MLB Prospects That Just Missed the Top 100 Update

Intro continuing the top 100 theme here on the callup we're talking about the just missed of course we we talked about a few of them in the mailbag episode on Monday or I think late late Monday early Tuesday I don't remember exactly when I published that one it might have been right at the buzzer at midnight regardless last episode we answered some questions around the just miss but we wanted to focus on that in this episode don't worry we're not going to spend another nine minutes on Kate and Dana but there's a lot of prospects that are very very good that just quite didn't make the cut so we're going to talk about why they didn't and what they need to do to kind of make that leap into the top 100 other than just keep doing what they're doing and have other guys graduate which is also an option as well of course I'm RM Weighton he's Jack McMullan we'll probably keep it around 10ish names uh varying amounts of time on each maybe a little bit less than that um but you know there's like we I always like to say this too you could probably pitch me 50 to 75 other prospects that weren't on our top 100 list and I could say hey yeah that's a sound top 100 case but for us these were just like the 10 or eight or seven that were the closest uh and and just that we wanted to talk about a little bit more but there's so many players that are top 100 caliber uh and and it's not like if we don't even talk about them on this episode that they weren't even close to being considered a lot of players were considered these are just the ones that I think are a little bit more fun from a talking point perspective how do you feel about lying to our listener base off the top there are 14 names that I've written down your face made me feel like I overshot it nope we always undershoot you should assum like yeah no we're only going to go 30 minutes up an hour 10 later okay um but no I think this is going to be about 30 35 minutes um I'm excited for you guys to hear this conversation with Jay Young too on the back half of this episode Audio Only that'll be good Tiger's prospect that was inside the top 100 but yeah there are like what 50 60 names um I I think what like if you if you had another three four weeks to work with do you think you could do it top 200 yes yeah yeah yeah 100% because there's so many good freaking prospects dude like when we talk about the team top prospect us like how many are are like 50 future value guys 50 plus that we just that it's one little thing that can Elevate them into that conversation it would start to get pretty hard but I think it would almost be easier cuz you could just kind of spray the board a little bit more like I don't care 130 versus 145 they are just C like 50 plus future value caliber prospects which is great uh whereas when it's top 100 it's just start to to get a little bit anxious because every spot matters a little bit more and uh you got to leave some some really good players off uh off The Chopping Block but yeah very excited about this Jace Young conversation as well guy just continues to hit and when you're seeing what's happening at the Tigers Big League level and the the youth movement kry Carpenter gets right back up there after the uh after the injury and kills him destroys uh Ry green struggling to stay healthy but when he's been on the field is just he's looked like that potential Allstar and it's at least proven that he's the guy that we we always thought he could be um really the only downside on the offensive conversation has been really Spencer Tolson this year and looks like you know they're just going to have to be patient with him it's similar to the Jordan Walker situation but you got to feel really good about the offensive side of things and I think Jay Young just is another player that you can just add to this fold here as soon as next year and it just feels like look not all of them are going to work out Parker Meadows is swinging it now well all of the sudden but what I do love is they have so many irons in the fire so you know if if one or two of the guys at the big league level right now start to falter great you got Jace Young ready to go and knocking on the door and that's not mentioning Max Clark and Kevin mcgonagal who unfortunately just broke his handmate uh The Telltale sign of a guy with great bat speed uh and and unfortunately that'll wipe out mgal season probably the rest of the way but it'll give him plenty of time to get right and and be good to go at the beginning of next year and he's had uh he's done more than enough this year I think and and I think he's proven that he's he's ready to go as a guy that you can be pushed quickly next year but the point is they've got those layers of bats all of a sudden and and jaay young is is that next up you know kind of layer that we might see in September uh if they have 40-man implications then we'll definitely see them early next year yeah no doubt and um you didn't even mention Tyrone loronzo when you were going through that high a team like loronzo is sitting there in West Mich twice yesterday by the way there we go man um and it seems like they have a short-term answer at shortstop when they inevitably pull the plug on Javier bias Trey Sweeney is swinging it right now in Triple A what's happening I don't know man I'll tell you what I was really impressed with that entire week that he had in Indianapolis like consistently 106 108 108 105 I was like whoa dude I he's really hitting it right now remember one thing we did say on this show is we love to like dive into small trades and break them down said I'd rather have try Sweeny than ybit Vivas and uh I I mean it looks like that could be the case that said I was very very confident that the production would hit a wall when he leaves the PCL and it'd be he'd be fighting more for that you know low 700s play decent defense hit righties a little bit better than that and you know you can kind of platoon your way into get buy it short stop in the meantime but all of a sudden it looks like in this change of environment it's not just the production he's in the B hard like hard the EVS have been impressive so uh I'm excited about that too just because look anyone's better than jav bayas so hopefully hopefully they'll cut that uh that tie loose and and and go forward with Sweeney the rest of the year and see what he can do before next season but that's for another episode and we are going to talk about prospects who just missed I want Caden Dana to spend five minutes and nine minutes on Kaden Dana here with the LA Angels Kaden Dana was uh one of the 10 that was listed in the article at just baseball.com um that just missed the top 100 we answered a mailbag question about Kaden Dana so we don't need to go too too far in depth but if you want to just rehash like spark note the main points as to why Kaden Dana was off the top 100 yeah so just in case someone stumbled upon this episode not the other one um it's just more quality of stuff and seeing how it translates to the to the big league level fast ball slightly above average slider above average maybe flashes plus no third pitch at this stage and I think it's a guy that's executing quite well um in in a league that if you execute quite well M see Mason Adams uh you can dominate