EP 471 | Hollywood Josue

0:00Flip is your home to win this football season. Think your QB is throwing for 300 yards? Flip right he is. Running back, finding the end zone? Flip yeah. Pick two or more players and go over under on their stats. Passing yards, rushing yards, catches, touchdowns. However, you football, there's a way to flip it. New customers get a deposit match up to $250, plus bonus catch on every flip and deposit. Damload flip, use promo code steal. Must be 18 plus, no purchase necessary void where prohibited, restrictions applied, play responsibly, see getflift.com for eligibility terms and full promotion rules. Dave Roberts here, there you are surrounded by fans, sharing wings, sharing drinks, high-fiving random strangers. Everybody remembers the game. Nobody remembers the guy coughing behind you until a few days later. At 2am, you wake up with a fever and your throats on fire. Now what, urgent care, close. ER, slam, telehealth, maybe, but the pharmacies close. You needed a medical emergency kit. These aren't first aid kits. They contain essential prescriptions, used for over 30 common conditions, sinus and ear infection, UTIs, stomach bug,

1:02travelers diaria, and more. On hand before you need them. Use your doctor-developed guidebook to select the right prescription or call their telemedicine doctor standing by. It's like an urgent care and drugstore at home. When you're sick, traveling, or stranded, you'll wish you ordered a medical emergency kit. Order online in minutes and it's shipped to your door and say $45 with my promo code blue at urgentcarekit.com slash blue. That's promo code blue at urgentcarekit.com slash blue. Welcome to the Toolshed, a podcast covering all levels of professional baseball to help give you the edge in your dynasty leagues. From the MLB draft, all the way to the show. The Toolshed podcast has you covered with rankings, player analysis, and in-depth discussion. And now here's your host, Eric Cross.

2:03What's up everyone? Welcome to the episode of the Toolshed podcast brought to you by Rodo Baller. This is episode 471. Thank you for joining us. I'm your host Eric Cross. And joining me, as always, is my co-host, Mr. Toby Shulman. Toby, how's it going, man? I'm doing good, Eric. It feels a little bit strange right now, like the end of season content ruts kind of hitting big time. And I don't know if I'm just getting like some writers block or something, but it feels a little bit like exhausting, I guess, with the length of the season, but we're doing good. Yeah, man, I've always said, September for me is by far the weirdest month for content creation for baseball, fantasy baseball, just because, you know, like April, I mean, obviously pre-season's great, you know, January, February, March. And then you got the April through August, great. Then even like October, November, December, I'm like getting into my off season stuff, you know, breaking down team prospect rankings, so I get into like that group, so those months are great. It's just, yeah, it's just September. I'm like trying to figure out what's the most useful.

3:03I mean, some people are, you know, out of it, they lose in their head to head, championship or their playoffs, or there's kind of out of it in rotos. So I'm like, kind of trying to figure out what content is the most useful to, you know, my audience. Yeah, and then it's like, my own leagues are wearing down, you know, winding down, so like, you get a few winner for your games each day, you know, throughout September. So yeah, it's kind of a weird month. And obviously that taboo fantasy football is starting up and, you know, people is, you know, kind of get drawn to that a little bit too. So yeah, it's definitely a weird month, but a lot of exciting baseball, there's a lot of big series and in baseball going on right now, and you know, AL Central Battle for the, for the crown there, in between the white socks and the guardians, you got an AL-Sai young race, AL MVP race to get interesting. So, so we've got a couple of good weeks of baseball and then hopefully the postseason will be kind to my red side. And let's say our two teams are in a collision course here

4:03for another, you know, wild card matchup. That should be fine. I think it'll be better than last year where you guys kind of, kind of spanked us a little bit, but, you know, I think that's gonna be a really, a lot of good pitching matchups in that series. That's gonna be exciting to do a watch still. Yeah, whatever happens with that series, I mean, it's gonna make for a good podcast afterwards. So I don't think we can really complain either way. Oh, for sure. I mean, back in the day, it was a, what year was that? Oh, 2021, when there was in the league championship series, me and Chris Clegg were gonna be like, oh, if it's Atlanta, his team first Boston, we're gonna do some live stream or something. And of course, his braves advanced to the World Series and one, the World Series and my Red Sox completely fell on their face against the race. That was the race? No, Houston, who would be facing that? The AOCS Houston, yeah. Yeah, I don't know why I thought the race. But yeah, so that didn't happen. So yeah, that'd be pretty cool though. You know, this old Red Sox Yanks series again. I mean, the rivalry is starting to get heated up again.

5:04So yeah, that'd be fun. But yeah, let's get into it. We get a lot to talk about today. This is a prospect centric episode of the tool shed. Though a few of these guys just get from onto the major leagues. So definitely a fun group of names here. But before we get into all of that, the usual housekeeping. If you enjoy the show, please write in a review on what your platform you listen on. You can follow us on Twitter. Toby is at T. Shillman Report. I am an Eric Cross MLB. And the show is at Toolshed Pod. Check out Toby's work on his substack and my work on my Patreon or over on Rotaballar. And where you can still get 50% off your premium subscription, using the code tool shed at checkout. There's a lot of great content and tools available within Rotaballar premium. So I highly recommend grabbing that along with Dallan and the free Rotaballar app on your phone, which you can find at rotaballar.com slash app. All right, let's start with the biggest promotion of the last, maybe almost the entire season or one of the biggest of the entire season. Ho suede de Paula getting the call up to the Dodgers

