ball. And you'll go, oh my gosh, like I should be, I should take this approach all the time. There are times where you think that as a big league hitter. For Wallner, I think that is the biggest thing. And the twins started to do that at the end of the year. And they started to talk about it.
Starting point is 00:28:40 Like Carlos Correa was like, yeah, we're just really trying to put the ball and play more of two strikes. And I was like, thank you. We're doing it. Matt Wallner, two strike approach. Just tone it down a little bit. And, dude, I think this guy has the potential to be like a 900 plus OPS guy. I don't know about elite defense in the outfield, but he has a great arm. So, like, if he positions himself the right way, he might get some like some, some,
Starting point is 00:29:05 put outs, which will be, you know, that brings your outs above average up. And he's kind of my guy. Trev, we mentioned Tristan Casas briefly. And we basically said Casas isn't eligible for this list. Like, I've seen Tristan Casas hit across a couple seasons. He's gotten banged up a little bit. But like, I think as a baseball player, he's feeling really good about himself. And maybe he is a breakout.
Starting point is 00:29:31 Maybe he has a 45 Homer campaign. And we're like, wow, look at who that is. Matt Walner's numbers are better across the board. She's 894 last year, sorry. Trev, that's where, that's why I'm up late texting you about Matt Walner, because A, I'm a little bit of a weird duck. B, Trev, if this guy was in a bigger market, 251, 366, 500 slugging 866 over his career OPS,
Starting point is 00:30:01 all of those numbers last year when he played are, up that Trev, you're talking about this guy changing his approach and maybe becoming a 900 OPS guy. If he does this for a buck 50, he's one of the best players in the sport, never mind getting better, which you're saying there is room in the tank for this. So that's why I was happy for you to bring Matt Walner to the table because these numbers amongst corner outfielders or anyone in the league. Trev, you know how many guys had a, you mentioned this guy might have 900 OPS potential. Of qualified hitters, do you know how many guys did that in baseball last year?
Starting point is 00:30:41 I know it's not a lot, Jake. I would say 900, probably... I'm going to go 11. Nine. And you started going into Matt Walner's defense. Four of those guys are DHS. So like, Otani Alvarez, Rooker, Ozuna. So the fact that this guy, that everything, you said in the conversation is fair and brought to the table is nuts.
Starting point is 00:31:10 And it's a little Minnesota. And I know Bobby Sorachi was telling us before. He's like the Pocoda, which every year they come out, they have the twins projected to win the AL Central, which is funny because they hadn't signed anyone until Danny Kulum. And we get, the guardians are a factory now. And whoa, the tigers are they happening? Look at how sick these royals are.
Starting point is 00:31:35 A lot of things still like the Twinkies, and part of that is this goddamn moose. I know the numbers are there. It's just the games played. 75, 75, whatever it is over the last two years, this guy needs a full run. And he was like, I guess, kind of blocked. The twins for a while have had an excess of like left-handed hitting outfielders.
Starting point is 00:31:56 Kepler, Larnak. Yeah, Kiroloff. Like they had a lot of guys, so it's just they didn't know what to do with them all. And so he came out and struck out like almost like at a 50% clip in his first month or something like that. And so they sent him out. Then when he came back, he was just like a masher. But that's the thing.
Starting point is 00:32:15 I mean, you look at the strikeup percentage. Last year, 36.4% strikeout percentage league average is 22.6. Bring that thing down to the high 20s. And we'll see, we will see those numbers become absolutely. And nobody really knows about Matt Wall. I agree with you. And I kind of disagree. If he does this with the strikeouts, that's an amazing baseball player.
Starting point is 00:32:39 Yeah, I know, but dear, that's what I'm saying. He can be better. And you know what, Jake? Not everyone needs a swing adjustment. And it could just be more time, like I mentioned, more time seeing quality major league pitching. Right. You know, you start seeing it more and more. And those strikeouts will start to go down.
Starting point is 00:32:58 His have fluctuated throughout his career, 38.5, his first year, 31 and a half in 2023, then back up to 36.4. That was, I think, a lot buoyed by that first month. But again, I think the best players in the world would look at that and say, I'm going to fix it. So if he truly wants to be who reaches potential, then yes, he needs to make the adjustment and not just do the exact same thing.