because the the offense is just so brutal right now and I think a lot of I think these balls are dead across a lot of different Landscapes I think it's just maybe affecting different environments a little bit more and that's an entirely different conversation but we talked about it like 3.75 erra in the southern League like yeah that should not be a League wide ER in in minor league baseball with how bad defense is and I'm not telling from an errors perspective like there's so many balls you see it all the time even in triaa that should have been caught that aren't that end up being hits runs Etc a 375 League yd is crazy I'm going to pull that up later on and I I I can assure you it's probably going to be one of the lowest that we've seen in the southern league in a long time um but again good arm I just think it's been a it's a culmination of things where it's executing pretty well uh stuff is pretty decent and then the the environment is just perfect if you pound in the strike zone you don't have to worry about getting beat flyball pitcher in that environment with the way the ball's just not going anywhere great situation for him and I think that's why he's been able to put up some fantastic numbers just looks like a back end of the rotation guy for me Southern league erra is 37 5 PCL ER is 537 we should not have that drastic of a difference in minor league baseball like that's why we need an erra Plus in minor league baseball we need it so bad and we have to find somebody to do this for us and like I would this would be the most utilized thing in the history of ever when it comes to pitching prospects oh my gosh it would and that's why like when we do the trivia sometimes where you're like oh who's the ER leader and who who's the leader in these statistics I don't know always because I'm not looking at that very often I'm looking at the stuff I'm looking at the pitch shapes I'm looking at the underlying data the inzone with and things like that but there'll be points in times where I'm like wait I don't even know what this guy's exact numbers are because I haven't even looked in a little bit like especially with the pitchers I just just don't care about the numbers nearly as much yeah I I guess like I still care because at the end of the day it's production and it's you know run prevention like that is the goal here and you know like a guy can absolutely climb because he you know throws an 18inch vert from a 55 release like that's awesome but like at the end of the day you don't climb because of that you climb because of that and an ER sub3 sure and like that kind of thing absolutely absolutely and and like of course when when guys are lighting it up like you know you're going to catch they're going to catch your attention but um then you're going to quickly look and see okay what does the underlying data look like how sustainable is this so it's kind of like a chicken or the egg thing anyways and I'd rather um you know Skip the step and and always look at the underlying first um but at the same time like I I I I think it'll be fun to see how he does in Triple A and hopefully they get him out of double A sooner rather than later I'm surprised how long he's been there considering the way that the the Angels like to do things by the way um either later this week or beginning of next week I want to talk about Andrew Morris in the Twin system because I just saw that guy's triaa debut and I was like like something about this doesn't make sense but a lot of it makes perfect sense so um we'll we'll talk about him a little Justin Crawford bit later another guy that we literally answered a mailbag question on was Justin Crawford of the Philadelphia Phillies and Justin Crawford just missed you want a spark note like again why he just missed the top 100 yeah it's it's swing mechanics don't really love him um and I don't think there's a lot of quickness there bat speed wise relative to where he needs to be launch angle is quite negative um so when you have a negative launch angle and and lack some bat speed against fast balls negative launch against fast balls yeah like it's going to be really hard to succeed that way um flies hits the ball harder than you'd expect but I think some of that's because of the length to the swing uh this is a guy that I'm I might just have to wear it and just say okay I was wrong he somehow 63% ground ball rated himself all the way to the big leagues and and you know you mentioned Ryme El Tapia like Ryme El tap had himself to a regular role maybe he can do that because he's so fast and a good Defender and whatever it may be or maybe he finds a way to elevate more I I will say that the field a hit is is impressive um in terms of just being able to have some Barrel accuracy but he doesn't pull the ball in the air at all I think he he he has pulled one extra base hit this season or a couple at most so I that on top of a Chase rate near 40% like I just don't expect this to be sustainable unless he makes a swing adjustment if he does then you know we we'll be very excited about him I just I don't really see this translating into success against you know more more advanced pitching guy MB Central got like video of the one puls side extra base hit he's had this year it's like seeing the eclipse like our our guy was in the the path of totality for Justin Crawford hold ball in the air that went for extra bases which was great yeah oh and and Chase does an awesome job um I think the actual number is like six hold I don't know how many were in the air I it regardless it's he really struggles to get the ball in the air pull aside and just get in the air period a 63% ground ball rates just just tough to get behind yep um all right next guy and the last Moises Ballesteros like real quick guy that we got to get through is Moises bosteros of the Cubs it's been pretty well documented um I think but again like spark note version of why he missed the top 100 you view him as a DH yeah yeah I mean I I just don't see how he's gonna catch um consistently at the big league level and you people were pushing back on that are are the Cubs pushing to make a mass trade for Logan Oh happppy if they're confident even relatively confident in moy's bio's Catching abilities because that trade would have started with Owen Casey and finished with someone who's still hurt too by the way so like I thought that was kind of telling in itself and that came out after our rankings but that was the sentiment that I've continued to get from scouts people that work for other teams whatever it may be it's just wow such a good bat nobody's banking on this guy being a catcher uh doesn't mean he can't do it like he might have this Epiphany this offseason and come back and the body looks better but I mean we were talking about it going into this year we said the same thing last year and then he early this year I texted you I said uh the body might have even backed up a little bit more um that said he's been awesome offensively and this is a guy that can be that you know above average bat but when when you're this small as well unfortunately he he can't play first he'd be the shortest first baseman I think in Major League Baseball history and then on top of that he can't really move laterally that well so there's no chance he's going to be able to play