6:07completely skipping AAA and already beasting out in those first few games. He still hasn't struck out yet. It's like a level of play appearances. But four walks to zero strikeouts hit his first home run yesterday, home on Sunday, which was an absolute tank job to the upper deck off of Yuri Perez, who I think was like a 98 mile per hour fastball, kind of middle third thigh height. It's absolutely hammered out there. And he looks the part of a major league veteran and he's still 21 years old. But coming off a phenomenal season with AA Tulsa, 303, 401, 547 slash line, 27 home runs, 37 doubles, 31 steals, I mean, drove in 104, scored 106, almost as many walks of strikeouts, 81 walks, 87 strikeouts in 124 games. I mean, he was my number one prospect in my August top 500. There's a pretty wide range of guys. You could probably throw it number one right now,

7:08so there's no clear cut guy. But Toby, he's the one that felt the best to put it number one for me. Obviously, defensively for real life rankings, he kind of gets dinged there, but for fantasy focused rankings. I mean, I think this is the best bat of any prostrate eligible guy right now that the contact, the approach, the power, not a blazer, but man, he's got back to back years with over 30 steals, like almost three years in a row with 30 steals. He gets 27 back in 2024. So a guy that can definitely add some steals as well to what he could give you with the bat. So this is that looks like an absolute stud in the making Toby really does. Yeah, and I was just very impressed overall with everything he did at the play in his debut. And you know, the first homework he hit, just being able to admire it out of the batter's box, like that was just such a cool moment for him. And I know he had some family at his debut. I'm not sure if he had them at that particular game, but every at bat it seemed like he took was just competitive. And I mean, you see that as a director

8:09as all of the four walks and the no strikeouts, we knew we were gonna get some good plate discipline from him, but I didn't expect him to go up against a guy like Yeri Perez and take him as deep as he did. I think it was what, like, 441 feet or something that Homer went, hit the ball hard all series. He had like a 57.1% hard hit rate against the Marlins and average EV of 93.5. So I was surprised to see him skip double, skip triple A entirely, I should say. I wasn't surprised, like that the daughters wanted to give him a try out there, but for him to skip triple A and look like it just wasn't even a thing for him in his debut was really cool to see. Yeah, I can say that he doesn't look like a 21 year old rookie. But he never really has. He's always been looked much more mature at the plate than he then his age. And yeah, this already showing that he belongs in this league even after skipping triple A entirely. I mean, he didn't really need it.

9:09I mean, all the skills are there. This is, I mean, people through, who is the other one they threw, baby Yordon, Combson, that was this, oh, Lizara Montez, this is much closer. I hate to do it for any prospect, but if you told me I have to put baby Yordon, Combson, a prospect, Dave Paul is the one you put it on. I mean, his, again, blend of power, approach, contact, it is a blend that is not matched right now by any current prospect in my opinion. And yeah, that first home run is funny because Stuck gets out of that 416 apparently, but Peter Appel from Jess baseball, he is this kind of thing where some of these longer home runs like a running joke that he'll say, like, oh, the actual, you know, the Peter vision was this distance. He put it at 501 feet for Dave Paul. Yeah, so I just put him in. He had me in the two. Yeah, pretty much, but it looked like it was 500 feet. I mean, that thing was an absolute shot. And yeah, he just looks like,

10:11and it's crazy too, because it's not like he got caught up to play on some small market team. Like he got caught up to play for the World Series favorites, the Los Angeles Dodgers, to essentially take Shohei O'Connie's spot on the roster. Well, he's on the IO. Like, that's a lot of pressure to put on a 21 year old, but he looks the part. So yeah, I already have him as a top 50, even I think top 40 dynasty asset. I think he's that good. My number one prospect again. So yeah, Dave Paula is the real deal. Another notable prospect motion to the major leagues on the hitting side with the twins, a manual run regas. And he already hit his first major league home run as well. So a couple rookies getting home runs early in their major league 10 years this week. But a little bit of a different path to the major leagues here for Rodriguez. So he signed way back in 2019. So he was one of those international signings in 2019

11:13that back then they didn't really, since it was a July setting period, barely any of them got into the DSL. After that, usually would be the following year. And then the following year was the COVID year. So he didn't even debut with the twins until 2021. And since then, it's been pretty good production for the most part, but just has it stayed on the field. I mean, his career high in games played as 99, which was back in high A in 2023. This year he was limited to just 58 games before his promotion. He had 11 home runs, seven steals, and those 58 games with a 272, 422, 490 slash line. So a lot of pros here, few cons as well. So what do you think here on a manual or regas, Toby? I'm just excited to see the fact that he actually got to make his debut this season. I feel like, especially after Walker Jenkins got the call, he was turning it up a notch and triple A a little bit with St. Paul just trying to get up,

12:14just get over the hump and get to the major leagues. But he's showing the feel for just barreling up the ball already, 50% barrel rate in his first, I don't know if it's up my head, how many games he's played, two games played, which again, not a large sample, but encouraging to see when he's hitting home runs and sparing the ball up and hitting it hard. I mean, he has struck out, but it's kind of like the opposite of what we saw with DePaula. This is a guy who has a lot of power, same like Hossway DePaula, but we'll give you that big time swinging misconcern. So good to see that he contributed from the jump. It's just really a matter for me. It's, is he going to stay on the field? And it's good to see him out there tonight against the Yankees at least. Yeah, I mean, I think this is the biggest thing to take away. Like you said, it's just he's on the field healthy right now. I mean, he's one of those very talented prospects that has some durability concerns. I mean, I feel like a lot of Minnesota's top guys has some durability concerns. I mean, Walker Jenkins has his. Obviously he bucksed in Roy Chlue, the list goes on and on there in Minnesota.

