# 1175 | Ketel Marte Returns, PCA = MVP, Top August Performers

An episode of [The Just Baseball Show](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1560027068), 1 Sep 2026, 55 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/e4b9cea4-e5d4-4cfa-bb58-b45900e1c89e/9dc46769-26b0-4236-9e2f-b4b80137c22f/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=52ea80fc-1e5c-45cb-b88e-b45900e1c8b0

Aram and Jack unpack the next chapter of the Ketel Marte saga as he returned to the Diamondbacks with plenty to unpack from both he and manager Torey Lovullo's media availability. How PCA is running away with the NL MVP and a look at the top August performers in MLB. Intro: 0:00 Ketel Marte: 4:30 Ethan Salas: 18:17 Lids: 24:33 Hampton Farms: 25:37 Pete Crow-Armstrong: 26:06 Daylen Lile: 34:43 Jac Caglianone: 40:06 Tristan Peters: 46:45 Jesus Luzardo: 49:42 Use Code "JUSTBASEBALL" when signing up on BetMGM Join our Just Baseball Discord Just Baseball Merch! Subscribe to Our New Newsletter! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:10] Speaker 1: Here comes the hook. Down and in. 20 strikeouts.
[0:15] Speaker 2: He ties the Major League record.
[0:18] Speaker 1: Breeze hits it in the air to center.
[0:22] Speaker 3: We will see you tomorrow night.
[0:25] Speaker 2: The impossible has happened.
[0:29] Speaker 3: Goal!
[0:30] Speaker 2: Big fly on Tyson. Towards the corner. It's back. It's gone.
[0:36] Speaker 2: Welcome to Slam the Eagles.
[0:39] Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us on the Just Baseball Show today.
[0:43] Speaker 1: It is Tuesday, September 1st. Jack, ball in arm, Leighton, Peyton,
[0:46] Speaker 1: Gene is here as he always is. Apologies for the
[0:49] Speaker 1: technical difficulties. We could not go live on YouTube and
[0:52] Speaker 1: X today. Hand up. That's on me. The hotel Wi-Fi
[0:55] Speaker 1: is simply not good enough. I will ask them to
[0:58] Speaker 1: be better moving forward. We got to get into the
[1:01] Speaker 1: Cattell Marte drama, obviously, because there's another wrinkle to it
[1:05] Speaker 1: as he makes his return from the injured list which
[1:09] Speaker 1: was the restricted list at the outset but then it
[1:11] Speaker 1: turned into the injured list and he had a fun
[1:13] Speaker 1: hat that we're going to talk about we also want
[1:15] Speaker 1: to talk about the hottest bats in arm in the
[1:18] Speaker 1: month of August it was a heck of an August
[1:21] Speaker 1: for guys like Pete Coral Armstrong who is looking to
[1:23] Speaker 1: solidify a National League MVP case Jack Caglione looks like
[1:26] Speaker 1: one of the best players in the American League over
[1:28] Speaker 1: the last 30 days and we got a whole bunch
[1:30] Speaker 1: of other guys to talk about also Top 10 prospect
[1:34] Speaker 1: in baseball, according to Mr. Layton, makes his major league
[1:36] Speaker 1: debut here in the coming days. It is all brought
[1:39] Speaker 1: to you by BetMGM, a reminder to make it legendary.
[1:42] Speaker 1: Jack Arum. Arum, you're in KC. I'm in KC. You
[1:47] Speaker 1: have a heck of a box to check, my friend.
[1:49] Speaker 2: Yeah, the final box. This is the final stadium for
[1:52] Speaker 2: me for, I would say, I always want to say
[1:55] Speaker 2: all 30, but it's like 34, especially if you include
[1:59] Speaker 2: Field of Dreams, whatever else it may be as well,
[2:01] Speaker 2: but even just like the multiple stadiums. Yankee stadiums, the
[2:03] Speaker 2: multiple Marlin stadiums for the years. But I actually have
[2:07] Speaker 2: to go like sit down and do the actual tally.
[2:09] Speaker 2: But for those, I think everybody mostly knows unless they're
[2:12] Speaker 2: newer to the show, but set out when I was
[2:14] Speaker 2: really young with my dad to go to every single
[2:15] Speaker 2: stadium in the summers when I wasn't playing summer baseball,
[2:18] Speaker 2: we'd always squeeze in a few, but it was obviously
[2:20] Speaker 2: it took some time, but we got to 19 before
[2:22] Speaker 2: he passed away. And, you know, over the last handful
[2:25] Speaker 2: of years when excited to finish it without him. But
[2:27] Speaker 2: as I got to the last couple, It was almost
[2:30] Speaker 2: like you didn't want to finish writing the book, right?
[2:32] Speaker 2: Because if you don't finish writing it, then you don't
[2:33] Speaker 2: close it. And I kind of felt that. And I'm like, ah,
[2:36] Speaker 2: that's silly. The whole point was to finish the journey.
[2:38] Speaker 2: And I know he's still with me with it. So
[2:41] Speaker 2: the last couple of years really ramped it back up again.
[2:43] Speaker 2: And I've been excited to finish it. But I did
[2:45] Speaker 2: want to kind of save the last stop for something special.
[2:48] Speaker 2: And what more special than my fiance, Ellie, joining me
[2:52] Speaker 2: out here to catch up with you, calling the game.
[2:55] Speaker 2: for the fish griff out here you know playing for
[2:57] Speaker 2: the marlins and jeff i mean his dad and i
[3:00] Speaker 2: are coming up here uh to do it with us
[3:02] Speaker 2: as well so it worked out really nicely um it's
[3:05] Speaker 2: it's exactly the way i'd want to wrap it up
[3:07] Speaker 2: of course i you know would love for my dad
[3:08] Speaker 2: to be here with me but well this is the
[3:10] Speaker 2: coolest way to do it and it makes me feel
[3:12] Speaker 2: like he is.
[3:13] Speaker 1: Yeah it's really cool man and i'm so happy that
[3:15] Speaker 1: you kind of saved the kc opportunity for when the
[3:18] Speaker 1: marlins were in town it's really special and i'm like
[3:21] Speaker 1: if i can just be like personally a teensy tiny
[3:23] Speaker 1: part of that it's so darn cool And the fact
[3:25] Speaker 1: that Jeff was able to fly out for that is
[3:27] Speaker 1: amazing as well. So yeah, heck of a journey, I'm sure.
[3:31] Speaker 1: And it's the final stop. But now it's time to
[3:34] Speaker 1: like go back for seconds to all your favorite ballparks.
[3:36] Speaker 1: And now you can pick and choose because you made
[3:39] Speaker 1: the obligatory trip to all 30 teams or all 34 ballparks.
[3:43] Speaker 1: Now it's like, okay, I can just repeat the ones
[3:46] Speaker 1: that I liked and not have to go back to
[3:47] Speaker 1: the ones that you didn't like. Like I assume Nats
[3:49] Speaker 1: Park is not, you know, a repeat mission for you.
[3:53] Speaker 2: Which is funny because it's not like, It's just the
[3:57] Speaker 2: most generic middle-of-the-pack stadium for me. It's almost just like
[4:00] Speaker 2: the filler stadium. So yeah, I don't know if it's
[4:02] Speaker 2: top of the list, but I really want to get
[4:05] Speaker 2: back to the West Coast, like San Diego, San Francisco,
[4:08] Speaker 2: to get to those stadiums again would be awesome. And
[4:10] Speaker 2: I'd be remiss not to mention, too, one of our
[4:12] Speaker 2: best buddies, Adam, made the trip all the way out
[4:14] Speaker 2: here as well. He's on the West Coast. Usually I
[4:16] Speaker 2: go on the West Coast and catch a game with him.
[4:18] Speaker 2: He's done a couple stops with me, and we played
[4:20] Speaker 2: high school ball together, too. So just to have... It
[4:23] Speaker 2: was such a fun group for this has been awesome,
[4:24] Speaker 2: but I always thought it would be going back to
[4:26] Speaker 2: the West coast to catch a game with him. I
[4:27] Speaker 2: didn't think he'd make it out to Casey here. So yeah,
[4:29] Speaker 2: now I feel like I have the cheat sheet for
[4:31] Speaker 2: Ellie and for my family as well, where you can
[4:33] Speaker 2: kind of say, Hey, we don't need to go to
[4:35] Speaker 2: that one. We can catch them, you know, on this
[4:36] Speaker 2: game or go to this ballpark and again, San Diego,
[4:39] Speaker 2: San Francisco, top of the list for me to get
[4:41] Speaker 2: back to.
[4:42] Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about that. San Francisco is again, outside
[4:44] Speaker 1: of the cathedrals Fenway and Wrigley, San Francisco is certainly
[4:48] Speaker 1: numero uno on my list personally. We've got a lot
[4:51] Speaker 1: to get to here and a lot of exciting stuff.
[4:54] Speaker 1: But time for the top headline here. And it's Cattell
[4:57] Speaker 1: Marte making his return from the injured list that was
[5:01] Speaker 1: a restricted list. Again, turned into an injured list stint
[5:05] Speaker 1: because of the knee issue. And Marte was rehabbing in Arizona.