Starting point is 00:33:23 Although I agree with you, the numbers are great, and he just needs a full run, a full season. That's where I'd make the adjustment, man. Just really hone, like, and maybe not every single guy. You know, the two-strike approach is interesting. Like, there are some guys you don't need to do it against. And then there's some guys with a wipeout, like,
Starting point is 00:33:44 off-speed pitch, two-strike pitch, that you do need to do it again. So, like, you know, it's pick and choose. I think the world of this guy, I've said it forever. I gave him the nickname. Like, let's go, man. Go, Maddie Warn. Again, our final apologies on the way out of the Central,
Starting point is 00:33:59 Manzardo, I mean, Michael Massey, whoever, everyone on Detroit, Parker Meadows, Keith, everyone on the White Sox has a chance, right? But yeah, Matt Walner, Matt Walner lives rent-free in my head. And I'm excited to see what this year is, because if he plays 150 baseball games at this level or slightly better, he becomes a great player in the AL,
Starting point is 00:34:28 and he becomes, if Royce Lewis plays, and I, you know, sometimes we shy away from your Twinkies, but like, they... Health. Health. Health. Karea, Buxton, Royce. If they stay healthy is... Moose.
Starting point is 00:34:41 It's everything. Wallner's been healthy, just... Two different moose. We call them old dinosaur bones, because he just gets hit and doesn't bother him. I like that. Yeah, I know you like that one. There's a few of those. Dude, Rizzo.
Starting point is 00:34:54 I mean, Rizzo loves... Yeah. Old dinosaur bones, Rizzo. My God. Trev, why don't you wrap up who... Who you have in the ale, AIL way? I am going to go with a guy,
Starting point is 00:35:07 again, who's had some success, but needs to do it through a full season, and a guy who I think, maybe he's on a team we're not going to highlight a ton this year. Maybe we will. Let me just shout out before I get to him. Some of the A's, I think the A's are going to be a sneaky,
Starting point is 00:35:24 fascinating team. You know, you could talk about, Gelloff, you could talk about Lawrence Butler like turning into a star. Soderstrom. He was supposed to be the guy coming up. So there's that. There's Jacob Wilson. Quick,
Starting point is 00:35:42 awesome story about Jacob Wilson. Grew up the road for me. His dad, Jack Wilson, I'm sure a lot of people remember as an infielder. You didn't know that? Maybe we did this or maybe we did it in the office. His dad coached him in high school and then took a job at a college and coached him in college.
Starting point is 00:35:57 felt like Jack Wilson was the pirate shortstop for 25 years. Awesome dude. Awesome dude. So they had a place that had a big yard somewhere out in Thousand Oaks, California, shout out. They built a infield and him and Jack and Jacob would be out there turning double plays together. I mean. And you know what that does to me. Come on.
Starting point is 00:36:26 Sick. Can't wait. I might move and have a bigger backyard just to freaking do that. Anyways, a lot of A's out there, but I'm going to go with the guy on the Angels. And again, it's a guy who had some success last year, but I think has the potential to fully break out. It's a Logan O'Hoppy. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:48 Came over from the Phillies and the Brandon Marsh trade. Started off last year really, really hot, was potentially going to be, you know, an All-Star for them. And it didn't happen. And then the thing that I think about with him and what's really going to make him, or I think can make him become a star or the factors that he has now that maybe he didn't have before was last year in August, he went six for 76. After starting the year off grade, he goes six for 76.
Starting point is 00:37:21 And that will bring you, Jake to some dark places. Look at my outfit. Yeah. What is this? A little dark. black. Yeah. You get into a little black hole where you just want to crawl and never look at
Starting point is 00:37:34 anybody in the eye. You don't, it's very hard to show up to the park. You just feel like, man, I've lost it and I don't know if I'm ever going to get it back. When you go through that and then you come out and you have a September like you had,
Starting point is 00:37:49 you know, you bounce back and have a month to end it. You now have the superpower of saying, I don't give a you know what. about a slump. I'm going to get out of it. That is, that's what the best hitters in the world know.