first so it's just bad defensive catcher or DH that just puts way too much pressure on the bat which I do like but then that bat needs to be Marcel Ozuna I if if if you're going to be full-time DH think about how many full-time DH there are JD Martinez but that guy was playing The Outfield as he came up like if you're coming up as a DH you're not going to be considered as a top 100 Prospect unless you're literally like Lazaro montis but even montis might be able to play a little first might be able to be stashed in a corner Outfield spot even if they're bad out there it's it's more valuable than a total detriment at catcher because there's nowhere else you can stick by Aeros where he wouldn't actually be a massive liability that said like if he keeps mashing he could still be a top 100 guy just because the bat is so impressive but I I know people mention age to level a bunch I get it but the age to level thing doesn't really matter for me CU I still I've always believed in the bat it's just how does that work at the big league level how is this guy going to be a two three win player yeah he would have to be one of the best hitters I think in baseball like he'd have to be a Masher it'd have to be a 140 WRC plus yeah could he do that maybe but that's like the 100th percentile outcome even for him offensively so you think you're banking on way too much happening offensively for him to be irregular that that's the thing he's just another reminder that this is a war accumulation ranking and like every top 100 is a war accumulation ranking where you take every piece of the puzzle into account and you know it creates this beautiful image that is that finished product of a baseball player and it's like there are just some puzzle pieces that are missing here in bios's game that are going to limit and kind of cap his War output you know won't cap his WRC plus output but we're talking in the in the grand scheme of war and that's why 80 Defenders are very high up like PCA if PCA was a 60 grade center fielder PCA would not be a top 20 Prospect in the game because he had flaws offensively those are being exposed at the big league level but he was an 80 grade Defender so you know at the worst you're getting Elite center field defense and a guy that's Ops in 600 excellent point and that's my that's the thing that kills me with Vios and I love him as a player I love him as a person too like I don't know I didn't get to talk to him but the way he went about his business when we were just watching him his triaa debut you could tell his teammates like him you can tell he's just a fun guy like I think hot pink Kyrie is for batting practice Yeah like he's he's just the man like so I hate that I have to like be this way and now I always like people like push me into being like more negative on players like I want to be I want to see him succeed but I have to also explain our reasoning before you know people just continue to tee off so um you know that that is unfortunately where it's at but that I'm glad you brought up that point because it really does come down to this where if he's not hitting the patience is going to be very thin whereas you look at the runway that PCA has right now finally because of the defense the stolen bases whatever how about Rafael does not get that extension if he doesn't do what he does with the leather no so if if he's not hitting he's gonna be out of a job quite quickly because you're not wasting a 26-man roster spot on a third string catcher that you hope can DH yeah you know like someone was like oh we can rotate in once a week at a catcher whatever no it's not how it works not gonna happen so either the defense comes a long long way which she's throwing out 10% of Runners and and is not a good Receiver right now or the bat turns into a legitimate everyday Big League DH Marcel Ozuna type of production yeah um Robert Calaz all right we can get a little bit more positive now because we've got some guys here that are not on most top 100 lists but we very close and we can say hey why are they a borderline top 100 Prospect and that first guy that we got to talk about is Robert kalaz with the Colorado Rockies why do you hate him why is he outside the top 100 having said all that why do you hate him I mean dude he is uh he's doing better than I thought he would in low a so far yeah if we're being honest like it's early small sample but he's only struck out 11 times in 10 games I know that's like not some incredible number this is a dude that I was concerned about wh rates at the complex if I'm concerned about wh rates at the complex generally those guys get blown up uh they get blown up at the at the low any full season level it's really nice to see uh my my I'll start with the the concern and then I'll flip to the positive and why I think he can actually be a top 100 Prospect uh sooner rather than later um there's it's just a rigid swing so it's kind of looks like one swing for one spot at this point it's it's very pull dependent but he's so powerful that home miss Ball's inside out and still go the other way but it it just seems like right now there's not a lot of malleability there there's it's stiff for an 18-year-old and I was kind of worried about how that's going to Trend and considering that you know that he was running a inzone contact rate of about 70% at the complex like I I just can't push that into the top 100 until I've seen some some more in low I'd rather be later on a guy than too early on a guy that's whing too much at the complex however he's seemed to have been better in Lowa so far and the approach has actually been pretty decent this this guy has as good a power as you're going to see from an 18-year old and I think that's the biggest thing here 90th percenti of n miles per hour on that alone he could probably be a top 100 Prospect to be honest um you know and and if if you really wanted to to just lean into the EVs and like you know let's say that we use just a model to spit spit out um you know top 100 prospects the E his EVS to age are so ridiculous that he a model would probably spit him out based on the things that we like to look at as a top 100 guy so who else this is more the nuance and like concern of just I haven't seen him spoil one pitch of all the video I've seen like spoil one tough pitch and is at his own contact rate is 30% so like I do think it's it's very onedimensional at this point he's going to move off a center but like man you don't you do not find EVS like this from an 18-year-old who who else kind of fits that bill in the last couple years who are who are 18year olds that fit that evv bill I can't really think of one that was putting them up like this like this was montis putting him up like that or was it just that one pop off 118 what not this consistently got it montis was just I think better approach wise and and better B to ball wise and D that guy hits bad bad balls out uh he flashed it but not not not this much I mean when we're looking at Dominguez still know okay 105 20 b balls 105 plus miles per hour already so like again like maybe he maybe he should be it just the the whiff rates were too much for me and I could see I mean when when when it's 30 6% in zone whiff on Fast balls at the complex I just I I'm like okay we're going to put him on the top 100 list and