[5:09] Speaker 1: And then he found himself at Talking Stick Casino while
[5:12] Speaker 1: the team was playing at home. And he made his
[5:15] Speaker 1: return to the clubhouse. He made his return to the
[5:17] Speaker 1: lineup yesterday for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Philly got a win.
[5:22] Speaker 1: Cattell Marte was met by 33% cheers and 67% boos,
[5:29] Speaker 1: I'd say. And he had media availability before the game.
[5:34] Speaker 1: After the game, Tori Lovello had media availability before the game.
[5:37] Speaker 1: I think the way that we want to dissect Marte's
[5:40] Speaker 1: return to the Diamondbacks is play you Tori Lovello's comments
[5:44] Speaker 1: and then discuss the extracurriculars with Cattell. and hopefully put
[5:50] Speaker 1: this to bed for the next bit. But Podcast B,
[5:52] Speaker 1: if we've got it, let's hear from manager Torrey Lovello
[5:56] Speaker 1: with a couple of his pregame thoughts on the whole
[5:59] Speaker 1: Cattell situation.
[6:00] Speaker 3: The other times it has happened, I asked for it
[6:02] Speaker 3: to never happen again. And it's something that is a
[6:08] Speaker 3: work in progress. And I think he told you he's
[6:10] Speaker 3: human and he's not perfect. And we all have bad
[6:12] Speaker 3: moments and bad days and things that we regret. And
[6:14] Speaker 3: for him to come up here and tell you guys that,
[6:16] Speaker 3: I know it wasn't easy. And this is as much
[6:20] Speaker 3: progress as I've seen him make in communicating with you
[6:22] Speaker 3: guys and with me. And it's been brutal and brutal.
[6:24] Speaker 3: I've had some friends in this room writing things about me.
[6:27] Speaker 2: That aren't true. So that's hard.
[6:31] Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, they're free to
[6:33] Speaker 3: do what they want. And I know who I am
[6:35] Speaker 3: and I know what I mean to those players and
[6:37] Speaker 3: I know what they mean to me. And then I
[6:39] Speaker 3: close it out for everybody that has kids in this room. Right? Like,
[6:43] Speaker 3: you understand that your kids have feelings and they're different.
[6:47] Speaker 1: And you can't ram your fist down their throat.
[6:52] Speaker 2: Or yell it into them. You know what I mean? Like,
[6:55] Speaker 2: you want to sometimes, but you just can't. There are
[6:58] Speaker 2: times that I do.
[7:01] Speaker 1: And it.
[7:02] Speaker 2: Doesn't end well sometimes. He does not respond to that.
[7:06] Speaker 3: So I just want everybody to be patient with him,
[7:09] Speaker 3: and then he has a little bit more work to
[7:10] Speaker 3: do in front of his teammates, which I know he
[7:12] Speaker 3: said two or three times that he was going to
[7:14] Speaker 3: go and talk to his teammates today. So I'm grateful
[7:16] Speaker 3: for that, and I think we're going to put this
[7:17] Speaker 3: behind us as.
[7:18] Speaker 2: Soon as he does that.
[7:19] Speaker 3: I told him that it's going to galvanize his team.
[7:22] Speaker 3: It's going to make us closer, and that's hard to believe.
[7:24] Speaker 3: We're already a very close team, but he's doing what
[7:28] Speaker 3: he needs to do.
[7:30] Speaker 1: So that was Diamondbacks manager Tori Lovello. The first part
[7:33] Speaker 1: of that quote was addressing the fact and Lovello confirmed
[7:37] Speaker 1: to Diamondbacks media that Cattell Marte is going on four
[7:42] Speaker 1: consecutive years of an unexcused absence. He has had games
[7:47] Speaker 1: where he has not showed up. It was reported that
[7:50] Speaker 1: in 2023, he missed a game in New York because
[7:52] Speaker 1: he thought it was going to get rained out and
[7:54] Speaker 1: that it didn't. And he just never went to the ballpark.
[7:57] Speaker 1: In Boston, obviously, it was the unexcused absence. There are
[8:03] Speaker 1: plenty of issues there. And Tori Lavello has time and
[8:07] Speaker 1: time and time and time and time again defended that
[8:11] Speaker 1: guy and said, we love Cattell. There's nothing wrong with
[8:14] Speaker 1: the Cattell Marte situation. But after this Boston deal, Tori
[8:18] Speaker 1: Lavello said he was, quote, hurt that Cattell didn't get
[8:21] Speaker 1: in touch. And here he is saying that. he promised
[8:24] Speaker 1: me after the last time that it was never going
[8:26] Speaker 1: to happen again. And then it happened again. This is
[8:28] Speaker 1: a manager. I don't think getting frustrated with Cattell Marte.
[8:32] Speaker 1: I think this is him airing out broken promises from
[8:36] Speaker 1: Cattell Marte that he was going to get better at
[8:38] Speaker 1: the whole unexcused absence from a major league baseball game thing.
[8:42] Speaker 1: And he just hasn't. If you don't know the nitty
[8:45] Speaker 1: gritty of the Cattell Marte situation, you can go read
[8:48] Speaker 1: about it really anywhere. It's it's as well documented a
[8:51] Speaker 1: story in baseball off the field this season, but, Cattell
[8:54] Speaker 1: Marte made his return to the Diamondback lineup. And those
[8:57] Speaker 1: were Tori Lovello's thoughts on that. And it just seemed
[9:00] Speaker 1: like Tori is kind of done with the drama here.
[9:04] Speaker 1: And if it happens again, that's, that's it. Like that's
[9:07] Speaker 1: the end of the line for Cattell Marte in Arizona.
[9:10] Speaker 2: And, you know, I see fans, I see a lot
[9:11] Speaker 2: of discourse about, especially through Diamondbacks fans. And I see
[9:14] Speaker 2: some divided on it. I can understand wanting to support your, who's,
[9:18] Speaker 2: you know, one of the best players that your franchise
[9:19] Speaker 2: has had really ever. And especially over the last decade, but,
[9:24] Speaker 2: at the same time, like, I think it is fair
[9:26] Speaker 2: for fans. Like I've seen the argument of like, Oh,
[9:28] Speaker 2: Katel Marte doesn't owe the fans anything. I think he
[9:31] Speaker 2: does owe them showing up. Right. And you play for
[9:35] Speaker 2: the fans.
[9:35] Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you not play for the fans? Like, isn't
[9:37] Speaker 1: that the essence of baseball?
[9:39] Speaker 2: Seemingly. And if it's not that in your mind, then
[9:41] Speaker 2: it should be your teammates. Right. And he's playing for
[9:45] Speaker 2: neither really. So I never really understood that argument at
[9:48] Speaker 2: the end of the day. The other issue I have
[9:50] Speaker 2: is like, I see Tory getting kind of scapegoated for this.
[9:55] Speaker 2: What do you want him to do? He knows, and
[9:58] Speaker 2: he alluded to it, and I think based on what
[10:00] Speaker 2: we've seen from Quetel Martin how emotional he is like
[10:03] Speaker 2: if Tory digs his heels in too hard they'll just
[10:06] Speaker 2: lose him lose him and at the end of the
[10:08] Speaker 2: day they got to figure that out of course they
[10:09] Speaker 2: probably should have traded in the offseason now they're going
[10:11] Speaker 2: to probably try to shop him around see if a
[10:13] Speaker 2: wave wave is no trade cause not going to get
[10:15] Speaker 2: a huge return for him but I think a change
[10:16] Speaker 2: of scenery probably makes sense but If Torrey makes this
[10:19] Speaker 2: situation worse by either really opposing Cattell, pushing him away,
[10:23] Speaker 2: or making it more publicly, I would say, ugly, it's
[10:27] Speaker 2: only going to make it either harder to move him,
[10:29] Speaker 2: harder to get him back in the short term. Getting
[10:30] Speaker 2: him back in the short term not as quickly would
[10:33] Speaker 2: also make it harder to move him. They're trying to
[10:34] Speaker 2: make the playoffs. There's a lot of different wrinkles here,
[10:38] Speaker 2: and I don't really blame Torrey for his position. I
[10:42] Speaker 2: think it's also probably been mandated from top to bottom,
[10:45] Speaker 2: just by my guess that, you know, this is what
[10:48] Speaker 2: they want Tory to do.
[10:49] Speaker 1: Right.
[10:49] Speaker 2: I mean, if, if the front office wanted to air
[10:51] Speaker 2: them out, like the president did make a couple of
[10:53] Speaker 2: comments here and there of like, I don't know what's
[10:54] Speaker 2: going on, but like ownership could have aired them out
[10:56] Speaker 2: by now. Like a lot of different people above Tory
[10:59] Speaker 2: Lovello could have taken matters into their own hands and
[11:01] Speaker 2: aired them out. And I think it says something that
[11:03] Speaker 2: they didn't. I think Tory's following orders. So I think
[11:06] Speaker 2: Tory's a great manager. I think he's, he's definitely a
[11:09] Speaker 2: player's manager and he's doing his job to the best
[11:11] Speaker 2: of his abilities and, And he's being thrown a really
[11:14] Speaker 2: unfair curveball that 95 percent of managers, I imagine, like
[11:20] Speaker 2: you deal with this on a one off or maybe
[11:22] Speaker 2: two off. How many managers have to deal with this
[11:24] Speaker 2: four different occasions with a player? Like, I think I
[11:27] Speaker 2: think Torrey's getting an unfair shake in the whole thing.