Starting point is 00:38:08 They know that, yeah, it might be not great for a little bit, but I'm going to get out of it. Once you have that knowledge, the confidence level goes from here to here. It's insane. So I think a full season of him, last year he played 136 games.
Starting point is 00:38:24 I believe it was like top three for catchers, get him another full season, let him do his thing. I just think that he is on track to becoming an all-star for the Angels. And someone who we talk about as a catcher, how many guys out there are offensive and defensive threats? I think he could be both of those. So I think for me, fastballs for him last year were really bad as well. So there needs to be some sort of timing issue there,
Starting point is 00:38:56 some sort of cleanup with his mechanics to get back on time to the fastball because that's everyone's North Star. Do that now with the confidence level that you can get out of any slump and we might see this guy. I mean, in 2023, Jake, albeit only 199 plate appearances, 796 OPS, you know if you get a catcher anywhere near the eights with an OPS and can catch and frame and, you know, like can configure. all that out, you're talking about a cheat code for your team.
Starting point is 00:39:30 So I think if you can get back to close to that level, we're talking about the next Angels All-Star. Oh, Hoppe definitely has another gear in him. And I love having that full season. I definitely value that, especially as a catcher, dude. Go watch a baseball game on TV with someone who doesn't watch baseball and watch their reaction the first time a ball gets fouled off and just hits the catcher in the forearm. And they're like, wait, are they, are they okay?
Starting point is 00:39:58 Just for the slow-mo of it. And it's like, there was a pitch last year. My sweet Jessica, she saw one of the catchers got banged up and they did the standard protocol, you know, shake it out, which obviously every doctor says works. And then they were, they got ready to throw the next pitch. And she's like, wait, they're not going to stop the game? No, no. It's nuts that now that he has 130 plus in the bag, you mentioned,
Starting point is 00:40:25 that massive slump, he knows he can get through that. The darn-no effect will be interesting there. Yeah, I like that too. That's, you know, there can be some good Big Brother stuff there. It can also, if you have another slump to start the year and it's let's get Darneau bats, it's a little tricky. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but I also just a funny, weird thing I've fallen into, the ALS catcher, Shea Bang Joliers, has been mashing and playing.
Starting point is 00:40:52 Yiner Diaz mashing and playing. Raleigh on both sides of the dish, mashing and playing. And then our big boy in Texas, Jonah Heim, took a step back last year. But that could be a really nice catchers division. I can. I mentioned the fastball for Logan. Negative 9 run value hit 191, slug 309 against him. The year before, had a positive 3, hit 260, slug 620.
Starting point is 00:41:22 Got it in him. It's a little mechanical issue. clean it up. And again, that's every hitter's North Star. Get on time for the basketball. Treve, fantastic work. And again, like we said, why Langford got considered. There was the A's roster. You know, Mariners pitchers have all broken out. I'm sure there's... Although we maybe came up with something that maybe the Mariners pitchers aren't that good. Whoa. And there's our, there's our normal episode jab at Seattle. Let's go to the national League, the big brother.
Starting point is 00:41:58 And now we'll let Poppy cook a little bit. And it's all brought to you by Draft Kings sports book. Super Bowl 59. Right around the corner, it's the perfect time to get in on the action with Draft Kings. I'm heading down there Friday morning. Geez. Right now, they're offering all new customers $200 in bonus bets instantly
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Starting point is 00:43:27 The Phillies and Braves, I mean, it's tough. Tough to crack that lineup, man. And then the Mets are similar. We talk about out of the park, Mark a lot, Alvarez. The team that's got a lot of guys, that I'm doing my soft lump in this division, James Wood gets close to illegal for me, because what that guy showed,
Starting point is 00:43:52 but he may be the breakout player of the year, year. I mean, he very well what he showed in his short sample time. I'm going to do the dude across the way from him. I'm going to go with Dylan Cruz. Again, if you're in the baseball world, this isn't like a hot pick. This isn't, you know, this isn't the 18th round pick that I'm like, oh, actually, I saw something here. Dylan Cruz was the one-two pick out of LSU, go taggers. the one-one is buddy Paul Skeens who came up and has set MLB on fire. Like how much have we talked about him?