he's going to being low and he's going strike out 50% of the time yeah like there's been players I'm sure that have put up these EVS at the complex are close to it that we can't even think of off the top of our heads because they flopped so hard in in full season ball yeah so that's that's the one thing I'm sure people are probably listening saying this name this name I I'm I'm sure there's a couple I can't think of it off the top of my head if it comes to me by the end of the episode I will let you know um but the point is there's not a lot and so he's I mean if he shows a 30 30 hit tool right he looked like a 20 at the complex of points but like if he can show that he's like 30 to 40 grade like somewhere between there yeah he's probably in just off of the power yeah Jackson Ferris how about Jackson Ferris with the LA Dodgers Jackson Ferris was a guy that was close and again he was in that Michael Bush Yen alante deal it's it's so funny that like the two lower level guys that the Dodgers got one is firmly inside the top 100 in zier Hope and Ferris is just outside the top 100 and he looks like the next guy for the Dodgers we talk about you know that crop of pitching that is always metrica and last year it was what Kyle hurt River Ryan I guess this year was kind of river Ryan too before you know TJ I saw that that sucks sucks sucks absolutely blow it's just yeah like so brutal but it was you know froso last year AA EMT Shen last year right and this year it was roesy and I guess River Ryan again um but it feels like Ferris is the next one that was really good and high a just got to double a Tulsa it's amazing too because they the guys that were supposed to be that next wave for them like just haven't really panned out right you look at like madx Bruns and Ronan cop and cop looks like he can be a guy but like not to the degree that Ferris looks like he could be a guy and the Dodgers go out and acquire another guy that can be part of that next wave which is crazy think about those two names that you just mentioned what's the thing that they have in common that the other like breakouts in the Dodgers system Buck the trend up like those guys struggle to find the STK Zone entirely cop and Bruns but we talk about a Shen like Shen was pounding the strik on when we got to The Bigs like you know he started to nibble a little bit but when he was in daa he was firm command of the strike zone Gavin Stone what made him that guy firm command of the strike zone Bobby Miller for that vo for that stuff firm command of the strike zone roesy he's always going to throw strikes River Ryan always going to throw strikes the thing that was most surprising to me about Ferris is he was throwing a ton of strikes this year in high especially compared to what he was doing before um he's he's it's it's Jackal and Hyde at times right like where we'll see him go seven shuty no walks and then there'll be some some outings where he battles a little bit but I I agree man like the the strides that he has taken from a command perspective have been really impressive because you know people always want to do the oh now he's a Dodger he's going to be incredible but I was a little bit I paused a little bit because you saw madx Bruns stall from a command perspective you saw cop stall from a command perspective so I'm like okay can they get this six4 Lefty right um and and Jackson Ferris I think they have and maybe some of that might just be him maturing and and just kind of learning the way his body moves because he's 20 years old and he's a 64 High School drafted Lefty uh but he's been really solid this year and I think the big part of that has been locating the slider consistently which he's landed for a strike at a 67% clip fastball command could be a little bit more consistent but still good enough 64% strike rate on that the reason why he didn't quite get in for us and and I think he he will be in sooner rather than later is there's not really a third pitch at this point the change up has been incredibly inconsistent and and the curveball has been somehow even more inconsistent between those two pitches a sub 50% strike rate so I look at the fast ball slider I think both those [ __ ] are good it's a little bit similar to The Dana conversation except FIS is is a little bit ahead of him because it's a six4 lefty uh and and I think has a little bit more projection I think the slider's got a little bit better characteristics to it uh but I think when you're looking at the fast ball slider they're good but I don't know if they're good enough for him to be a two-pitch guy successfully as a starter at the big league level so I want to see him kind of come along a little bit more with the third offering Andor the command which has come along but again if you're going to be a two-pitch guy then you really got and when a two- pitch guy of course he's still going to mix in a third one but it's really only two pitches that you really respect as a hitter if he's going to be one of those guys he's got to be even better with the commands so I just need to see one more even half step forward with a third pitch and or the command but he is trending in that direction without a doubt do you have the the percent like in terms of percent usage do you have the usage of his top two pitches because if if a guy is in the 80% 85% ballpark with two pitches that's like that's a two- pitch guy essentially 86 there you go so he's firmly a two- pitch guy I think 80% is the cut off where if you're throwing two pitches 80% of the time you're a two- pitch guy and you can eliminate that third I agree with that I was it's funny I was talking about that with with Griff and just like game planning for pitchers and stuff and like you know will Warren I know was one that he was like this is an interesting guy to game plan for it's so many different pitches and he was like we were talking about just kind of settling on you can't worry about five different offerings you got to be ready for the ones that you know you feel like you're most likely to see and if he if he locates the pitch that he throws 5 to 8% of the time twice tip your cap and and and so you know just hearing a hitter talk about it like that too it's it's it's it's not unique right like all hitters are going to have to go about it that way and so if you're not really able to do that to locate that then the two pitches that they are focused on from you have to be executed because that's what they're focused on like everyone's facing Jackson Ferris knowing fastball slider right now and you're prepared for fastball slider and the thing is they've both been really good exactly and so if he executes those consistently he can succeed um and we're seeing him executed enough to succeed in high a and in his first start in double A so that's why I said like the half step forward either in the command of those two pitches or with the third pitch there that I think will be enough to get him into that top 100 range so interesting note um relievers you see very consistent usage r outing by outing right you see if a guy's 60% heater you're probably going to see 60% heater there like there's really minimal fluctuation with relievers with backend starting pitchers there's minimal fluctuation there with the elite of the elite in the starting pitching