[11:31] Speaker 2: And I do admire his how steadfast he is and
[11:34] Speaker 2: supporting him and just trying to keep this clubhouse together,
[11:36] Speaker 2: which is really hard.
[11:38] Speaker 1: It's very hard. It's very hard at the major league level,
[11:40] Speaker 1: especially when you have a star player. And I think
[11:43] Speaker 1: Carol's their best player, but their second best player. And
[11:46] Speaker 1: going into this year, the second, the best second baseman
[11:49] Speaker 1: in major league baseball here that is going like a
[11:52] Speaker 1: wall for the fourth year in a row at a time.
[11:54] Speaker 1: And Cattell Marte's opening statement in his media availability went
[11:58] Speaker 1: something along the lines of, you know, when I woke
[12:01] Speaker 1: up that morning in Boston, I was in pain. And,
[12:04] Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't wish this on my teammates. Like,
[12:07] Speaker 1: it was a knee problem, if I'm not mistaken. I
[12:09] Speaker 1: don't know what the pain was. That was not specified.
[12:13] Speaker 1: So if he's talking about a knee thing, you have
[12:15] Speaker 1: a training staff that you need to call and let
[12:18] Speaker 1: them know that you're not going to work. If you
[12:20] Speaker 1: wake up sick, you have to call your boss and
[12:22] Speaker 1: tell him you're not going to work that day. That's
[12:24] Speaker 1: just adulting there. And Peyton brings up a good point
[12:27] Speaker 1: in our private conversation. He talks about Cattell Marte like
[12:31] Speaker 1: he's 19 years old.
[12:31] Speaker 2: I was going to say that. That was the biggest part, like,
[12:34] Speaker 2: you literally made a kid analogy. This isn't a kid.
[12:37] Speaker 1: And that one of the, one of the quotes that
[12:40] Speaker 1: unfortunately didn't make that video was Tori Lovello opened in
[12:45] Speaker 1: answer to a question with he's an emotional kid. He's
[12:49] Speaker 1: 32 years old. He's 30. He's about to turn 33.
[12:52] Speaker 1: He's not 19. He's not new in the league. He's
[12:56] Speaker 1: been in major league baseball for a decade and he's
[12:58] Speaker 1: 32 years old.
[13:00] Speaker 2: And the biggest thing for me is like, even if
[13:03] Speaker 2: it's something, you know, personal family, whatever it may be.
[13:07] Speaker 2: Like when my father passed, I notified the university that
[13:10] Speaker 2: I'm leaving and I'm going home. I was 19. Like
[13:14] Speaker 2: just the basic thing you do, like, Hey, not going
[13:17] Speaker 2: to be here. Got to go tend to a family matter.
[13:20] Speaker 2: At the very least you got to communicate. You got
[13:21] Speaker 2: to respond. You got to speak. So I think that,
[13:25] Speaker 2: that part was really fascinating to me. And then the,
[13:28] Speaker 2: the number one standout component that I can't really avoid
[13:33] Speaker 2: is the lack of like the lack of care for
[13:37] Speaker 2: optics whatsoever from Marte. And I think it makes it
[13:40] Speaker 2: a lot harder to then give him the benefit of
[13:44] Speaker 2: the doubt or nuance. So does the repeat offense of this.
[13:46] Speaker 2: But like, if you're like, he could do whatever he
[13:49] Speaker 2: wants in his free time, but maybe one of the
[13:52] Speaker 2: last places I'd be while my team is playing is
[13:53] Speaker 2: the casino right by the ballpark, right? Like just understanding
[13:57] Speaker 2: the optics of that, given the whole situation. The other
[14:00] Speaker 2: thing I probably wouldn't do is wear a silly hat. Um,
[14:05] Speaker 2: that I looked it up, which by the way, it says,
[14:08] Speaker 2: may the bridges I burn light the way I believe
[14:12] Speaker 2: based on my research, that is from 90 soap opera, 90210. Um,
[14:19] Speaker 2: I think that's the first place that that quote came about,
[14:21] Speaker 2: or at least popularized. Um, and that quote, like the
[14:24] Speaker 2: character that said that was a dramatic self-destructive teenager. So
[14:28] Speaker 2: I think that's kind of ironic. Um, and it kind
[14:31] Speaker 2: of just quantifies bad communication. Um, It doesn't even really
[14:35] Speaker 2: make sense. The bridges you're burning, aren't they behind you?
[14:37] Speaker 2: How would that light the way forward?
[14:39] Speaker 1: Yeah, right.
[14:41] Speaker 2: Why pick that hat, dude? Like of all the hats
[14:44] Speaker 2: you could wear when you're supposed to be on your,
[14:46] Speaker 2: a little bit of an apology tour. That's why it
[14:48] Speaker 2: just kind of feels like even the apologies are half-assed.
[14:52] Speaker 2: If even that.
[14:54] Speaker 1: I'm entirely with you. It felt like, and I think,
[14:59] Speaker 1: I think it was Jake Mintz of Cespedes Family Barbecue.
[15:01] Speaker 1: It might've actually come from the Cespedes Family Barbecue account. Um, and,
[15:05] Speaker 1: and it's either Cespedes or foolish baseball. I just don't
[15:08] Speaker 1: have it in front of me, but I know one
[15:09] Speaker 1: of them said it's on somebody else in that clubhouse
[15:12] Speaker 1: to say, Hey dude, in this moment, you probably shouldn't
[15:15] Speaker 1: wear that hat. Like, I think they gave up. I
[15:17] Speaker 1: understand that Cattell's a hard guy to police, but like
[15:20] Speaker 1: that falls on Eduardo Rodriguez to tell him that hat
[15:23] Speaker 1: sucks right now. Take it off. It's on, it's on Carol.
[15:26] Speaker 1: I understand Carol is eight years, his junior, but like,
[15:30] Speaker 1: Hey dude, that hat sucks. Take it off.
[15:33] Speaker 2: Well, I think if they do that, he withdraws again.
[15:38] Speaker 2: That was the other thing. What did Torrey call him?
[15:40] Speaker 2: He said he's, oh, now it's going to drive me crazy.
[15:43] Speaker 2: I know Podcast B has it, but basically said he
[15:46] Speaker 2: withdraws effectively. When he's not feeling well, he just withdraws.
[15:51] Speaker 2: It was a different word, but I don't know if
[15:57] Speaker 2: they feel like they can even say anything to him
[15:59] Speaker 2: because he's just going to to kind of go AWOL.
[16:02] Speaker 2: They couldn't even promise that he won't go AWOL again.
[16:04] Speaker 2: Like Tori even said, I can't promise that, which obviously
[16:07] Speaker 2: he can't. So it's, it's a bizarre situation.
[16:12] Speaker 1: It's very coach speaky of Tori Lovello to say that
[16:15] Speaker 1: this could galvanize the team coming back and addressing the team.
[16:19] Speaker 1: It's very coach speaky. Brandon fought was actually interviewed post
[16:24] Speaker 1: game and said, you know, he appreciated that could tell
[16:28] Speaker 1: did address the team before the game. And he said,
[16:31] Speaker 1: you know, he's glad he's back and he hopes it's
[16:33] Speaker 1: a good opportunity to move forward. I understand that's very coach-speaky,
[16:36] Speaker 1: player-speaky to the media. Do you think there is 5%
[16:41] Speaker 1: truth to the fact that Cattell coming back and owning
[16:45] Speaker 1: up could be in any sense galvanizing, or does that
[16:50] Speaker 1: hat and him shaking his head no when he's asked
[16:52] Speaker 1: about a message to Diamondbacks fans, does that wipe out
[16:55] Speaker 1: any opportunity to galvanize that clubhouse?
[16:58] Speaker 2: Think that's a million dollar question I think this team
[17:01] Speaker 2: it's a core that's been together you know they added
[17:03] Speaker 2: some vets in here as well I think at the
[17:05] Speaker 2: end of the day they've had a couple seasons where
[17:07] Speaker 2: they came up just short following up you know an
[17:09] Speaker 2: incredible run I think they want their best foot forward
[17:13] Speaker 2: baseball wise and I think they can navigate you know
[17:15] Speaker 2: whatever the the headache of Cattell is knowing that it's
[17:18] Speaker 2: probably going to be over after this year I think
[17:20] Speaker 2: it can help them if he goes out there and
[17:22] Speaker 2: plays well like I at the end of the day
[17:25] Speaker 2: I think that's going to be a net positive for
[17:27] Speaker 2: them it for me, I would still feel that way
[17:29] Speaker 2: as annoyed as I would be. Like they've been dealing
[17:31] Speaker 2: with Cattell with probably so many other little million paper
[17:35] Speaker 2: cuts for the last couple of years anyway. So I
[17:38] Speaker 2: think they want him back on the field and helping them.