Starting point is 00:44:29 I also, and by the way, they were like a debate. Like when the draft came up, it was like, do you go with the pitcher or the hitter? He goes to the Nationals with the two-pick. He comes up, he gets his cup of coffee, and this is a little more similar to Jackson Holiday, not as bad, but it's, the first time in his life he got beat by baseball. Like Little League high school, college,
Starting point is 00:44:56 this is the first time he struggled. It wasn't big. It was 31 games. Um, a 641 OPS. He was stealing bags. He had 12 steals, three homers. But Trev, what I like, and this is almost unfair to James Wood, is I kind of like when a dude gets punched in the teeth a little bit. Like what, Dylan Cruz this offseason wasn't walking around tall. He wasn't walking around like I beat baseball. It's like, no, man, you got to the show, but you got beat. And I just think the national vibes are going to be good. It's a lot of young guys that have a lot in the tank.
Starting point is 00:45:34 Like, even if it's a rough year, I think there's going to be a lot of growing pains and learning. Again, it's not the riskiest pick picking the number two pick to Paul Skeens. But I kind of liked that he got punched in the teeth that young, the Nationals outfield, by the way. Wood Young and Cruz, if a couple light bulbs pop on in the corners, they're going to rack up some more. He's going to be 23 for the scene.
Starting point is 00:46:01 I just, every little box that half matters is checked with Dylan Cruz that I'd be late to buying stock at this point, but I think it's going to happen. Yeah, you're not really getting stock at a discount on Dylan Cruz. And I think there are certain things that make him almost like a, a no-brainer to be a, at the very least, a good big leaguer. I think this exercise isn't, well, what's the riskiest dark horse candidate? It's like, who's going to break out?
Starting point is 00:46:30 This guy, the floor is so high for him. I think that's a great way to put it. Like, he's going to be, him and PCA, I think, are very similar. Guys that are going to be in the outfield for the foreseeable future because they can run and they can play defense. So there's two of the three things that you. you have to do. Base running right now is very important in the big league. You know, getting
Starting point is 00:46:53 those stolen bases. What's our stat? OPS plus PSS plus. OPSS plus. OPSS plus. Like he's going to get on base. He's going to steal when he gets on base. He's going to run the bases right away. He's going to take the extra base and he's going to play elite outfield defense. Great.
Starting point is 00:47:10 Put together a solid, you know, solid season with the bat. And yeah, you're talking about an all-star level player. And for him, man, I'd mention he's got to maybe make some approach adjustment or maybe he just needs to see some more of those nasty off-speed pitches. Yeah, I'll be interested to see his spray chart from last year.
Starting point is 00:47:30 He only had two hits the other way and it's, hey, some... I'm looking at it right now. Some guys pull the damn ball and that's fine. Or, you know, was that him adjusting or sitting heat? It's everything we just talked about. That's the beautiful painting of every baseball player. But yeah, I mean, it's clearly the talent oozes. out of him. He was squaring up balls last year and the athleticism and all that.
Starting point is 00:47:54 That, yeah, it's, it's funny. I liked what you said about the low floor and this is a weird comparison. High floor. High floor, excuse me. That, I don't, nobody's going to like this, but it's just the name that pops in. When I think of like big time prospect that was good, but people set the bar out of this world for him, I think of Will Myers. because he was a huge prospect, and he came on the scene, like, big.
Starting point is 00:48:24 And then it was just funny, like, Will Myers would rack up these 792 OPS seasons and 30 home runs, and we'd be like, oh, yeah, that's, that's Will Myers. And it's like, okay, that's incredible. That I'll be interested to see the next steps with Dylan Cruz, because, God, that Nat's team, man. Can I do some math for you real quick? Please. 31 games played last year, right? 12, so like full season, like five times that amount of games.
Starting point is 00:48:54 It'll put you at 155. Nice math. 12 stolen bases times 5, 60 stolen bases. You want a guy like that in your team that plays elite defense? You do. Right. And that's he, they also think he has a lot of other tools too. So that's kind of what we're talking about here.