Department you will see fluctuation in terms of usage if you go into a start saying hey this guy let's take skines for example this year skin is 50% for seamer he's you know 25% spinker and and whatever like slider curveball in there too if he feels good with that curveball the curveball usage is going to go up over the course of a given start like a change up may like if he feels good that day the change up usage is going to go up because the best pitchers in baseball if you have the feel for that one you know that that's not something that was on The Scouting Report sharpied and you know circled and highlighted so it's like hey I'm just gonna go to this all the time one of the best at it was sherzer sherzer at the peak of his powers in Washington would like turn to his fourth pitch go to it 35% of the time in a given start and manhandle people and it's like oh I didn't know that pitch was going to be the one that killed me today but like that's what the elite of the elite do yep yeah F so where where I know you're you lean a little bit more on like I know you're you're pretty hyped on Ferris you think by the end of this year top 100 guy probably like assuming that he's heavily protected and he throws well in Tulsa like how does he not go into next year as hey he's the next guy in line to come out of that Dodger pitching Factory I feel like that next in line in the Dodger pitching Factory is always a top 100 guy yeah yeah no I see that um I'm Noble Meyer excited to see how he does in this double a stretch here yep um next guy and like we're gonna get a little negative for the next two and then kind of back to the positive spin Noble Meyer the Miami Marlins just missed why did Noble just miss because this guy was ahead of Thomas White um for a really long time I think he was ahead of Thomas White on the last update was he not um he probably yeah he probably was I think he was what made them flipflop aside from just the production like on the baseball reference page it's just there it's so hard to to project 19-year-old pitchers you know and and and that part is is is just one of those things that it's so fluid but when you have a Thomas White who's so so polished with it with with the three pitches and um you know I think the walk rates are a little bit high but when you look at the way that he can he can pitch um and the feel for all three of those offerings and the quality of all three of them too those are three big league pitches it's easy to see to me that he's the the number one pitching prospects in the system especially because the fast Ball's been better than noble Myers both from a characteristic perspective and from a velocity perspective Noble I still think can be a really really good arm and and and I don't think the upside perspective has changed at all on him I still think he can be uh the guy that we thought he could be out of the draft and the guy that I saw on the back fields early this year that looks very impressive I don't know if he's throwing through something you know some sort of ailment maybe that might be bothering him we'll see you know how he looks his next time out but the velocity just fluctuated so much where we saw him in spurts of 80 pitches this year you know 85 pitch outings where he was sitting 95 and then since then know it's been more 92 9993 and he's had no feel for the strike zone at all so that paired with the fact the fastball characteristics just weren't quite what I what I thought they would be um I think he tried to find a for seamer and a sinker from that you know kind of three quarter release and they've kind of morphed together and it's just now one dead zone fastball and off of that I think he's also struggling to command it sometimes it's running more armide than he thought so then he misses with it other times it stays more true invert and then he ends up either tugging it down or leaving it up so it just seems like he doesn't quite know what his fast is going to do at this point and that's why too many of those pitches are are just non-competitive uh the slider is as advertised but when you can't establish the fast ball it's really hard to succeed that way and then the change of in curveball just they flashed but haven't been located it really starts with the fastball for me characteristics not being there velocity being inconsistent and the command across the board just not being good I just I I got to see a little bit more before we just say oh hey he was the top prep arm quote unquote so like we're just going to put him in there like you got to be more malleable we're just talking about the draft and how like you can't just regurgitate your priers because you want to be stubborn like if Christian Moore lights the world on fire and starts hitting High fast balls say that was a bad read by me swing wise and adjust I'd rather be wrong once than wrong twice so like with Noble I just thought about it from what I've seen so far if I was you know building an organization you know I'd be excited about the upside but I would take what I presently see from some other pitching prospects paired with the upside like Luis Morales I'll just keep referring to him because he's a guy that wasn't on got on in the back part of the list the stuff is crazy for him he's still figuring out how to make that stuff translate into more strikeouts but you're seeing him survive and fill up the Zone enough and give you those flashes there just haven't been enough flashes from Noble Meyer this year for him to be on the list but he's so damn close and again he could finish the year with five straight really good starts everything comes back together and it's like oh there it is again but we just haven't seen it so he just kind of slid a little bit off but it wasn't really a fall if that makes sense gotcha GameTime yeah I know that makes sense um all right we're GNA get to another High School guy in the 2023 draft here in a moment but before that want to tell you about game time because game time is now an authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball which makes getting big league and minor league tickets even faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down down the closer it gets to first pitch so you get killer last minute deals Allin prices views from your seat and their lowest price guarantee game time takes the guesswork out of buying major league and minor league tickets use game time for last minute deals save up to 60% off buying for concerts Sports comedy theater list goes on lowest price guarantee again panoramic seat views Allin prices take the guest workk out of buying tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account use code just baseball all caps one word for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem code just baseball for $20 off download the game time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed now we go to arjin namala with the Toronto Blue Jays Arjun Nimmala and arjin was a guy that was one of the early High School guys on the top 100 list last year it was Nala and Dylan head that really jumped out and it's like oh you feel really strongly about these guys being there Nala had a brutal start to the 2024 season ended up on the dev list and since coming off the dev list he's looked like a top 100 Prospect but I know when