[17:40] Speaker 2: Like I'm guessing. And I think it can be galvanizing
[17:43] Speaker 2: if he's playing well and he's bought in on a
[17:45] Speaker 2: baseball sense. But at the same time, like if he
[17:49] Speaker 2: still is kind of one foot in one foot out,
[17:51] Speaker 2: I think it would be the opposite. And I think
[17:53] Speaker 2: it would be like, we'd rather you just not be
[17:55] Speaker 2: here type of thing. And the hat, I just can't
[17:58] Speaker 2: get by. Where do you even find that? Do you
[18:02] Speaker 2: like dig in the closet to bring that one out?
[18:04] Speaker 2: Or was it just by random chance?
[18:06] Speaker 1: That's the hat he gets. That has to be express shipping.
[18:09] Speaker 1: Has to. It's like, you know what? This is going
[18:11] Speaker 1: to be good. There was absolutely thought put into that hat.
[18:14] Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that. And again, Quetel Marte just
[18:17] Speaker 1: might be a rabid 90210 fan. I have no idea,
[18:20] Speaker 1: but who knows?
[18:22] Speaker 2: I think he said he was a sequesterer. Was that
[18:24] Speaker 2: the word? I think that's what he said.
[18:27] Speaker 1: He's sequesters? I don't know. I have no idea. But
[18:31] Speaker 1: Quetel Marte is a freakishly talented hitter, and he's back
[18:34] Speaker 1: for a Diamondbacks team that finds themselves in the thick
[18:37] Speaker 1: of that final wildcard spot in the National League in
[18:40] Speaker 1: that chase for it. Another team that is jostling with
[18:45] Speaker 1: Arizona for that final wildcard spot in the National League
[18:48] Speaker 1: is San Diego, and they make a call to a
[18:50] Speaker 1: top 10 prospect in baseball. Ethan Salas, he officially has
[18:55] Speaker 1: his contract selected by the San Diego Padres. He is
[18:58] Speaker 1: a September call up with rosters expanding from 26 to
[19:01] Speaker 1: 28 today on September 1st, Ethan Salas gets the call.
[19:06] Speaker 1: Salas again, top 10 prospect in baseball by you at
[19:09] Speaker 1: just baseball.com. He is having a very solid offensive season.
[19:15] Speaker 1: The upper minors OPS and right around eight 20, uh,
[19:19] Speaker 1: I saw someone clip out highlights from Pavetta's rehab start
[19:23] Speaker 1: the other day in El Paso. And someone quoted and said,
[19:26] Speaker 1: just watch Salas the whole time. And I was mesmerized
[19:30] Speaker 1: by him pulling up the low strike and yanking over
[19:32] Speaker 1: the outside strike. Like he is generational behind the plate
[19:37] Speaker 1: in terms of framing, receiving, commanding and pitching staff. The
[19:41] Speaker 1: catch and throw is ridiculous. You think he immediately plugs
[19:44] Speaker 1: in and becomes like an improvement behind the dish for
[19:47] Speaker 1: San Diego?
[19:48] Speaker 2: We talked about it on the call up. and I
[19:50] Speaker 2: really felt like he could be that type of guy
[19:54] Speaker 2: for them because you look at what they've been doing
[19:58] Speaker 2: and it's been a split between offensive catcher, Luis Camposano
[20:02] Speaker 2: and defensive catcher, you know, Freddie for me. And for
[20:06] Speaker 2: means really struggling to hit, but he is really good
[20:09] Speaker 2: behind the dish. Camposano is really, really swinging it well,
[20:12] Speaker 2: but yeah, just, just it's, it's not, you're not going
[20:14] Speaker 2: to like get the finer things from him there. How
[20:17] Speaker 2: who's playing time he eats into will be fascinating to me.
[20:21] Speaker 2: But you also, I think you can maneuver a little
[20:24] Speaker 2: bit here with this lineup and, and I think be
[20:26] Speaker 2: able to get Camposano's bad in there while having Ethan
[20:29] Speaker 2: Salas's glove behind the dish. So you would assume that
[20:32] Speaker 2: it probably is, pushes Firmino into this emergency catcher role
[20:36] Speaker 2: that you can pallet because rosters expanded, right? But I
[20:39] Speaker 2: do think Salas, even with the fact that he still
[20:42] Speaker 2: has a lot of development to be done offensively, like,
[20:44] Speaker 2: of course, just because he just turned 20, is going
[20:47] Speaker 2: to give you better at bats than Firmino. Like, the
[20:49] Speaker 2: bat-to-ball skills are, well, I think you could argue are
[20:53] Speaker 2: starting to get closer to the plus upside territory that
[20:56] Speaker 2: he really showcased, especially in the upper minors this year.
[21:00] Speaker 2: Huge leap in contact rate. Of course, the quality of
[21:02] Speaker 2: contact took a big leap. Is he going to slug
[21:04] Speaker 2: right away? Probably not. But I do feel like he
[21:07] Speaker 2: at least has the pull side pop that's going to
[21:09] Speaker 2: translate early and he'll grow into more and more as
[21:11] Speaker 2: he matures. But you hit the nail on the head
[21:13] Speaker 2: on the defensive side of things. It's like you're bringing
[21:15] Speaker 2: up a 20-year-old and he might be– he's definitely an
[21:17] Speaker 2: upgrade from Camposano defensively and he might be closer there
[21:20] Speaker 2: with Fermin. When I talked to him at the Futures,
[21:22] Speaker 2: before the Futures game, he talked about how one of
[21:26] Speaker 2: the biggest things that he wants to focus and work
[21:27] Speaker 2: on is continuing to game prep, pitch calling, all the
[21:31] Speaker 2: different things, even if it's going– ahead of diving into
[21:35] Speaker 2: what their plan is going to be with bullpen arms,
[21:37] Speaker 2: what their plan is going to be with starters a
[21:39] Speaker 2: couple of days down the road. He just wants to
[21:41] Speaker 2: get into it more like the nitty gritty and working
[21:43] Speaker 2: with the coaches. And I think at the very least,
[21:45] Speaker 2: this is going to be a really valuable opportunity for
[21:47] Speaker 2: him to be able to do that. But in speaking
[21:49] Speaker 2: with him, I was just so impressed with the makeup,
[21:52] Speaker 2: the mental side, and the fact that he's already got
[21:54] Speaker 2: to work with some of these rehabbing arms, I think
[21:56] Speaker 2: says a lot. And then I think they're really buying
[21:58] Speaker 2: into the fact that this bat can play at the
[22:00] Speaker 2: big league level. And if he's even a league average bat,
[22:03] Speaker 2: with the defensive value that you're getting, he's going to
[22:05] Speaker 2: give you a ton of value down the stretch.
[22:08] Speaker 1: A couple of notes on Ethan Salas here before we
[22:10] Speaker 1: move on. Ethan Salas, I saw MLB put this out
[22:13] Speaker 1: when he was born, Mike Piazza was catching for the
[22:15] Speaker 1: San Diego Padres. And Ethan Salas at 20 years old
[22:20] Speaker 1: becomes the youngest catcher in major league baseball to debut
[22:22] Speaker 1: since Yvonne Rodriguez. That is really good company. And we
[22:26] Speaker 1: got to go back a long way to find a
[22:28] Speaker 1: guy this young that gets up. Now, situationally, he was
[22:33] Speaker 1: in double A when he was 17 years old. So
[22:35] Speaker 1: you were thinking that that was going to be an
[22:36] Speaker 1: inevitable group that he joins. But Salas at this point,
[22:40] Speaker 1: it's not a golden ticket to the show. He earned
[22:44] Speaker 1: his way to the show this year offensively. I know
[22:47] Speaker 1: you've done the dive. What has really improved? And I
[22:51] Speaker 1: know you just mentioned some of the pertinent metrics, but
[22:53] Speaker 1: what do you feel like has improved in the box
[22:55] Speaker 1: for him to unlock this final step in minor league
[22:58] Speaker 1: baseball to make him a capable enough hitter at the
[23:02] Speaker 1: major league level. Yeah.
[23:04] Speaker 2: You know, I think just getting back to who he
[23:05] Speaker 2: is in the box too. And he even mentioned that
[23:07] Speaker 2: as well. And in our conversation where it just, I
[23:10] Speaker 2: think there was some adjustments to try to survive and
[23:13] Speaker 2: battle in these bigger, you know, these, these aggressive assignments.