13:16And yet Rodriguez absolutely fits that mold as well. He was in the miners for six, the technically he was in the organization for seven years where he debuted in mind, an early game action for six different seasons here. And again, he hasn't reached a hundred games yet. So hopefully he can because he's a pretty fun player. I kind of, you know, I liken him to almost like Spencer Jones, but not as far to either end of the spectrum. Kind of like the Spencer Jones package, but tamed in a little bit on either end where the upside isn't quite as high but the downside isn't quite as low. But similar kind of skills and issues where it's big power, you know, good on base abilities, kind of sneaky speed in athleticism that you don't really think about, but then he'll steal steal some bags every year. But also has some like you mentioned swing and miss concerns from overall contact issues, but there are this not quite as bad as Jones. The Jones, I think it was like sub 60% some years.

14:16I mean, Rodriguez has been generally like mid to upper 60% contact. That may be a little over 70, you know, a few years back, you know, his own contact generally would be like, you know, 76 to 78% kind of in that range. So not as bad as Jones in that regard, but definitely some swing and miss issues, but he walks a ton, a lot of power. So yeah, there's definitely a lot of appeal here for fantasy purposes with, I mean, Rodriguez. So definitely one that's, you know, if you want to shoot on the upside and kind of keep your fingers crossed, he can say healthy, then he's definitely a fun one to go after. Now, the other big one in the major league level, but on the pitching side here is Brody Hopkins with the Tampa Bay rays. He's become kind of an interesting prospect of this point because he's in the ballpad right now and I don't think he's ever really going back. I think that's kind of where his future lies is in the ballpen, but at the same time,

15:16he could be a really, really good late inning weapon and maybe even a guy that's closing now games down the road. Like the stuff has always been really, really good, but my pushback, even when the hype and, you know, the rankings on him were super, super high in most places was fact that he just walked way too many guys and then that just kind of got blown up this year, nearly one walk per inning in AAA this year, but he's looked pretty good coming out of the ballpen in the last six, seven appearances and he made his debut for the raise yesterday. So what do you make of Hopkins here, Toby? I mean, do you think he can work his way into a late inning, you know, saves or holds picture here in Tampa Bay? I feel like with Hopkins, especially right now, we're looking at more of a guy that you're just using as a weapon against right handed hitters. You know, that might be late in the game, it might be in the middle of the game, it's just whenever you need a guy who's gonna pump a fastball by a right handed hitter or just get them off balance with a curve ball. This is the type of guy you go to

16:17and if that command improves over time, yeah, for sure, I think he could be a late inning closer type of guy, but really all of his has like been really good at doing it. I know it's been a very small sample, it's just limiting the barrel and pumping fastballs by guys. And, you know, just, I don't see the command getting to a point where it's comfortable enough for the race to move him into the back end of the ball pen. Doesn't get a ton of ground ball contact either, at least didn't at the start. And I know again, it's been one game, so I'm not gonna make a big deal about that. But we just like to see the command improve. And if that can happen, then I'm definitely open to him moving more into like a late inning high leverage role, but for now, this is a really fun weapon to have against right handed hitters at any point in the game. Yeah, I mean, that command and control was definitely the X factor long term. I mean, he's always been plenty of bad. So he's been generally that 27, 28, 29% K rate range, batting average against, you know, upper ones, low two.

17:17So kind of a hard guy to square up, but yeah, the walk rate was 10.8% in 2024, 12.2% last year in AA, and then this year ballooned at 21%. And that's, you know, big reason why he had a 1.71 whip while also having a 205 batting average again. So yeah, I mean, he's just a weird one whereas the range of outcomes here is so large. Yeah, I think he could end up being, I mean, we've seen guys kind of like the failed starters, kind of with this kind of profile get into the bullpen and kind of, you know, settle in better there and see the walk rate get down to him more manageable level. We'll see if that happens with him long term, but I do think there is the upside to be, you know, eighth, ninth inning guy and begin some saves up, you know, eventually, but yeah, I think you need to see some, some definite progression from him in the, command and control department before that could even,

18:17you know, be a remote possibility, especially on the Tima Tampa Bay too. So, but the kind of is a good transition into our next player who is, you know, similar in the regard where it's nasty stuff with some command and control issues, not nearly as profound with the command control issues as Brody Hopkins, but, you know, Harleyn Susana, another exciting national pitching prospect, obviously, we talked with one of them a few weeks ago in Travis, Accora, and now we got Harleyn Susana who's getting the bump to AAA. I mean, he missed most of the season. He came back had a few abbreviated outings in high A, you know, four more abbreviated outings in AA, you know, he pitched in Sunday as well. I think he went three and two thirds on Sunday, sending those as long as outing up the season so far as to kind of bring him back. And, you know, it hasn't been great. It's been very inconsistent. He's so much like a ton of bats that's been, you know, the one thing that's come back right away. And Susana's guy that can pump triple digit fastballs with ease. Another guy just got really nasty stuff.

19:18This slider is really, really good. You know, change up kind of lags behind, but shows the makings of some good movement profile there as well. But just similar arm to Obi-Words, a lot of upside, a lot of bat missing, but the walk rates have generally been, you know, well over 10% most seasons. So how high are you on Susana moving forward? If Susana's healthy, I'm very, very high on him. And I think most people would agree on that. I mean, you just watch him pitch and it's just so much fun because, I mean, you already mentioned like, he has the ability to just blow a fastball by a guy with ease. And you know, you watch him pitch. It's like there's not like a sort of violent movement down from the mound with his lower body. It's just, it seems like it's all arm strength. It might not be good for him, but it's so much fun to watch this guy just effortlessly pump like triple digits past minor league headers. And you know, if he can continue to do that as he progresses and gets more time in triple A next season,

20:20I'm really, really high on what he could possibly do for the nationals. And you know, I don't know if they're gonna have him more as like a starter or if they're gonna try to transition him more from the bullpen, like I don't know what that's gonna look like, but this season at least he's kept the ball on the ground. He has all the traits that make a potential starter. I would love to see him in that rotation. Yeah, I mean, that rotation could be really, really good. We mentioned it recently where, you know, with him and Sakura and Kate Savali and, you know, a few others. I mean, this could be a really, really good national rotation. I mean, if they hold onto CJ Abrams, I know there's some trade talks there this season. James Wood obviously, I mean, this could be, and they have some good hitting prospects coming up too. I mean, obviously Eli Willitz and Seabrook King, you know, Devon Fitzgerald, a lot of fun prospects and just young players in general for this Nats team. And yet Susana could be right in the middle, you know, of the next core, you know, for the national.