we talked about namala throughout this whole update process we kept going back to the fact that he ended up on the dev list like that that I understand when he came off he looks the part if he never went on he might be top 100 Prospect but like he was bad at the point that he got on the dev list he got on the dev list like and and I we're not gonna hold it against him for the rest of his life I promise but like it's it's an important point to to make there I've seen so many players now um come off of the dev List look good for a few weeks and then they can't get back again the dev list the whole point of that is so that you can go into a controlled environment um either run simulated at bats or or legitimately not playing games for for for a little bit and get your mechanics right and they're gonna watch over you especially if you're a first round pick and they're gonna film you and they're G to give you all of your information and you're going to get everything you need to make sure that when you go back you are prepared and ready to go yeah then a month in you're couple weeks in you you're back into the throws of the Season again how do you handle that you're going to hit adversity again it it's going to happen it's baseball how do you how do you adjust your timing is going to get thrown off you're going to have some bad habits creep back in how do you fend those back off you can't just go on the dev list every time you slump so look Nala I there's so many reasons why I'm rooting for him and I just just the the cultural aspect is so freaking cool yeah so like so cool I I think he's gonna be good and successful and I I this is a name that I fully fully fully expect to be on the list next year but right now and we try to do this for a few reasons so one give fan fans an idea of you know what the list or like what teams May view the top 100 prospects to be but beyond that also like it's it's at this moment right like at this present moment if you're playing fantasy whatever even though this is more driven towards major leagues and that's why we talked about like the defense things like that but I know it's a tool for a lot of people in that respect too like how should Nala be considered and stacking up against you know a bunch of these other prospects at this present moment and at this present moment there's just too much uncertainty um to have him I think ahead of some of the other players that we have there there's uncertainty with all of them and it's all relative yeah but you know like a a Brer Guerrero who I unfortunately did get banged up but from from an offensive perspective like plenty of risk there but the guy has not really hit a wall to the degree that he's had to be like shut down and and and you know adjust the mechanics I really like the swing mechanics that bro Guerrero has so with namala I I liked the swing mechanics then they got away from him a little bit now he's ring back in and now I still think it's a little bit P dependent and and it sells out for Lift so I want to see if he's able to manage that because when you are a hitter like that which you can succeed you have to have a certain approach you have to be able to repeat your moves very consistently and so I just want to see if he can do that over a prolonged period of time now that he's back off the dev list um I I think he can and clearly like the power is there 13 home runs in 70 games in an environment that's not easy to Homer in I think if you can can uh if you add also the the rookie league games but has not really gone the other way at all he's out and around the baseball and I think he can get spun to death pretty good right now so I just want to see how how that improves and like sinkers have just chewed him up because he's so lift heavy and and and just trying to get everything up in the air so I I just want to see more at this point I think that's just the the the easiest way to to boil it down to is just need a little bit more Runway there's just been a lot happening here but there's still so much Cooper Pratt to love yeah back to the positive guys here Cooper Pratt with the Milwaukee Brewers and we we saw Pratt play in the Futures game this year and this like we've talked about Pratt a decent bit over the last few weeks he's really the perfect example of draft excellence in recent years from the Milwaukee Brewers and it seems like they have another guy man Luke Adams ended up on the top 100 yaf Frey Rodriguez ended up on the top 100 and Pratt it's kind of cool to see him not far off he was really impressive at that Futures game in terms of just the way he went about his business we were watching infield Outfield and it's kind of like from we're a little bit far away in terms of being able to see the the names and everything and usually I can have a pretty good idea of who's who just off like the build and the actions but for a second I'm like who is that who is that yeah because he's just moving so fluidly at short and I know Cooper Pratt's 6364 and like wait that's that's Cooper Pratt he was moving really well I think for a guy that is he gonna be a superb Defender at Short probably not but he can play short and I I thought as an amateur just looking at the build and everything like okay that's a guy that you know might end up moving to third but that'll be a welcomed problem because then he can tap into more power right now that's the big question and I think the EVS were what ultimately held us off from him uh and just not quite getting into that top 100 was that you know you're going to need to see a little bit more slug even at Short Stop on the left side of the infield if he was a plus Defender at Short then I could maybe tolerate the the 90th percentile being 100 miles per hour but he's he's he's not he's he's able to stay there potentially which is very valuable but if you can do that you got to swing you got to swing it more so the field a hit really good the the pitch recognition very good all the things I really like and the Brewers do a great job at just continuing to identify those types of prospects however need to see a little bit more juice think you can very easily grow into it doesn't turn 20 for another four days so happy early birthday to Cooper Pratt but he's goingon to need to grow into more power and then when he does grow into that more power did that take him off of short and end up moving him to third if that happens then okay that power needs to not be average it needs to be above average so there's just this this sliding scale here of things that may happen one way or another and I got to kind of wait to see how that goes until he's considered a top 100 Prospect because if he does add some power and then moves to third if he's a hit first average power hitting thirdd baseman maybe with really good defense there he's a top 100 guy but like it's a different profile now all of a sudden so he's a tweener right now in terms of the archetypes and I I like to group a lot of these players up in archetypes and then see do they succeed at their you know archetypes type I don't really know what his is at this point which is not a bad thing there's no rush for it it's like kind of figuring out what you want to do in life in college right like you don't have to fully figure that out at 19 I don't know tall shortstop