[23:16] Speaker 2: And he started to just micromanage his mechanics in the
[23:19] Speaker 2: box a little bit. And if you watch him this year,
[23:21] Speaker 2: he's just moving more freely. He's a little bit more
[23:24] Speaker 2: stacked towards his backside, but that was something that he
[23:26] Speaker 2: naturally did earlier and then got away from. And now
[23:29] Speaker 2: it's back to that. He got stronger, and I think
[23:31] Speaker 2: that's a big part as well. You see the difference
[23:34] Speaker 2: in how he showed up spring training this year to
[23:37] Speaker 2: where his body was at the year before, and it
[23:38] Speaker 2: makes a lot of sense. I mean, he was 18
[23:40] Speaker 2: to 19 years old, and he's also healthy. Remember, the
[23:42] Speaker 2: last season was wiped out, so you get healthy plus
[23:45] Speaker 2: stronger plus back to just moving the way that you
[23:47] Speaker 2: more naturally move, and you're going to have a really
[23:50] Speaker 2: positive culmination of things, especially when you're as talented as
[23:53] Speaker 2: Ethan Salas is. You pair the uptick in power with
[23:55] Speaker 2: a 7% increase increase in in zone contact and an 11%
[23:59] Speaker 2: increase in overall contact. And it's very, very easy to
[24:03] Speaker 2: buy into what solace has done this year. Uh, and
[24:07] Speaker 2: I think it's, it's gotta be really exciting for Padres fans,
[24:10] Speaker 2: because even if he struggles a little bit out of
[24:12] Speaker 2: the gate, I don't think he's punching out 30% of
[24:14] Speaker 2: the time. I don't think he's struggling behind the dish.
[24:18] Speaker 2: He's going to give you some decent at bats. He's
[24:20] Speaker 2: going to defend. And If it is a little bit
[24:22] Speaker 2: of a rush to the big leagues for him, they
[24:24] Speaker 2: still have two other catchers that they can roll with.
[24:26] Speaker 2: And you still have a really solid third option as
[24:29] Speaker 2: a bat off the bench to be able to put
[24:31] Speaker 2: the ball in play. And as a kid, that's just
[24:33] Speaker 2: going to, I think, soak in a lot in terms
[24:35] Speaker 2: of what he can learn and the value of just
[24:37] Speaker 2: being part of this big league team down a playoff
[24:40] Speaker 2: stretch with one of the most mature 19, 20 year
[24:42] Speaker 2: olds I've ever talked to in the minor leagues.
[24:46] Speaker 1: Without a doubt. So Ethan Salas, again, he gets up.
[24:49] Speaker 1: his major league debut he is one of the two
[24:51] Speaker 1: september call-ups as rosters expand in major league baseball before
[24:55] Speaker 1: we get to some of the hottest bats and the
[24:57] Speaker 1: hottest arm in the month of august do want to
[25:00] Speaker 1: mention our friends at lids real quick because lids is
[25:03] Speaker 1: running an excellent giveaway again you have an opportunity to
[25:06] Speaker 1: win a 250 lids in-store gift card by texting baseball
[25:12] Speaker 1: all caps B-A-S-E-B-A-L-L to 29017 to enter. Of course, we
[25:18] Speaker 1: love our partnership with Lids here at Just Baseball, and
[25:22] Speaker 1: you have an opportunity to win a $ 250 Lids in-store
[25:25] Speaker 1: gift card. Again, text BASEBALL to 29017. You can use
[25:30] Speaker 1: that on cards, right, Bowman Chrome, too? Yeah, Bowman Chrome
[25:34] Speaker 1: dropping in a week. A lot of really fun prospects
[25:37] Speaker 1: in there.
[25:37] Speaker 2: Several of the guys that we just talked about in
[25:38] Speaker 2: the top 100 release. I would, if I won the
[25:41] Speaker 2: gift card, I would definitely put it towards that, but Also, jerseys, hats,
[25:45] Speaker 2: all that good stuff. But yeah, with Bowman Crum release
[25:48] Speaker 2: in next week, it's a good time to try to
[25:49] Speaker 2: win that gift card.
[25:51] Speaker 1: I love it. All right. Pete Crow Armstrong in a moment.
[25:54] Speaker 1: But before that, peanuts. There are a couple of guys
[25:58] Speaker 1: that ended August in an absolutely insane way, but nobody
[26:02] Speaker 1: on a larger scale than Pete Crow Armstrong, who might
[26:07] Speaker 1: be running away with the National League MVP as it
[26:10] Speaker 1: stands right now. PCA had himself a three homer day
[26:13] Speaker 1: as part of a what four hit day on Saturday
[26:17] Speaker 1: against the Cincinnati Reds. And he follows it up with
[26:19] Speaker 1: a leadoff homer as part of a multi homer day
[26:22] Speaker 1: on Sunday night baseball against Cincinnati. Now it was weird
[26:25] Speaker 1: to see Pete go one for five without a homer.
[26:27] Speaker 1: And that's 17 to three win for the Cubs where
[26:30] Speaker 1: they hit nine homers, four of which against Andrew Vaughn,
[26:33] Speaker 1: but Pete Crow Armstrong in the month of August and
[26:35] Speaker 1: 134 plate appearances had a 10 69 OPS and 14
[26:41] Speaker 1: bombs in a month with six stolen bases. And he
[26:44] Speaker 1: was a two and a half win player in August.
[26:47] Speaker 1: Pete Crowe Armstrong is efforting to become the, let's see, Canseco, Bonds, A-Rod, Soriano, Acuna, Otani.
[26:56] Speaker 1: The seventh player in Major League history to get to 40-40.
[27:00] Speaker 1: And what he did in August, I think made it
[27:03] Speaker 1: a foregone conclusion that he does get to 40-40, assuming
[27:06] Speaker 1: health the rest of the way. You think he's got
[27:09] Speaker 1: the National League MVP just signed, sealed, delivered at this point?
[27:13] Speaker 2: It seems like, and it seems like BetMGM agrees with
[27:15] Speaker 2: that too. He's at minus 1,600 now, according to MGM,
[27:21] Speaker 2: with the little stretch he had. Now, I think the
[27:23] Speaker 2: big part is the Otani pitching uncertainty and pushback there.
[27:26] Speaker 2: So I think he's got it signed, sealed, and delivered.
[27:29] Speaker 2: And one other note that we mentioned in our Hampton
[27:32] Speaker 2: Farms weekend in a nutshell is he would be the
[27:36] Speaker 2: third player ever to go 40-40 with nine B-War or more,
[27:42] Speaker 2: it's Shohei Otani's, of course, 50-50 season. And then you
[27:45] Speaker 2: have Barry Bonds in one of his incredible MVP campaigns.
[27:50] Speaker 2: So when you combine the value beyond the bat with
[27:55] Speaker 2: what he's been able to do just also with the bat,
[27:58] Speaker 2: it's been so special. And he's just not slowing down.
[28:01] Speaker 2: What's fun with him too is very specific swing adjustment.
[28:06] Speaker 2: It's very rare to see a swing adjustment that dramatic
[28:10] Speaker 2: in season translate from some early kind of battles and
[28:14] Speaker 2: struggles to like, again, being one of the best that
[28:18] Speaker 2: we've seen in a long time offensively with some of
[28:20] Speaker 2: the stretches that he's had. He ditched the toe tap
[28:24] Speaker 2: that really had him pushing out onto his front side
[28:26] Speaker 2: and to this big, but controlled and early leg kick.
[28:29] Speaker 2: And it's made all the difference in the world for him.
[28:32] Speaker 2: And to see that turn into what it has production
[28:35] Speaker 2: wise for PCA is awesome. But, I mean, yeah, we're
[28:37] Speaker 2: talking about a 40-49 war season would be the third
[28:40] Speaker 2: time we've seen that by B-War. And I think it
[28:43] Speaker 2: encapsulates just how unique PCA's value is when he's also
[28:48] Speaker 2: hitting to this magnitude.
[28:50] Speaker 1: It seems like a foregone conclusion that he will break this.
[28:52] Speaker 1: And how about this note from Peyton? Shohei Otani, since 2023,
[28:57] Speaker 1: has not surrendered a first place vote in MVP voting.
[29:02] Speaker 1: In 23... he wins the American League MVP unanimously. So
[29:06] Speaker 1: he got all 30 first-place votes. In 24, he wins
[29:09] Speaker 1: the National League MVP unanimously. So he got all 30
[29:12] Speaker 1: first-place votes. And last year, he got all 30 first-place
[29:14] Speaker 1: votes in the National League MVP again. So he has had,
[29:18] Speaker 1: over the last three years, in whichever league he's in,
[29:21] Speaker 1: all 90 first-place votes in the MVP go to him.
[29:25] Speaker 1: That's already broken. Like, there is a voter here, regardless of,
[29:29] Speaker 1: you know, what Pete's September and what Otani's September looks like.
[29:32] Speaker 1: There is a voter that will vote for PCA first
[29:35] Speaker 1: place in the National League MVP. So that's going to
[29:37] Speaker 1: break that. But minus 1600 on MGA. seems like a
[29:40] Speaker 1: foregone conclusion there and it's absolutely insane what this guy
[29:44] Speaker 1: has done real quick I want to stick on the
[29:47] Speaker 1: swing mechanic point that you just brought up here because
[29:50] Speaker 1: not only is he kind of changed that front foot
[29:52] Speaker 1: toe tap leg lift yada yada he has tinkered isn't
[29:57] Speaker 1: the right word He's changed his setup more than a
[30:01] Speaker 1: lot of other young superstars in Major League Baseball change
[30:04] Speaker 1: over the course of two years. And it's really interesting
[30:07] Speaker 1: because we were already looking at this guy as a
[30:08] Speaker 1: nine-figure player. And he took a year that he turned
[30:11] Speaker 1: into a nine-figure contract and said, time for tweaks. And
[30:15] Speaker 1: the setup looks a hell of a lot different here.