21:21So yeah, if they can kind of keep him and check and keep that command and control somewhat in check, I think he could be a really, really exciting arm long term. And the other arm, I got a bump here, exciting arm, in the minor leagues, Brandon Clark going from high A to AA and made his debut on, I believe it was Saturday or Sunday, I forget this point, over the weekend, I'll just say that. And he went four scoreless innings, one hit allowed, one walk and seven strikeouts. He was hitting triple digits with the fastball as well, another really good slider with Clark as well. And he was a guy that was really excited about when he was here with the Red Sox, obviously went over to St. Louis this past off season. And he's been dealing with some injury issues this year as he has really every year of his career. And then the guy that's got some injury concerns to deal with here, but a lot of upside as well with Brandon Clark. And getting into a pretty decent system in St. Louis

22:22there as well. So what are your long term thoughts here on Brandon Clark? I think this is just another guy that they can throw into the mix here and just have be a really fun potential starter. I mean, we look at the other left handers that they have. I mean, Quinn Matthews obviously up there, Liam Doyle, working his way through right now, Durandale Sanchez, well, I'm not sure is he, did he pick fully right handed? I feel like I saw that that earlier on. I mean, he said he was, but he's still has done some lefty for what I've seen. There was a report like, oh, he's getting rid of it, but I've still seen him throw lefty a little bit this year. So I'm like, well, what happened with that? Did he change his mind or what? So, but yeah, I mean, but you pair all those guys together and it's just a super exciting future of potential arms in this rotation. And for Clark, I mean, when you watch him pitch, it's a super uncomfortable at bat. He's got like, not like a super funky left handed release, but he does seem like he hides the ball very well. And when he's got the great Velo that he has,

23:23he has the good secondaries. It honestly just makes for one of the better pitching prospects in the sport when he's healthy and he's on. And I think that's what we're gonna see next year. And, you know, I'm just, I'm just very excited with the amount of left handed talent that they have right now that he's finally getting back into the mix there. Yeah, I mean, he really knows how to spin it. I mean, he's got a really good feel, you know, first breaking stuff, you're not so much with any type of off-speed offering, but if you can at least, you know, get two of those breakers to be like consistent weapons down the road along with that triple digit fastball or at least a, you know, fastball that sits in the mid to upper 90s. I can touch triple digits at times. I mean, this is a really exciting left handed arm. And yeah, you said it's not funky. It's really deceptive though, because he's a 6'4' 2' 22' 25 because those long arms. So, yeah, it's definitely, especially if you're a lefty. That's a really tough at that, just the way he comes at you. And just has great stuff on top of that too.

24:25So, yeah, if you feel good about kind of the direction this St. Louis system is going, I know they had some, you know, pitchers kind of not, you know, kind of fulfill their potential, you'll leave it to our asm in the greatest, but, you know, they have a lot of, you know, you use, you use name them all too, like all of this really exciting arms. And then, you could even make a case. I mean, I could make a case that Clark has the highest upside of any pitcher in the system, even higher than Doyle, higher than Matthews, higher than Sanchez. Like, I mean, it's not like, yes, absolutely, but I think you can make that case for sure. I mean, if everything clicks with Clark, you know, there's a lot of upside here. Within this why, I was really excited to have him in the Red Sox system, but, yeah, I think he said, if he can say healthy, another guy that has some, some durability, concern, Jay, which has kind of been a underlying theme of this episode, kind of inadvertently. A lot of these guys have some, some durability concerns, but, you know, there's a lot of upside with these guys as well, and definitely, you know, with Brandon Clark.

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26:27aiding in a timely and accurate delivery. You get near real-time tracking, so you can keep up with your shipments, and with affordable upfront pricing, there are no hidden fees or surprise surcharges to throw off your cost sheets. It all adds up to predictable deliveries you can depend on, because knowing your logistics are handled lets you focus on everything else, your customers, your team and the future you're building. Visit usps.com slash ground advantage to start shipping with confidence, USPS, official shipping sponsor of the NHL. Now let's go back over to some humor hitters here that all got bumped from high eight AA, starting with a couple of dodgers here, Eduardo Cintero and Charles Dablin. We'll start with Eduardo Cintero, who, after a slower start to the year, just has been back to the same Cintero we saw last year. I mean last year he had 19 bombs, 47 steals this year, not quite as many home runs, but still 13 home runs and 44 steals

27:29with a 308, 443, 499 slash line. I think since the beginning of May is OBP is like 470, or something like that, I looked like a week ago and it was in that range, I'm sure, quite where it's at now, but he just got the bump to AA the other day and had his first game on Sunday and hit a two run home run, went for five in the game, but had that two run shots. And just a really exciting, I mean another really exciting, getting prospect here for the dodgers and he's always been a ton of contact, between contact and approach, it's easily a plus hit tool. When you kind of group those two things together, plenty of speed, back to back years with 40 plus steals, and some sneaky power too. So, a lot to like here, Toby, with Eduardo Cintero. Yeah, and there's not a lot, not to like here. I mean, with his profile, I mean you gotta really think that he's gonna translate to AA well, and it's funny because I mean, people get to devil and but I think his profile