Starting point is 00:49:14 Let's hop over to the beautiful American League. Centrale. Where I have... National League. I... Jeez. I'm losing it. You're on it.
Starting point is 00:49:25 I'm losing it. You own too many companies. You sold too many companies in your day. Prev's been mocking my outfit, as he rightfully should. I just kind of got shook by the draft Kings read. I'm going to Nola Friday morning. And I'm like so not there. Like we're doing warehouse stuff tomorrow.
Starting point is 00:49:42 Like my brain is not there yet. In the National League Central, you mentioned my guy, PCA, that threw me off as well. my wedding buddy. Whoops. Again, young talent up and down the division. We could do the Cincinnati Reds as a team and just reach into the hat and tell me if you like them. Went somewhere else about it.
Starting point is 00:50:04 And maybe it's just that time of the offseason where we've talked about a lot of teams a lot and we've talked about a lot of teams a little. The Pittsburgh Pirates. I'm going with Skeens. I like his shape of his pitches. No. There's a guy that Pittsburgh fans yelled at us a little bit last year
Starting point is 00:50:24 because they were like, there's something happening here. And I believe in it. Another first round pick, seventh overall, a guy that is scouting report out of college was like, hit her. And I always liked that. It's like, okay, that's a good sign. I'm going Nick Gonzalez up the middle for the Pittsburgh Pirates playing some second base,
Starting point is 00:50:47 94 games last year, 270, 311, a 709 OPS. So again, not gang busters, but he showed that he has a little bit of belonging at the Major League level. And I know we get mad at our pirates for not doing some more flashy moves here and there. But Nick Gonzalez is one of the guys that they believe in.
Starting point is 00:51:12 He finished really strong his August, September. numbers ticked up. And he also, and you could put this as a pro or a minus. He mashed lefty. 837 OPS versus lefties, 500 slug. That I like when a guy has something you could just put in the pocket. Like, hey, Nick Gonzalez, you came up. The righties were getting you more often than not.
Starting point is 00:51:43 Lefties you own. So this winter, going to the lab, what wasn't working? Is it sliders away? is it the fastball beating you. If you can tick up versus righties and be a dude versus lefties at second base, I mean, that is, you're looking at a four-war, five-war baseball player
Starting point is 00:52:02 that I'm in on him listed 5-9-190, which brings him right into the Storelli zone a little bit. That he, sorry Pirates fans, there hasn't been more action, but this guy is part of the reason there hasn't been more action. I got to see him playing person last year called the game in Pittsburgh there and he's a guy that stood out
Starting point is 00:52:25 and in like an infield that you know there's a bunch of guys that I really like Rowdy was playing first base at time he was just like people were booing him big time because he stood up for I believe it was Mitch Keller might have been
Starting point is 00:52:41 he like stood up and was like you don't boo this guy and then they were they were booed so they would boo Rudy when he came up and then he was going off. So then they had the cheer Routy. It was great. So Routy was at first base.
Starting point is 00:52:54 I think O'Neill Cruz was still at shortstop at that point. And then my guy, Key Brian Hayes was at third base. So there's guys that I really liked. Nick Gonzalez stood out above all of them. David Bednar, the closer was getting trapped. Yeah, from Pittsburgh, All-Star, you're right.
Starting point is 00:53:07 Yeah. Nickins all stood out over all of them. Fundamentally, just like the actions around second base, the abats that he was putting together, it just looked like, and I knew he was a young kid, it just looked like I was looking at someone that wasn't a young kid, like almost a more established veteran, where it didn't feel like he was lacking really anywhere.
Starting point is 00:53:31 And I know the overall numbers are okay, and I think a 709 OPS, the slug necessarily wasn't there. OBP could go up a little bit. But those are all things you kind of expect from a young player. The series that I saw him, he was better. but I think if you're looking at chase rate and walk percentage those are things that a guy that's
Starting point is 00:53:53 just has barely any dirt on his spikes those are things that are going to happen those are things that are going to almost naturally get better but the actions everything the confidence level was all there and again it really really stood out for me while I was there
Starting point is 00:54:11 so yeah I think that and I remember talking about him on the broadcast like this guy's this guy's pretty good. And sometimes my counterpart, Corey Pro is like, hey, well, you like stop talking about this guy a little bit?