[30:18] Speaker 1: And Peyton, you do have PCA open side video here.
[30:22] Speaker 1: So these are the PCA adjustments. What are you seeing
[30:25] Speaker 1: real quick from Pete Crow Armstrong for our YouTube crowd on?
[30:28] Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's fascinating too with the hands starting lower
[30:32] Speaker 2: as well. I don't know what that makes him feel.
[30:35] Speaker 2: I think just the idea of potentially bringing them up
[30:39] Speaker 2: and back helps him stay coiled. But the biggest thing
[30:43] Speaker 2: is that big– and I think now with the more
[30:45] Speaker 2: recent video, he doesn't even check with the mini toe
[30:48] Speaker 2: tap before that. He just goes straight up and controls it.
[30:51] Speaker 2: This is an incredible athlete in the box that is
[30:54] Speaker 2: just trying to figure out how he can leverage that
[30:57] Speaker 2: most effectively. where a lot of guys, they just don't
[31:00] Speaker 2: have the athleticism to have that early big leg kick,
[31:04] Speaker 2: gather into the backside, hold it and go. If you
[31:07] Speaker 2: get spin, you're crashing forward and you have nothing behind you.
[31:10] Speaker 2: PCA can just hold it. He can stand on one leg.
[31:13] Speaker 2: It really is amazing. And the biggest thing I see
[31:16] Speaker 2: with him is with that big leg kick and that gather,
[31:19] Speaker 2: he's really getting into his backside, but some guys will
[31:22] Speaker 2: teeter back forward for him. He just needs to get
[31:24] Speaker 2: there and he can hold it all day. Whereas with
[31:27] Speaker 2: the toe tap, I don't think he was ever really
[31:28] Speaker 2: getting there and he was just checking and then pushing
[31:31] Speaker 2: right back forward. So it's just an incredible athlete leveraging
[31:36] Speaker 2: that and the balance. And it doesn't, it's not surprising, right?
[31:39] Speaker 2: We're talking about a guy that moves in center field
[31:42] Speaker 2: as elite as anyone we've seen. He's not the biggest dude.
[31:45] Speaker 2: So I think being that athletic and still kind of semi-compact,
[31:48] Speaker 2: it's not like he has the longest levers to manage.
[31:51] Speaker 2: It just seems like he found a way to really
[31:53] Speaker 2: control that lower half, but also see the ball really
[31:55] Speaker 2: early with how early he starts it. And it's created
[31:58] Speaker 2: this combination where also with the bigger, like he's getting
[32:02] Speaker 2: into some more powerful swings too. You can combine all
[32:05] Speaker 2: of those things and you've got a guy that is
[32:07] Speaker 2: also buying into the approach too. I think seeing the
[32:10] Speaker 2: ball earlier can sometimes correlate with more chase for guys
[32:12] Speaker 2: for him. It's I think allowing him to track the ball,
[32:15] Speaker 2: be selective and you combine all of those things and
[32:17] Speaker 2: you've got a superstar.
[32:20] Speaker 1: Peyton also mentioned, he moved closer to the plate, which
[32:22] Speaker 1: he said helps him see the zone better as a whole.
[32:25] Speaker 1: Pete Crow Armstrong is a showstopper in every sense of
[32:28] Speaker 1: the word. You think he's the most exciting player in
[32:30] Speaker 1: Major League Baseball? I think that title changes hands a lot.
[32:34] Speaker 1: Like Otani was obviously that guy when he went 50-50.
[32:36] Speaker 1: But I think Eli De La Cruz held that title
[32:38] Speaker 1: for a little bit. I think Bobby Witt Jr. held
[32:40] Speaker 1: that title for a little bit. Julio Rodriguez, when he
[32:43] Speaker 1: first came up as a rookie, I thought he kind
[32:45] Speaker 1: of held that title for a little bit. Obviously, Acuna
[32:47] Speaker 1: in that 40-70 season, best player doesn't change hands too often.
[32:53] Speaker 1: but I think most exciting player does. And right now,
[32:57] Speaker 1: if you were to ask me, who's the most exciting
[32:59] Speaker 1: player in baseball? Like I feel like Pete Crow Armstrong
[33:02] Speaker 1: is like buying Bitcoin stock in 2009. Yeah, a hundred percent.
[33:08] Speaker 2: I do agree because he can do something show stopping
[33:13] Speaker 2: in every facet. He can leg out and inside the
[33:16] Speaker 2: park home run. I just, I always see the one
[33:18] Speaker 2: in Miami resurfaced. I mean, that was so, yeah, right. Uh, you, you,
[33:22] Speaker 2: you could see him make a catch that you've almost
[33:25] Speaker 2: maybe never even seen before, but then you can also
[33:27] Speaker 2: just see him go on a home run binge. And
[33:29] Speaker 2: I think that's the biggest change. And the biggest reason
[33:33] Speaker 2: why is how he's been able to engage that lower
[33:35] Speaker 2: half and get into that backside and stay there. So
[33:38] Speaker 2: where now you've seen the bat speed jolt up, you've
[33:41] Speaker 2: seen the air pull be leveraged even better because he's
[33:44] Speaker 2: always been able to pull the ball in the air.
[33:45] Speaker 2: But now you pair that with a huge uptick in
[33:47] Speaker 2: bat speed and just overall impact and Now you have
[33:50] Speaker 2: a guy that can go on crazy power stretches that
[33:52] Speaker 2: rival some of the better power bats in the game,
[33:55] Speaker 2: leg out an infield single that most guys wouldn't, pull
[33:58] Speaker 2: off the inside of the park home run, make the
[34:00] Speaker 2: improbable catch. What else could you want from a player?
[34:03] Speaker 2: It's true five tools. And yeah, he's still whiffing and
[34:06] Speaker 2: chasing a little bit, but he just needed it to
[34:08] Speaker 2: get a little bit better in both of those departments,
[34:10] Speaker 2: especially with the added power. And that's what he's done.
[34:12] Speaker 2: Of course, is he going to be a 950 OPS
[34:14] Speaker 2: guy for the rest of his career? Probably not. There's
[34:16] Speaker 2: going to be some ebbs and flows there. But for
[34:17] Speaker 2: a guy like this, when he's hot, he's must see
[34:21] Speaker 2: TV and maybe the most must see TV. Absolutely.
[34:25] Speaker 1: I want to take you to other hot guys around
[34:27] Speaker 1: major league baseball in terms of the month of August,
[34:30] Speaker 1: hot bats in the month of August here, and nobody's
[34:33] Speaker 1: hotter right now than Dalen Lyle in Washington, who effectively
[34:36] Speaker 1: single-handedly won a game against the Marlins yesterday, four to three,
[34:41] Speaker 1: he outscored them. It was a six, three win for Washington.
[34:44] Speaker 1: Dalen Lyle is, pumps the ball to left center field,
[34:48] Speaker 1: 403 feet into the visiting bullpen, which is hard to
[34:51] Speaker 1: do in Washington. And then he comes back. He takes
[34:54] Speaker 1: on a nasty arm in Josh Agnes, gets a heater
[34:57] Speaker 1: high and tight, and he puts it off the facing
[34:59] Speaker 1: of the second deck over the Washington bullpen in right.
[35:03] Speaker 1: Daylon Lyle over his last 11 game has 18 hits
[35:09] Speaker 1: and 40 at bats. He's got five homers driven in
[35:12] Speaker 1: 15 in his last 11, walked seven times, caved five times.
[35:16] Speaker 1: And he's hitting 450 with a 1470 OPS. Daylon Lyle's
[35:21] Speaker 1: really good. I think that was my overarching takeaway from
[35:25] Speaker 1: this season watching him play for 13 games because the
[35:29] Speaker 1: last seven that the Marlins saw Washington, James Wood was
[35:32] Speaker 1: not in the lineup. Abrams was not in the lineup
[35:34] Speaker 1: for three and then a shell of himself for three
[35:36] Speaker 1: and then didn't play in the fourth. So it was
[35:38] Speaker 1: effectively just Daylon Lyle this weekend and Washington took three
[35:41] Speaker 1: of four. He's 23 years old. Last year, mind you,
[35:45] Speaker 1: he had one of the better second halves among all players,
[35:47] Speaker 1: not just rookies, players in baseball. In 91 games, he
[35:51] Speaker 1: had 11 triples a year ago and an 850 OPS.
[35:54] Speaker 1: And this year, this guy has played in 138 games.
[35:58] Speaker 1: He's got 26 doubles, 20 homers. He's driven in 80.
[36:01] Speaker 1: He's got 13 bags, and he's hitting 260 with a
[36:05] Speaker 1: 750 OPS. I think when we, as national baseball fans,
[36:10] Speaker 1: look at Washington– we say Wood and Abrams are the guys, right?
[36:14] Speaker 1: They're the dudes moving forward and Cavalli's a frontline starter.