28:30makes for a bit more of an easier transition, but Cintero's not an aggressive hitter yet, he makes a lot of contact, he makes really high quality swing decisions, and like you already mentioned, he has sneaky power on top of it too. It's really just kind of annoying at this point, how many well-rounded prospects the dodgers have at the top of their org, like all these guys like DePaula, Sorota, you know wherever he ends up, or all these guys are gonna graduate, and then Cintero will probably be at the top, and I mean, it's gonna be like, they're not even missing anything, because he's just as good as those guys are, and he's shown that at high this year, he's been probably the best hitter in Affiliated Baseball in the second half, and we're lucky we get to see him out in the AFL too this fall. Yeah, that's gonna be really exciting, and yeah, they trade away Zaire Hope, and then they still have four top 10 outfield prospects, at least in my opinion for fantasy, because when they trade away Hope, then you kinda had Charles Dablin that worked his way up into that top 10 mix to join,

29:31obviously DePaula, Sorota, and Cintero, but Cintero is one of those guys where, if he were to this bulk up even more, and just take that next step in the power department, he could really turn into a Supersara. I fully believe that when you already factor in, the speed that he has, the approach that he has, the contact that he has, if you were to take that next, it's a big 20 to 25 home or guy, with 30 plus deals, and a good average and a high OBP. I mean, honestly, the upside is a top 30, 40 overall player for fantasy, it really is, just, and all start caliber out, feel that can impact the game in many, many different ways, especially on the offensive side of things. So, he just turned, actually he's turning 21, and actually when you listen to this on the 15th, he'll be, or when this air is on the 15th, his birthday is on the 16th, so happy early 21st birthday to Eduardo Cintero, and he got that plays,

30:31just like the Apollo plays well beyond his years, he looks very mature at the plates, and as a really exciting blend of skills here. So, after a little bit of a slide earlier in the year, in Prospect Rankings, he's definitely shot back up, and is right in that top 25 discussion once again. And Charles Dablin is kind of getting close as well. He's caught up a little bit of late after that really hot stretch he had, but the overall numbers here are really, really solid. He did go over five in his double A debut, but in 115 high A games, 292, 402, 535, slash line, he had 29 doubles, 24 home runs, more walks and strikeouts as well, 63 walks, just 57 strikeouts. You just got to get some base of ton, that's definitely the leading standout tool here, but sneaky power as well, he's a good runner, maybe not a huge power or a huge speed guy,

31:32but definitely can give you a little bit of each as well. And this is a really, like you alluded to earlier Toby, just a really high floor guy that should transition pretty seamlessly as well. So, yeah, I'm really excited about Charles Dablin here as well. Yeah, there's just not a lot to really dislike with Charles Dablin, really good strikeout and with avoidance, and really just, I guess tested hitter. I know he's had his fair share of adversity in the college world series, but this was one of the better hitters in Arkansas program history. It's the type of guy you want in your system, and he should have been there months ago. So, it's good to finally see him there, even though it was just for a week to end the year. Right, I mean, in any other system, these guys would have been in double A a few months ago, but, you know, kind of a little back log of outfielders in that system, but it was kind of funny for the first thing I thought, I don't know why, and I posted this from the Tula set account where when they probably got the call and jumped over Triple A, it's just like, you know, James Tibz and all the guys in Triple A,

32:32an exact air heart Ryan Ward that are like, hey, you know, like what the hell? We got jumped over, even though we're having pretty good seasons here as well, but this shows you like where guys like Tibz and Ward and Airheart are having really good seasons, get leapfrog by even better prospects in this system, endless, endless riches here for the Dodgers, but, you know, quickly before we move on to the next player here, you know, it's looking at, you mentioned like the width of void in here, and looking at Davilan and Contair, both had, or both have, you know, swinging strike rates under 7% this year. So it's just, guys that just don't swing a miss that often, put the bear, put the bat on the ball and it can really do some damage. So, you had two exciting, I mean, I have Davilan around 40, with overall, he's definitely a top 50 guy for me at this point. So, just a never ending train of Dodgers prospects here, but another exciting young prospect, who's even younger than those guys, he's still 19 years old, the bump to double A,

33:32and that's Josiah Harpshorn with the Chicago Cubs. Yeah, guy that, you know, didn't really have a lot of hype entering the year, even he was a six-throw and pick last year's draft, he didn't get into any minor league game action last year. So, there wasn't like a lot of got people out there to clamoring to grab him for their dynasty teams, but they're definitely his now, with how he's performed this year, 284, 407, 518, slash line, 23 bombs, 17 steals, he's driven at 112, which I believe is, like top three in the minor leagues this year. It's another guy where the contact is really, really good, you know, doesn't swing a miss often at all, and gets on base at a high clip, high walk rates, you know, a lot to like here too. It kind of almost, just like a, maybe slightly more up-sighted version of Charles Davillon, I think it's just kind of similar profiles between Davillon and Harpshorn, though,

34:35Harpshorn, you know, a little bit bigger, a little more power upside, but a lot to like here too, with Harpshorn to be. Yeah, and he hasn't slowed down at all. I mean, we talked about him, I wanna say back in like June, like in high, yeah. Wasn't being tested by high A arms very well, and I thought, you know, there might be a time where later in the summer, he starts to maybe fall back down to Earth a little bit, and that never really happened. You know, I'm trying to look at things that I could really nitpick about, just like Harpshorn, and it's honestly really tough because he's done great against right-handed pitching, he's done solid against left-handed pitching as well. Took an incredible first half and had a really solid second, and a really good second half as well. I do think AA will be a bit of an adjustment for him, and I know that's gonna happen, especially when the sample size is gonna be as small as it is, but really, really just excited to see him continuing to progress through this system. Similar thing with like a guy like Eli Willitz, where they're very young, and you know they're kind of playing a level above where they should be, but it's great to see them getting the confidence from the org