you kind of have to be Seager right yeah he no he needs to also hit left-handed then ah [ __ ] yeah flip around so you can be before Seager and fit the bucket but that's that's pretty much the what I'm waiting on here so another guy that's just more Runway um and just just need to see a little bit more yeah um this got George Classen older but hey he's up with a Rocket City trash George Klassen pandas now I'm telling you they don't care about high a they don't care about low a they don't care about AAA like all the only thing I hear about angel's prospects is at Rocket City and like all these guys are getting promoted from Rocket City it feels like they skip High a entirely with like all these guys correct me if I'm wrong in the comments but it's really only the ablea affiliate that the Angels use and Classen um understandably so he's in AA but um he he looks the part with the angels at this point um could he start games for the angels in September yes or no uh I don't know maybe not after the first uh Rocket City start I don't know um first one didn't go great uh three Innings five hits five runs four walks onek yeah tough heat that's not great but they they they started him in Modesto for some reason before that or sorry against Modesto in Inland Empire yeah and he shoved shoved obviously he went from high a to low a um but with him it's it's interesting because I think that there's a guaranteed Big League role here when you have the two breaking balls that he has is that cutter or slider at 90 and then this power curve ball that's just devastating we've talked about it you combine those two opponents are hitting below a 100 against it but it's a high effort delivery like very high effort delivery and on top of that a fast ball that has good run but just he seems to struggle to command consistently when I see a guy with you know fringy command and it's a Max effort delivery I get concerned about their ability to improve that command yeah you know and it when it's so high effort and he really like tugs the head kind of pulls the shoulders and and and lets it rip I think he's just a reliever long term and a real he could be a really good one he could be multi- inning I just I just don't see a starter here uh maybe he finds a way to to just throw strikes and that high effort and get ground balls enough to do it the stuff is ridiculous but I just think there's too much reliever risk and effort in the delivery paired with like the freny command got you um how about Kevin alcantra with the Kevin Alcantara Chicago Cubs Kevin alcantra is a guy that has been on the top 100 for it feels like a very long time at this point and like it doesn't necessarily feel fatigue E I know he's you know gotten off to an okay start with Iowa he got up to Triple A and it's it's it's fun to see the highlights at a new level for Kevin alcantra but at the end of the day it's like when is it really going to Blossom for you and I feel like this is just kind of a ran out of patience thing with Kevin alcantra yeah that was a big part of it and it's funny because like he's actually been balling out but he's done this he does this every year where like in the back end of the year he really starts to heat up and then we get excited going into the next year and then he starts kind of slow and uh I I just I don't really know where like I don't know where to where to like look at this point in terms of what he needs to do because I just don't know if it's reasonable to expect him to be able to do the things that he like kind of needs to do so it's like should I just look elsewhere in terms of can he just lean into the strengths can he be a superb center fielder uh can he get away with the ground ball rate through doing other things better could the approach continue to just get better like it's it's a really interesting conversation because a guy that's been a top 100 Prospect I think as long as anybody right now um because of just how long he's been exciting and projectable and and whatever it may be it's a 799 career Ops and 368 minary games as of like a week ago however his last 30 games between double A and now his promotion to Triple A he's hitting 322 with a 925 Ops damn so he starts doing these things you get all excited he cut the chase rate down to 24% we did the same dance last year and I saw him in the AFL and it didn't look good and then the early parts of year didn't look great he puts the ball in the ground so frequently the swing is just long and naturally see 66 long levered hitter but when you're 66 and long levered with a launch angle that's below five degrees just consistently every single year I I just feel like he he looks crowded consistently it's very similar to Jesus Sanchez to me where like he's going to have stretches where everything's in sync everything's on time and it's like whoa that's impressive he's locked in he's going to break out and then it just gets thrown off so easily because everything is so long um and it and a pitcher that executes well can blow you up inside get you to start cheating you start to cheat a little bit and then get you chasing and that's why his Chase rates have fluctuated so much um he's better than Jesus Sanchez though I think because he can play really good defense in all three spots and I do think that there's a little bit better you know I think just a little bit better ability to get the ball in the air at their age at this point like when when Jesus was 22 I just don't know if if he's going to be able to hit the ball in the air enough to tap into his power and and I I just don't think the pitch selection is good enough um but you never know because he's 22 just turn 22 and the fact that he can go get it in the Outfield really helps uh and I think we'll we'll carve him out of Big League role for a long time uh regardless y we're done with the guys that were on the article at just baseball.com now four guys quick that um you know we wanted to mention on the Jake Bloss just missed here and we'll start with Jake Bloss with the Toronto Blue Jays Bloss was one of the key returns in the US Kikuchi deal and they got three big Leaguers now will Wagner just got up like what was a three hit day in his major league debut for will Wagner and I think he had two hits yesterday yeah like come on man so will Wagner is a blue jay Joey L profito is a blue jay and and Jake Bloss has the makings of a starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays they got a starter with six years of control in return for a rental starter and a good one but like a rental starter I think Bloss is so high floor uh and and really like with a couple graduations probably slots right in fast ball is just solid characteristics you know it's it's 94 it's about Big League average velocity slightly above big leag average velocity for for a fastball slightly above average extension slightly above average carry and he fills up the Zone great that fast ball is gonna play just fine as long as he's consistently locating it then you have the feel for a cutter the field for a curveball and then a sweeper and then a change up and he can just come at you with all these different offerings and just keep you off balance I don't think any of the pitches are are clearly like plus but I think all almost across the board it feels like he has