[36:18] Speaker 1: I think it's time Dalen Lyle enters that list where
[36:21] Speaker 1: it's like, it's Wood, it's Abrams, and it's Lyle as
[36:25] Speaker 1: the building blocks for Washington moving forward.
[36:28] Speaker 2: Biggest thing that I'm excited about too, because you hope
[36:33] Speaker 2: that he would extend on the second half and then
[36:35] Speaker 2: put up a similar overall season to last year with
[36:38] Speaker 2: maybe a little bit more slug. it didn't quite happen. He's,
[36:42] Speaker 2: he's finishing strong here and could still end up putting
[36:44] Speaker 2: up a high 700 OPS. The defense has progressed. And
[36:47] Speaker 2: I remember as a prospect, that was the toughest part
[36:49] Speaker 2: with him was I'm seeing this blazing runner. Then I'm like,
[36:54] Speaker 2: he ain't playing center field because his, his reads were
[36:57] Speaker 2: so rough. But then I watch him in a corner
[36:58] Speaker 2: and I'm like, even the recovery speed, it's like he
[37:01] Speaker 2: needs every ounce of it. Cause the reads were so bad. And,
[37:04] Speaker 2: and he really worked hard on it. He went from
[37:06] Speaker 2: last year where he was, They're negative eight outs above
[37:10] Speaker 2: average with no arm value to now an out above
[37:13] Speaker 2: average with some arm value as well. This is a
[37:16] Speaker 2: guy that's in the 95th percentile in sprint speed. He
[37:19] Speaker 2: should be an even better defender, but you hope he
[37:21] Speaker 2: takes another step forward that year, next year. Lyle is
[37:24] Speaker 2: kind of this later bloomer, even though he's still young,
[37:27] Speaker 2: but he's a high school draftee. So it feels like
[37:28] Speaker 2: it's a little bit later, but he's still so young
[37:30] Speaker 2: at 23 years old that I think there could be
[37:32] Speaker 2: a marrying of all of these things next year. Like
[37:35] Speaker 2: he slugged more this year, but it came at the
[37:37] Speaker 2: expense of swing decisions a little bit where he was
[37:39] Speaker 2: expansive and he started to see him kind of just,
[37:42] Speaker 2: just be over aggressive. It's not like he walked a
[37:45] Speaker 2: ton last year, but that's just something to note. He
[37:46] Speaker 2: still doesn't strike out a ton. So can he find
[37:49] Speaker 2: that balance of this added power, but start to be
[37:51] Speaker 2: a bit more selective now that he clearly focused on
[37:54] Speaker 2: the defense this past off season? Can he take another
[37:57] Speaker 2: step forward defensively? I think the last piece though, really
[38:00] Speaker 2: is here. is those swing decisions. And if that comes along,
[38:04] Speaker 2: you have a really well-rounded player that can be a
[38:07] Speaker 2: ton of fun. I would say also the stolen bases.
[38:09] Speaker 2: I have no idea why this guy's 13 for 20.
[38:12] Speaker 2: So there's a really good foundation, a very impressive swing,
[38:18] Speaker 2: such exciting tools, and big league production in back-to-back seasons now.
[38:22] Speaker 2: And you still feel like there's so much more to unlock.
[38:27] Speaker 2: I really feel like Lyle could be that guy that
[38:28] Speaker 2: takes that leap finally next year. And if he does,
[38:32] Speaker 2: I agree with you. He's another one of those key
[38:35] Speaker 2: pieces that you look at and say, they have a
[38:37] Speaker 2: bunch of impact guys that can help push this team
[38:40] Speaker 2: to the next level.
[38:41] Speaker 1: He's one of those guys that just impresses the heck
[38:44] Speaker 1: out of you when you watch him over the course
[38:45] Speaker 1: of a whole weekend or a whole week, because it's like, wow,
[38:48] Speaker 1: he is seriously physical. Like he is physically gifted. He's
[38:53] Speaker 1: built so strong to your point. He runs like the
[38:55] Speaker 1: wind and he's got like such this tight turn that
[39:00] Speaker 1: it's amazing to see what he can do in the
[39:02] Speaker 1: batter's box. Like he just seems very twitchy. Is that
[39:06] Speaker 1: a fair word?
[39:06] Speaker 2: Describe the word. Yep. Yeah. A hundred percent. That would
[39:09] Speaker 2: be the word I would describe it as. It's just,
[39:12] Speaker 2: it's explosive and twitchy. And sometimes those guys it's, they've
[39:15] Speaker 2: relied on that to succeed for so much of their
[39:17] Speaker 2: career that the finer things still lag behind a little bit.
[39:19] Speaker 2: It seems like each time you check in a different
[39:22] Speaker 2: component of his game, a peripheral aspect of his game,
[39:25] Speaker 2: whether it's the defense or, just the bat to ball
[39:28] Speaker 2: or whatever it may be is getting better and better
[39:30] Speaker 2: but I feel like next year you're hoping it just
[39:32] Speaker 2: all comes together because you can't teach you athleticism the
[39:35] Speaker 2: swing mechanics have become so sound and clean and you
[39:40] Speaker 2: saw a backside homer and you saw a pull side
[39:42] Speaker 2: no doubter I think it also showcases just how well
[39:46] Speaker 2: rounded of a hitter he's become it's just the swing
[39:49] Speaker 2: decisions now that I think are that last piece offensively,
[39:51] Speaker 2: at least.
[39:52] Speaker 1: Yep. All right. Speaking of swing decisions here in the
[39:55] Speaker 1: last piece, time to talk about Jack Caglione. He's really fun.
[40:00] Speaker 1: Jack Caglione just put up the best month of August
[40:04] Speaker 1: in the American league. If he doesn't win American league
[40:06] Speaker 1: player of the month, I think it's going to be
[40:07] Speaker 1: pretty darn silly. 98 plate appearances for cags. He hit
[40:11] Speaker 1: four 11 with an 1100 OPS. He had six homers
[40:14] Speaker 1: at a 1.4 F4 month. Caglione, I believe in the
[40:18] Speaker 1: month of August, walked twice. So two walks in 98
[40:22] Speaker 1: plate appearances with an OPS over 1100. Do you know
[40:26] Speaker 1: how ridiculously hard it is to have an OPS that
[40:29] Speaker 1: high when you walk twice? This guy was slugging. He
[40:33] Speaker 1: was spraying the ball, hit comfortably over 400. He he's
[40:37] Speaker 1: amazing right now.
[40:39] Speaker 2: He's such a difficult player to assess. And in terms
[40:43] Speaker 2: of just, OK, could he reach this? And you're never
[40:47] Speaker 2: going to extend on a 422 stretch or whatever it is, right? 411.
[40:51] Speaker 2: But can this be the start of the superstardom that
[40:54] Speaker 2: we can see ability-wise? I just don't know because of
[41:00] Speaker 2: what you alluded to swing decisions-wise. Over the last 30
[41:03] Speaker 2: days I have queued up right here, it's a 48%
[41:06] Speaker 2: chase rate. Chase is not all created equal, especially when
[41:10] Speaker 2: you're dealing with a guy like Kags. Because as we
[41:12] Speaker 2: talked about, and this is a big reason why on
[41:14] Speaker 2: our prospect write-ups, We have hit tool and we have
[41:17] Speaker 2: plate discipline because the two get conflated. I think it's
[41:21] Speaker 2: in player evaluation a lot of the time where. Cags
[41:25] Speaker 2: is good, really, for especially for a player of his archetype,
[41:28] Speaker 2: really good basketball skills, overall good basketball skills. But he
[41:34] Speaker 2: has ridiculous, ridiculously high chase rate. A lot of people
[41:39] Speaker 2: would combine those two and say, oh, there's hit tool concerns. No,
[41:43] Speaker 2: I don't have concerns about him getting to the baseball.
[41:46] Speaker 2: And I think he's proven that. He can spoil pitches.
[41:50] Speaker 2: He can tomahawk balls out of the yard. He can
[41:53] Speaker 2: golf balls out of the yard. But if you swing
[41:56] Speaker 2: it enough pitches out of the zone, it's going to
[41:59] Speaker 2: eventually come back to bite you. Although when you're hot
[42:03] Speaker 2: and he's such a good bad ball hitter that he
[42:05] Speaker 2: can make it work. And he's in one of those
[42:07] Speaker 2: modes right now where I think pitchers are kind of
[42:10] Speaker 2: domed up. you don't really know what to do because
[42:12] Speaker 2: you know he's going to go. He's going to swing
[42:14] Speaker 2: at just about anything. And even if you think you
[42:16] Speaker 2: locate it well, he could do damage. So do you
[42:18] Speaker 2: try to surprise him in the zone? No, you're not
[42:20] Speaker 2: beating him in the zone right now either. All right,
[42:22] Speaker 2: let's try to get him to chase. But if we
[42:23] Speaker 2: don't locate it well enough chase-wise, he's still going to
[42:25] Speaker 2: hit it hard. So I think pitchers right now just
[42:27] Speaker 2: don't really know what to do, and he's just a
[42:28] Speaker 2: guy that's locked in and is on top of everything.