35:36to get those reps in at the end of the year, and you know, maybe next year, if Harpshorn could come in and learn how to just lift the ball more consistently in AA, I mean, this healing could just skyrocket even further. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the Cubs have, I think, done a pretty good job with heading prospect development over the years. I mean, not played as much on the pitching side, or at least in my opinion, but they've done well with developing young hitters, and I think they have a really, really fun profile here that they can still kind of molding. He's still very young, he's still just 19 years old, and already getting up to AA, which is just really exciting. And like you mentioned, we talked about him, I think it was like one of the first episodes we did together back in June, and he was just absolutely raking then, and hasn't really changed. He's still been raking and definitely earned this promotion up to AA, because I think he's one of the top first-based prospects in the game right now. And you know, first-spaceman, you know, a little bit of corner-out field as well,

36:37but yeah, I do think his long-term home would probably be at first-based, but I think he's got enough power to be a 30-homer guy. You can add, you know, double-digit steals, and then hit for a high average, and get on base of the good clip as well. So, yeah, he's, you know, their top 30, 35 guy for me as well right now. So, yeah, a lot to like here with Josiah Hartzhorn. Let's move over to some just other interesting names across the minor league baseball. Right now, we'll go out to the Los Angeles Angels. I mean, can't really put interesting and angels in the same sense. There's too often on this podcast, but they have some fun names at this point. There's certainly a decent lot of farms that's been put together here. And one of the more recent additions that they got this year from the Toronto System, Arjan Nemala has been hitting very, very well. A lot of power lately for the Rocket City trashpanda, that's the best name in minor league baseball. In the month of September, 11 games so far, Nemala has cranked seven home runs. And really, he's been hitting pretty well.

37:38Yeah, he took a little bit of time to get adjusted first handful of games for Rocket City weren't the greatest, but then he's, you know, a lot of multi hit games, a lot of home runs lately as I just mentioned. So, you know, 283, 377, 826 slash line here in September. And, you know, Toby, a guy that's always been pretty intriguing, you know, that the power upsides, always been pretty fun. Still, only 20 years old or turn 21, and about a month from now. So, what are your thoughts here on Arjan Nemala? I'm really, really excited to just see that he is finally putting it together over the full length of the entire season. You know, last season, we saw him start out really well and then we kind of saw the second half. He's kind of slowed down a little bit more. And this season, it's kind of been the complete opposite. He had an 801 OPS in the first half and a 920 in the second half with almost 30 extra racists in that time frame. He just seems to be maturing more in the batter's box as time goes on. You mentioned he's still very young,

38:39but it looks like from last year in high A to this year in Doublet, the chase rate has just gotten like, just night and day so much better. And if he's going to continue to refine those swing decisions even more, he's going to be able to tap into that power ceiling. I think easier than a lot of people expect. So, you know, you said it, we don't talk a lot about the Angels guys here on this podcast, but Nimalas certainly deserves it. He's been one of if not the best AA hitters that kind of end off this regular season here. Yeah, and he really just took off after the trade from Toronto to the Angels where, I mean, he wasn't, you know, he was actually pretty solid in AA Toronto. I mean, AA, no hamster, you know, hit 279, the 114 WRC plus, but really just has taken this game to the next level here. I mean, the average has actually gone down a little bit, but he's just hitting for a lot more power than he did. The slug is 126 points higher so far with the Angels. And, you know, I've seen him take batting practice for a game before and the raw power is just really, really exciting.

39:40He's quick twitch. He's got that spat path that can really generate a lot of loft. And the guy that has some issues, I mean, last year, he put 120 games, but, you know, this year, he didn't miss a little bit of time. And he did in 2024 as well, if I'm not mistaken. So, you know, not nearly the, you know, I would say durability concerns, but just, you got that set our time kind of getting on a roll at times and kind of really struggled with the average back in 2024 and 2025, which really kind of killed a lot of the hype around him, but he's starting to get much more consistent this year, as we mentioned, and the guy that's got a lot of upside and that powered apartment, he can run a little bit too. And maybe he kind of gives you like 8-10 steals as well over the course of a season. So, yeah, I think there's definitely a lot to like here with Urgent Amala. I don't have him nearly, you know, right, as highly as a lot of those guys who just talked about it, he's not top 50 for me, but he's, I think he's like a back end top 100 prospect with the upside to, you know, maybe get to that top 50 level

40:40next year. If you can really carry this momentum over from this year to next year, I think you can see top 50 for Urgent Amala. Another shortstop prospect here that missed, I mean, 96% of the season, 8 in Miller, finally back, you know, dealing with a back issue here that he had to have, I think a few different little procedures on, needed some kind of rehab and get back right, you know, and he missed what, 100 and 1, 120 and 130 games of the season. He's been back for a few games now, and you know, he's got a few hits, nothing special, nothing spectacular. So far as he came back, but I think it's just great to see him back, Toby. I got that made a big name for himself last couple of years, especially last year where he really ascended to being, you know, one of the better shortstop prospects in the game, 14 Homer, 59 steel year, you know, with a 137WRC plus, you know, great athlete, you know, solid contact, you know,

41:41you know, a little bit of power as well. So I got that really, really exciting, you know, fantasy focused, you know, prospect rankings here. So, but it's good to see him back. So what are your thoughts on Miller? I mean, do you think, you know, what we saw from him last year, you know, was legit, you know, how high are you on 8 of Miller Bowen forward? I think what we saw from him last year is certainly legit. I just envy, like hesitant with him because of the injury, this season, I, you know, especially when a guy is, I feel even weird saying this because he's 22, but when a guy is like 19 to 21 and he's kind of dealing with injuries, I'm like, okay, I can kind of live with that. 22 and up is when I start to get a little bit more concerned because I feel like nowadays we're just seeing so many guys debut at such a younger age. With Miller, I don't really think it matters too much with, you know, the group that they have in Philly, he doesn't really have the rush going up there at all. So I don't really know where I'm at with 8 and Miller entirely. If I would have gotten to see more out of him this season,