Starting point is 00:54:22 But you know how I get it? When I get a guy, I get a guy. You've got a sense for this. There's a couple guys going through this exercise that I was, back yell off. I was like, Trev, the way Trev liked him,
Starting point is 00:54:34 I feel like there's going to be a bounce back for him. And man, again, Gonzalez, he hits a lot of the minor league numbers. 287 games, 292, 388 on base, a 905 slugging from. I'm a second baseman. And then, yeah, he came up and he got, again, this is my, the Jake test.
Starting point is 00:54:54 In 2023, he got called up for 35 games. Got beat up a little bit. Last year he plays 94 games. Everything's trending up. Don't be surprised if that happens again. And if he does that for a full season, that's a really good baseball player. And I don't know, there's something, this is a little dumb, jakey romantic side of the sport. I remember that draft.
Starting point is 00:55:14 and like you expect all the guys LSU and I know, you know, college baseball programs are a little different than your college basketball powers or your college football powers. But I was like, okay, so we're going through this draft. Arizona State, Torkelson, boom, sure, Arkansas, Kirstad, your boy Max Meyer out of Minnesota, Assalacey, A&M, Austin Martin out of Vandy, Emerson Hancock, Georgia, go dogs.
Starting point is 00:55:42 Nick Gonzalez, New Mexico, State. And it was just like, okay, I tilted my head. And he hit $399 in college. So a little, you know what? Maybe he can hit. But I'm excited to see him this year. And again, the Cardinals, they've got some youth coming up. The Brewers, can he even count Joey Ortiz and Bryce Tereng have broken out and let Mitchell showing his ability. They have another army on the way. Yeah. Can I go a little sidebar trivia for you real quick? Please.
Starting point is 00:56:17 Who is a short king in baseball from Albuquerque? Regman? Nice. Is he a short king? I feel like he doesn't want that. He's a short king, Bob. What is he listed at? I mean, the thing is, it's the company you keep sometimes, and he played next to.
Starting point is 00:56:36 He's listed at six foot. Trev. Rev. Okay. Wrong. Wrong. This is at six foot? There's no way.
Starting point is 00:56:52 Bobby pull a picture of me and Bregman next to each other. There's got to be one out there. You think there's just a picture of you and Bregman next to each other? Sometimes you can just search that. Like someone took a picture during a game, they tag it. I'm 6'1. Images. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:57:09 The images that come up. Bregman alone, Bregman with Alonzo. Just don't know me. Pollock after he slid into you. It's you holding your forearm. This isn't a joke. Trevor Plouf, Alex Bregman is what I typed into Google.
Starting point is 00:57:22 That's the third pick. And then it's you and Jolly in an episode, so I'll go fuck myself as well. Maybe I'm just a loser that nobody took pictures of. But I'm telling you, there's no way. I thought he was a short king. I thought 510. That was my guess. 5.10, you know, you put on the spikes.
Starting point is 00:57:37 That's six. Yeah, I don't think he wants the short-hand. Gregman's still putting out just absolute fire hype options and workout video. and it makes me a little sad. Right. But also I'm like, dude, I love your swing so much. She's party out front right now, big time. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:57:54 Let's get back to the episode. He's got a guy, so like, you know, don't think Bregman's coping up videos. Because I remember he posted a hype video a couple years ago, and I was like, dude, sick. And the editor reached out and was like, yeah, that was me. I was like, thanks, man. Alex Bregman doesn't like me. There's nothing worse than that. Breggie's not into what I'm putting down.
Starting point is 00:58:17 Trev, let's wrap it up. The beautiful American League West or National League West. Wait, can I just say so real quick? Joey Bart. Great time. Had some times last year in Pittsburgh. I think he's going to be the starter this year. Yes.
Starting point is 00:58:33 He worked on some different things. He's made a couple different swing changes in his career. Last year they were talking about working on his transfer and being a better defender. I mean, the pirates, come on, pirates. Maybe it was really hard to be Buster Posey's replacement. He was going to be my guy before we decided to split this up. His numbers were impressive last year.