average or above average pitches that paired with his ability to sequence and execute like if he can consistently do that that'll be the the big I think you know just Difference Maker at the big league level yeah I just think such a high probability for uh and and there's probably number three upside if he can find a little bit more um W with the stuff and maybe locate that slider and change up a bit more consistently but the fact that he can come at you with you know five different pitches really that you have to respect to a degree um like we were just talking about pretty hard to game plan for a guy like this especially when the fast ball is good like it's not great but the fact that with that assortment of pitches usually guys like that are trying to mask the fast ball he can Buzz that thing by you it's got good enough characteristics and the command is good enough and the velocity is good enough where that that that's a good enough eater yep um two Alex Freeland guys in the National League West here Alex Freeland to the LA Dodgers started this year by repeating High a Great Lakes he's so much more than that now he's got a week of AAA ball under his belt and this guy has been one of the breakouts in minor league baseball this year I he's high 29 bags and 31 attempts he's got 14 pumps in you know like what what was it like a month month and a half of high a ball um yeah 23 games of high a ball 74 games of doublea ball he's got a four 3 OBP man like this guy is putting together as well-rounded a year as we've got among minor league hitters I mean and he's a switch hitter but that was the funny thing I actually ended up delving into so much better from the left side um yeah rather that but the right side's actually like bad so that did hold him back to a degree yeah um like bad I he's hitting 217 from the right side with 70% in zone contact righta the swing decisions are really impressive the EVS are are solid and um especially from the left side he's just been very productive so I think it's just solid across the board he's kind of those that like one another one of those 50s to 55s across the board that you could really like and um I I think if I had just ended up getting more looks at him maybe I have a little bit more bias towards him and put him in there I think really the the main separator may have just been I haven't seen him as much yeah came out of obscurity relatively speaking but the swing decisions being what they are the the fact that he has been so productive the fact that he can motor um and I haven't been able to see enough of the defense this one just admittedly might just be I haven't been able to appreciate Alex Freeland enough to get him in there uh we try to Canvas everybody as much as we can but I'm just being up front like this might have just been a player that we didn't get to see enough of and I'm excited to dig in more uh in the coming weeks when we update each of the team top prospect list because I can tell you what this is a guy that's in the bucket of okay you could convince me he's a top 100 guy and he he's one of the 50 that you could convince me is is like worthy of that but I think he might be very worthy of that like it looks like every time you think he's going to slow down he he picks right back up again um so that is something to watch but he is still kind of riding a really hot start but again every time it seems like he's gonna fully hit a wall he he doesn't yep we haven't gotten a pro look at another guy Kash Mayfield in the National League West cash Mayfield who was the Padre's first round pick and I just like I threw him in there CU I want you to essentially call your shot on the next Padre start starting pitching prospect that you know as as the makings of like a Snelling in alesco before they depleted their value like going into 2024 we're looking at you know Snelling and Lesco all over again it seems a lot of Snelling similarity um and you know maybe the stuff might even be louder um so athletic the delivery so smooth on the mound I really wanted to throw him in there I just got to see him professionally you're right um as he said but you you I know you love the delivery like it is beautiful it's beautiful from the left side and the the fast ball jumps there's a good field of spin already like I expect him to to come in pro ball and and and shove but got to see him do it first before we uh just just put him in there because he was older for the high school class so those are all things to to just kind of monitor but I I expect this guy to be the next as you mentioned Padre's climber and and you know the next guy that it's like oh man they grabbed him in the back end of the first like one of my favorite just pitching prospects in that class and one of my favorite deliveries speaking of uh beautiful deliveries I'm trying to find this kid's name this High School right-hander in next year's draft class 2025 Seth Hernandez have you seen this guy's delivery at all no it's like dude he's he's hitting a 100 high school righty like go check out the delivery I mean we we could be looking at another guy like that um last one that we got to Kumar Rocker talk about is Kumar rocker um we are what week and a half two weeks removed from the top 100 100 update a week removed from the top 100 update if we did it right now is he in the top 100 yes next guy next guy that graduates Kumar rockers yeah so he was 101 yes there was just another one where it's like I can't we can't put him in after seven Innings like what what if the vo dips right back down right after [ __ ] those seven innings were awesome and then guess what we have another start under our belts four Innings three hits one no no no runs no walks 8ks average 97 and a half they stretched him out about nine more pitches to 52 this guy's a dog this guy's an absolute dog delivery looks great uh he's separating the two fast balls now where it's four seam two seam he's manipulating the slider into different iterations of it a bigger one a shorter harder one I mean the fact that he is doing all of this man it it's so exciting I really hope he can stay healthy he's running that fast ball up to 99 and having the life at the top with the ground ball ability of the Sinker and then manipulating that slider into multiple pitches takes a lot of pressure off of needing that definitive third pitch he kind of already has three plus right because he's got the two fast balls and that slider really looks like two different pitches as well sometimes even looks like a third you know you'd like to see him mix something else in there and we'll see if he you know starts to find some more confidence in that change up he's only thrown a couple this year but I think he could really succeed just off the fast ball the two fast balls and the iterations of the slider especially if he's commanding the way that he has and and since coming back he's 24 strikeouts two walks I mean it's ridiculous yeah there's nothing more you can ask of him that's our list I'm sorry that's it and again there's always a bunch more prospects that we could talk about we'll continue to talk about prospects performing down the stretch and whether they're candidates for the top 100 and you know tie them into the conversation of players that maybe were considered in the top 100 as they pop up