42:42I would have a more firm answer for you, but it's good to see him contributing at AA again. I know he's had a couple games where he's had hits there and I believe one multi hit game as well. So it's good to see him back and then the lineup and swinging it well. The fact that he's come back and is contributed right away makes me a little bit more comfortable to buy in on him a little bit more despite the injury, but like I already mentioned, and like we've been mentioning a lot, the durability concern, it's starting to weigh more on me a little bit with 8 and Miller. Yeah, and it's a different kind of feel with this one where the other guys were like, all right, there's like a lot of injuries a year over a year where like before this year, before the back issue, there wasn't really any concern in this area for 8 and Miller, but now they're absolutely is. And for me, I think the part that's more concerning for me is not necessarily the age, but just what the injury was. I'm always concerned with these back issues. Anyone that's ever played baseball at any level

43:45and swung a bat, just knows what in your core and your back, just your midsection, all the torque that goes into swinging a bat into throwing a ball from shorts up over the first base, just every aspect of baseball where I feel like these back issues can just keep popping up. So I'm pretty concerned about that. So I'm not gonna lie, but at the same time, I think it's a good time to buy low in a dynasty league because I feel like given the massive layoff here for him, I think the kind of the price tag has dropped up good bit. I mean, he was getting ranked like top 20, top 25 late last year and into this year. I think that's definitely absolutely come down a lot. So I think it's not a bad call to kind of kick the tires see if you can buy low, get them for a reasonable price tag because if he is able to kind of return to 2025 levels, you got a steel in a deal there and in a dynasty league. So I'm okay with going that route,

44:47but again, I do have some issues concerned with the back, I just always do, but he's a very, very talented player. There's no doubt about that. Next name here, Carson Raka Forte, one of my favorite names to say in my league baseball, he just joined the 30, 30 club, with this 30 of steel the other day. Overall, this year, 35 home runs and 30 steals, and I believe he's the only guy this year to go 30, 30 in the minor leagues. I think this is the first time in a few years that anyone's gone 30, 30 in the minor leagues. So 35 home runs, 30 steals and 133 games between AA and AAA, with a 259, 341, 527 slash line. So really fun surface stats here, Toby, with Raka Forte, but he's been running a lot of high K-RH, so that is career. So what are your thoughts on him? Yeah, the high K-RH certainly concerned in AAA, it's been north of 31%.

45:47So definitely something to monitor there, but he's shown such a good feel of just lifting the ball in general, and hitting it pretty hard as well. I know it hasn't been a lead in AAA, as well as the exit velocities haven't been a lead, but still finds the barrel at and above average rate. Like you've already mentioned, has that impact on the base's ability as well. So he's gonna give you something in more than just the way of hitting home runs, which I think is good for him. A really quietly good season. Like I know I've personally posted about Raka Forte a few times, but it seems like not in a little bit at least, and you know, for a guy to go 30, 30, I feel like he should be getting talked about a little bit more. So I get his 24 in that he's probably nearing the rule five eligibility here pretty soon, but I'm excited to see hopefully the royals include him in this line of one way or another because 30, 30 guys way too difficult to keep off your major league roster, I feel like. Yeah, especially when they're the role and out,

46:49Isaac Collins and Kyle Isbel on a regular basis in left and center, and obviously you know, kind of Jack has got the right field locked down, but you know, they could definitely deach him at times as well. So see after if Salvee's gonna be gone after this year, and maybe you see Cagley on an in-deach, but even more which opens up right field. Yeah, it's just not a hard outfield to break into, and you know, we've seen the royals really cycle through a ton of outfielders over the last several years, and I think you could definitely see Raka Forte get a shot here, you know, probably won't happen this year with that little time we have left, but you know, next year for sure, I mean, he's a fun profile. He's got 20 Homer pop, he's got 25 steel wheels for sure, and he got us always walked at a double-digit clip as well. And the contact skills, you know, while the K-Rates been high, the contact rates haven't been terrible, they've been generally like in the upper 60s, which yes is below average, but not in the, you know,

47:51red flag, terrible concerning range either. So yeah, is he gonna be more than a 250 hitter? Probably not, but if you can be in that two-four, four-deish range, you know, and give you some power speed, this could still be a fun little platter here too. So, yeah, definitely a sneaky name, like you just mentioned, kind of a sneaky good year for him, and I think if he was on, you know, in the dodger system, the red socks, the Yankees, you know, the Phillies, et cetera, et cetera, he probably would be getting a lot more love, but he's a 24-year-old prospect in the royal system, and an older 24-year-old prospect. So, he had definitely some downside there, but a fun little profile from Carson Ruckafort, and no doubt about that. Now, we get two more names here, two bigger names that have really kind of gotten their seasons back on track after kind of slumping in the middle parts of the season. We'll start with Devin Fitzgerald from the Nationals, another Nationals prospect here. And I talked about a few of them over the last few episodes, including obviously, Tucson or earlier in this episode,