Starting point is 00:58:57 Trev, the NL West, I don't want to end on a lull, but again, these are teams. Dodgers, everyone kind of knows. Teaser. San Diego Padres, again, you kind of know all. those guys, my diamond backs. Like I debated doing Jake McCarthy, who again is kind of established himself as a big leaguer.
Starting point is 00:59:20 It's what else is in there. My rocks, we just recorded the Rockies TPP, and there are dudes, and go check that out. The San Francisco Giants, they actually have a lot of guys, although Tyler Fitzgerald's an interesting one. I'm going to circle back, and I do have a bonus soft lump. that's special for Trevor Plouf.
Starting point is 00:59:44 I just want to circle back on one thing that we moved on from pretty quickly as a baseball world. The Dodgers starting second baseman is listed as High Song Kim, the 26-year-old from the KBO. They traded Gavin Lux, who was a top prospect,
Starting point is 01:00:03 who had a massive second half last year. The Dodgers don't really care about money. They care about winning. High Song Kim is listed, on their second as their starting second baseman, a guy that, again, came over from the KBO, his last two years have been a step above what he'd done previously.
Starting point is 01:00:23 And like I said, you know, that's age 24, age 25. And something just doesn't pass the sniff test, coach, because why are the Dodgers who basically brought Michael Conforto in as a $17 million bonus piece? And that's after eight layers of six. signature moves. They circled Heison Kim and said, we're into this. That, again, it's a little bit of the NL West in having a lot of pros, pros already in
Starting point is 01:00:55 lineups, that Heisong Kim, speaking to every opportunity to be successful, just watch out. Because what's going on with this guy? Okay, first of all, two Heysong Kim's is not going to do well for me during the season. So it's high and ha. I know. That's not easy. I know. We'll work through it.
Starting point is 01:01:19 We'll be less white. We'll get better. Raised. High song cam. Dodgers. Yes. That is, you know we're a tough name pod.
Starting point is 01:01:26 We are. But we'll do our best. Right. So what are the Dodgers thinking? Well, this guy is, has won the goal glove, the KBO four times. Once it's shortstop, then at second base.
Starting point is 01:01:38 Okay. Three times. All right. Put that. Okay. So if he plays 130 games. 30 games, that's three war without hitting. He's swiped at least 20 bags in all the seven seasons that he played in the KBO.
Starting point is 01:01:53 That's all the Dodgers care about. Do you think they need more offense? Do you think they care if this guy's in a slug or do anything? They're going to say, get on base, swipe some bags and play your D. Oh, you're versatile too? Great. Right. Like that's what they care about.
Starting point is 01:02:09 Yeah, this is another one like you're talking about with Dylan Cruz and you're talking about PCA, it's a high floor. When you do those two things, right, those ones, speed don't slump. Defense rarely slumps. So, like, you know, when teams are constructed,
Starting point is 01:02:26 you have guys that you know you can count on and do those couple things, and the hitting can be a bonus. I don't know a lot about this guy. Let's be honest. I've done some research. We've read. I haven't watched them play a lot.
Starting point is 01:02:38 Very curious to see how it all comes together. I do know that speed and defense translate. That's just the bottom line. If you get a guy, I mean, that's what I'm sure a lot of teams focus on, or you can focus on. Yeah, we're scouting the Asian leagues. Is this guy fast and play defense? Okay, then he'll be fast and he can play defense over here too.
Starting point is 01:03:00 Right. The hitting can be a little bit different. We know the pitching is different, but those two things translate, no matter what. Yeah, and it like, like, oh, excuse me. because people are going to come at me with this one. Right. Sioshi Nishioka.
Starting point is 01:03:17 Right. Came over to the twins. Gold Glover. Ron Gardenhire in spring training said, I wouldn't be surprised at this guy won multiple gold gloves. And it wasn't good. Your Yankees, Nick Swisher.
Starting point is 01:03:32 No, he was on the Guardians, or Indians at the time, broke his leg, turning to play, all these things. Maybe that's the example of that doesn't train. but I put myself in a pickle there a little bit. I think our international scouting over the last 15 years has gotten a little better. Siosha Nishyoko was like MVP, like superstar, and it just did not work out.