48:54but Devin Fitzgerald has gotten back on track lately, as I mentioned, you know, kind of dealt with, you know, a mid-season swoon of sorts by, you sit in 310 with 11X-to-base hits, six of which have left the yard, you know, over the last 20, was it 21 games, excuse me, in AA, and he's got bumped to AA, not too long ago. So, kind of a fun little team there in AA in the national system, but, you know, overall, 114 games for him. He's been AA for a couple of months now, I actually, I've known this had been that long, but he really started at the beginning of that level, but he's really picked it up. So, overall, this season, 251, 339, 441, slash line, 20 doubles, 20 bombs, 15 steals, 9.7% walker rate, 21.9% K rate. So, what do you make of Fitzgerald here, Toby? He's got his bounce around the infield, you know, probably more so as the conveysman moving forward,

49:56just given obviously the FCJ Abrams there, and you know, see if a king and Eli Willett. So, you see Fitzgerald at second base, maybe third, maybe the outfield, I think he's got a guy that gets pushed around to other spots to make room for those guys, but he's a good enough athlete or I think he can make it work, but, now, what do you make of the offensive profile here long-term, do you think he can be a god that's kind of an impact player for fantasy purposes down the road, perhaps? Yeah, I mean, I certainly do. I mean, he has that ability to grab extra base hits and homers pretty well, really fun tools he switchheader. This season's just been a roller coaster just off the field for him, and you know, you've got to feel for what he's gone through, and then to be able to put together this good of an end of season is just amazing to see. And I mean, in his last 25 games, he's been awesome at 327 average, 159WRC plus. He's completely, just kind of flipped the script and has ended the season off on such a high note, and it makes me really just think, you know, he's doing this at 21 years old, with all the adversity you faced this season

50:58and having to go through the hardest level of the minor leagues. Really hard for me to sit here and say, Devon Fisterld's not going to be an impact player at least in fantasy. I think he's going to be a centerpiece of this national lineup in the future, and you know, that's why they went out and they traded for him when they got rid of Mackenzie Gore. Yeah, I mean, that was a pretty good piece, and I feel like whenever I do tweet about him, which has been several times throughout the season, I think there's always like at least a couple rangers fans where they're like, you know, Tung and Chagall, it would be nice to have a guy like him, obviously they had him, but you know, let him go. And yeah, I think he's a fun little prospect. Maybe not a guy that really stands out in any one area. He's more like, you know, as some of the parts type of guy, but he makes contact, he can get on base, he keeps the K-Ratin check, you know, a little bit power, a little bit speed here. So, maybe he's one of those guys that just turns into a multi-position eligible guy for your fantasy teams, but can give you some solid production across the board. So, yeah, I think there's a lot to like here

52:01with Devon Fitzgerald and it's great to see him getting back on track, you know, for sure. Last guy we're talking about here was got that entered the season with a lot of hype after, you know, the way he performed last year, but it's kind of been kind of dulled a little bit this year, but he has gotten it going here lately. That's Edward Florentino with the Pittsburgh Pirates, you know, over his last 25 games, he's getting 258, 418, 656 with 10 home runs, five doubles as well, more walks than strikeouts, two 24 walks, 23 strikeouts, over his last 25 games, which might be the most exciting part of this stretch, Toby. I mean, we know the powers there and it's been there all year, even if, you know, the average hasn't been the greatest, but he's, you know, striking out less, you know, over the last, you know, what, five weeks now and getting that contact rate up a little bit, that's pretty exciting. So what do you make of this season for Florentino?

53:02Are you lower on him now than you were entering the season? He's running less, he's actually getting the more power this year. So kind of, what do you make of the year Florentino set? I don't, so I wouldn't say I think any less of him because of this season, I mean, if anything, you know, I really like what I see out of just the power output. It's been a, oh, Lee, I mean, he has an elite feel for just pulling the ball in the air, really keeps it off the ground just better than most people and in all of baseball do. And I'm just a swing in general, so much fun to watch. It's one of my favorite swings, I think in minor league baseball, it's just, it's so violent. Like, I don't, I think I even tweeted that, like, I might have been Lizar Montes, but either way, like, I think the same thing about these two guys is just like, the swing is just made to just launch home runs. And when you pair his just feel for walking and his feel for just not chasing outside of the zone, still a fun player for me to kind of just watch on a game-to-game basis. And I know you said he hasn't ran as much this season, but what's he gonna run that much

54:04when he made it to the highest level? I mean, I think that was certainly something to think about too. The power here is the calling card with Edward Florentino. And I mean, he's not lost that one bit. No, he's definitely tapped into that power more than he did last year. And yeah, it's come at some expense to the contact. I mean, the contact rate dropped around 9%, 10% from last year. I mean, he's not in the low 70s this year. He was around 80% contact last year. So we're gonna straight away, it's gone up from seven and a half to just over 11% this year. And I still, I'm still trying to figure out where I think he's gonna wind up in terms of like just being in a, he's batting average potentially long term, but maybe he's more 250 than 280 down the road, but he could be just that middle of the order power bat. Put him in the middle of that order with O'Neill Cruz. And that's a really, Ezmerlin Valdez, obviously Connick Riffin, Bryan Reynolds. That could be a really, it already is a fun lineup up there in Pittsburgh.

55:06And you had a Florentino, probably not next year, but maybe the year after, maybe a couple of coffee per him next year, but probably not. I'd say more so 2028, ETA for Florentino, but this is a potential 30 home or bat. I think he could still be a good five to 10 steel guy as well and still walks a ton too. So maybe he got that has more value in an OBP format than an average format, but it definitely that power really, really exciting. And it's really been fun to see him kind of break out in that regard. So it's hopefully we can see the average tick back up, next year as well. I think if that happens, you can really see him tend to really jump back in like that top 25 discussion for Prospect Rankings. All right, I think this is gonna wrap us up. A lot of fun names discussed in this episode, a lot of fun debuts and some guys hitting very, very well, a lot of power in this episode too. So hope you all enjoyed it, a lot of fun names, and we will talk to you again next week, but until then, everyone take care.

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