Starting point is 01:03:58 Hey, I don't know the full story that his one year before he came over looks like an outlier now. And sometimes the big leagues is just tough. And I don't have the full Nishioca story. What I do have is the Dodgers that we've talked about a super team and, you know, unlimited money and they can do whatever they want. It just feels, how easy would it have been for them to leave Gavin Lux as the second basement this year? And they said, no, let's get Heisong Kint.
Starting point is 01:04:30 So, and yeah, again, if you're in, if you're a team in this division that's sick of Dodgers talk, well, again, Diamondbacks, your lineup in rotation is super veteran laden. The Giants, you went out and made a ton of moves for vets as well. The bonus, the ploof kiss that you get the assist on, it's sometimes you see something, Trev, and that's why you're my front office man. Sean Reynolds. Oh. The only bullpen...
Starting point is 01:05:02 The only bullpen guy mentioned. I laughed when you brought it up last year. I laughed today because Rob looked him up. Okay, so he's listed 6-8-250. And that's one of those, that guys, that end of the scale, it's usually the opposite problem. It's like, oh, yeah, I guess I am 6-9. I haven't measured myself in four years.
Starting point is 01:05:25 From me, kindly, go fuck yourself. But he also got his cup of tea. How's 11 innings pitched in 21 strikeouts? listed in the middle of that Padres rotation, man, if he gets the control stuff down, just watch out. He's in the bullpen. I said they should make him into a starter.
Starting point is 01:05:47 He has location problems because he did go of 10 hits in those 11nings as well, walked a few people. But you can shock that up to, I don't know, like maybe being a little nervous, whatever, like get him in a position, get him some confidence. The guy has absolutely electric stuff. And again, yeah, he's a massive, massive human being.
Starting point is 01:06:04 I talked to him last year when I was down in San Diego, and he was just, like, so stoked. He's from Redondo Beach, which is not too far from San Diego. And he's like, he told me, he's like, dude, I can't wait to get to the baseball field. He goes, every day I wake up, I'm just like, can I go? Can I go? Can I go? I'm like, dude, I love you. Like, you're, that's, I love hearing that.
Starting point is 01:06:29 If he becomes a guy and all of a sudden, he's got 15 appearances in a row, we hasn't given up a hit. Don't be surprised because we told you about him. It's a pretty savant page if you're into that and everything checks out. 6-8 with that heater, that slider. He threw a couple changes last year and that's the fun part. Like if that happens, we will be talking about him transitioning
Starting point is 01:06:55 to a starter next year because it's the whole two-pitch, three-pitch situation. But yeah, Trev, that was one. I remember when you put him on our radar. and then it was, it's funny to look back and be like, okay, yeah, this guy, it's making it full circle. When you were talking about the minor leagues before, I mean, 6-8-250 coming downhill is just different than a guy might have went to a big college and was, is 6-1 and has a fastball sitting at 92. That's just a different at bat. But, yeah, he.
Starting point is 01:07:30 And Padres fans are like are not feeling great right now. We're talking about dealing Michael King. We're talking about dealing Dylan C's. There's all sorts of stuff coming out in this lawsuit. I still believe in the Padres. If they do make those trades, I will change my view on them. But this is a little, you know,
Starting point is 01:07:47 something for the Padres fans. Maybe that's what this ended up being for the Padres and the twins, a little bit the Orioles. Peter Bendix, you could have had this guy. You traded them. Did he trade him or maybe that was somebody else? It's too much.
Starting point is 01:08:03 many shoutouts on this program. You've already let us know in the comments who we missed, but please let us know. Common Arrow, watch out. We will be back Monday. Will Peter Bregman sign? Spring training. Tough.
Starting point is 01:08:22 Big sucks. Definitely wasn't Peter Bendix to trade with them because he got drafted in 2016. They talk about the six-eight arm slap, but they never talk about the five-seven arms. You know? That could be the future. What if you had the highest release? Jumping on the mound.
Starting point is 01:08:45 It was just like an average release point. Jumping on.

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