[42:31] Speaker 2: But what I've kind of come to accept with Cags
[42:33] Speaker 2: is I think he's going to be just one of
[42:34] Speaker 2: those guys that has some of the best months you'll
[42:36] Speaker 2: ever see and then also have some of those months
[42:39] Speaker 2: where it's like, oh, man. He's getting himself out a lot.
[42:42] Speaker 2: And in aggregate, he's going to be a really solid
[42:44] Speaker 2: power hitter for a long time. I just don't know
[42:47] Speaker 2: if he's going to be able to fully put it
[42:49] Speaker 2: together enough to be the superstar superstar that we think
[42:52] Speaker 2: he can be. I hope I'm wrong. I just, I
[42:56] Speaker 2: don't know. It's really hard. I don't know where you're at.
[42:59] Speaker 1: No, I mean, it's really like he's walking a tightrope
[43:02] Speaker 1: right now because there are a whole bunch of different
[43:05] Speaker 1: guys that we talk about in terms of egregious chase
[43:07] Speaker 1: and how they survive. And sometimes it's year to year.
[43:10] Speaker 1: Like I remember we were oohing and aahing over Anthony
[43:14] Speaker 1: Santander's 44 home run season because it felt like half
[43:18] Speaker 1: of those were on pitches that were at his eyelids
[43:20] Speaker 1: or at his ankles. Devers, we have long talked about
[43:24] Speaker 1: being the best bad ball power hitter in Major League Baseball.
[43:27] Speaker 1: Basayo is a good bad ball power hitter, but he's
[43:30] Speaker 1: starting to like rein it in, it seems. And he's
[43:32] Speaker 1: really young. He's even younger in the process than Caglione is.
[43:35] Speaker 1: I wonder if we talk about Caglione in a similar
[43:38] Speaker 1: way to an Oriol Santander, where it's like, man, the
[43:43] Speaker 1: ingredients are there for stardom and the ingredients are there
[43:46] Speaker 1: for in a hundred billion dollar contract, like Santander got
[43:49] Speaker 1: from Toronto and injuries have obviously gotten in the way
[43:51] Speaker 1: of that. But, you know, like it seems like we
[43:53] Speaker 1: could be talking about Caglione being a 40 Homer guy
[43:55] Speaker 1: with an 800 OPS. Eugenio Suarez, like that kind of
[43:59] Speaker 1: thing where you just ride the heater and he's swinging
[44:02] Speaker 1: at everything and, there are going to be some swings
[44:04] Speaker 1: at like a pitch at his neck. And it's how
[44:06] Speaker 1: the hell did you hit that ball? 445 feet. But
[44:11] Speaker 1: there are also going to be months to your point
[44:13] Speaker 1: that are going to make you go gray. So I
[44:15] Speaker 1: feel like the possible comp offensive production wise could be
[44:19] Speaker 1: like a Gino Suarez. And I think that that's like
[44:21] Speaker 1: a really solid outcome. Suarez has hit a lot of
[44:23] Speaker 1: homers in his big league career.
[44:25] Speaker 2: I really like the Devers one too, because he's got
[44:28] Speaker 2: time to like Devers has started to reign it in
[44:31] Speaker 2: a little bit and it's bottom some more wiggle room.
[44:33] Speaker 2: And the difference, too, is Kags might have more raw
[44:35] Speaker 2: power than all of them. He does have more raw
[44:38] Speaker 2: power than all of them. And Kags is 23 as well.
[44:41] Speaker 2: So I have the hope. What did we talk about
[44:44] Speaker 2: with PCA? PCA was a 39% chase rate. Now, I
[44:47] Speaker 2: think Kags, some of the chase with him is because
[44:50] Speaker 2: the levers are so long, he's got to kind of
[44:51] Speaker 2: get it started sooner. And it's just going to result
[44:53] Speaker 2: in him being more of a swing mode guy than
[44:56] Speaker 2: most others. However, this is top of the scale bat speed.
[45:01] Speaker 2: This is top of the scale evs and again good
[45:06] Speaker 2: enough bat to ball i kind of i think davers
[45:10] Speaker 2: is like the if you have davers with a little
[45:11] Speaker 2: bit more pop it's gonna be a it could be
[45:15] Speaker 2: a hall of famer right so it's it's it's fascinating
[45:18] Speaker 2: i just think there's gonna be those stretches where people
[45:20] Speaker 2: say oh this guy can be the mvp and i
[45:23] Speaker 2: think he'll always fall just short of that because of
[45:26] Speaker 2: just this slight sporadic aspect of it of his game
[45:29] Speaker 2: but i think he's gonna get himself to a point
[45:31] Speaker 2: where the bottoms won't be as bad as maybe even
[45:35] Speaker 2: a Gino Suarez when he goes cold. Cause I feel
[45:37] Speaker 2: like Devers, even when he's going cold, it's not as
[45:40] Speaker 2: quite of a low as like a Suarez, because I
[45:43] Speaker 2: think he's just a little bit better of a bad
[45:45] Speaker 2: ball hitter as well. And I think being a lefty
[45:47] Speaker 2: can help in that respect too. Yeah.
[45:50] Speaker 1: How about this note from Peyton eight 50 slug against sliders,
[45:53] Speaker 1: despite the chase for Jack Cagley. Oh, crazy.
[45:55] Speaker 2: That's a good hedge. If you're going to chase.
[45:58] Speaker 1: Yeah. You better just crush sliders. And he is, Two
[46:00] Speaker 1: more guys that we're going to talk about here. Breaking
[46:03] Speaker 1: news also from Aldi Gonzalez of ESPN. Artie Moreno has
[46:06] Speaker 1: officially sold the LA Angels. Stan Kroenke has taken over.
[46:10] Speaker 1: So Artie Moreno is done as the owner of the
[46:13] Speaker 1: LA Angels. We will expand on that on the Wednesday program,
[46:17] Speaker 1: no doubt about that.
[46:18] Speaker 2: That's most likely good news.
[46:21] Speaker 1: That's huge news. That's probably good news for baseball. Crazy, man.
[46:25] Speaker 1: So again, Artie Moreno sells the LA Angels to Stan Kroenke,
[46:29] Speaker 1: and we will expand on that on the Wednesday, just
[46:32] Speaker 1: baseball show. Two more guys that we want to talk
[46:34] Speaker 1: about here real quick. Tristan Peters, from a banana to
[46:38] Speaker 1: just bananas this year. Tristan Peters has been awesome post-All-Star break,
[46:43] Speaker 1: particularly in the month of August. And this guy, a
[46:46] Speaker 1: first-time All-Star this year, the most unlikely All-Star that you
[46:50] Speaker 1: will really ever find in Major League Baseball, but You
[46:53] Speaker 1: get someone like this in the showman lab and good
[46:55] Speaker 1: things happen, man. Tristan Peters is having himself a heck
[46:58] Speaker 1: of a season and he has just been on fire
[47:01] Speaker 1: as of late. Yeah.
[47:02] Speaker 2: I have no idea if it's ever going to be
[47:04] Speaker 2: this good offensively again. I hope it is. He's very
[47:08] Speaker 2: much a sellout to pull the ball guy. As we
[47:10] Speaker 2: show a Homer, I think his only Homer in the
[47:12] Speaker 2: dead central, but for those on YouTube, but he also is, is,
[47:18] Speaker 2: just so good defensively that he doesn't really need to
[47:22] Speaker 2: be that good offensively. So when he does have the
[47:25] Speaker 2: seasons like this, where he is just good offensively, you're
[47:28] Speaker 2: getting crazy value, but he's definitely done a sellout for
[47:32] Speaker 2: the air pole guy for the most part. And he's
[47:34] Speaker 2: made it work. And maybe he'll just continue to make
[47:37] Speaker 2: it work. He's tough to punch. I think that helps
[47:39] Speaker 2: his case big time too. I always felt like though,
[47:43] Speaker 2: and it's still, I think White Sox fans are obviously
[47:46] Speaker 2: privy privy to it, But the conversation around Tristan Peters,
[47:48] Speaker 2: people forget this is one of the best center fielders
[47:51] Speaker 2: in the sport, period. We talk about the Rafaelas and
[47:55] Speaker 2: the PCAs and a couple other guys that are in
[47:58] Speaker 2: that top end of Tier 2 because PCA and Rafael
[48:02] Speaker 2: are in their own world in Tier 1. Tristan Peters
[48:04] Speaker 2: has got to be in that Tier 2, the top
[48:08] Speaker 2: of the Tier 2 with the way he can go
[48:09] Speaker 2: get it out there. That is going to make him
[48:12] Speaker 2: a big leaguer for a long time. It's a great
[48:14] Speaker 2: pick up and find by the White Sox here. And
[48:17] Speaker 2: now it's going to be somebody that is going to
[48:19] Speaker 2: be a key piece for them for a long time.
[48:20] Speaker 2: Even if he does cool off a little bit offensively,
[48:23] Speaker 2: that glove is going to play. He's going to be
[48:24] Speaker 2: able to sneak a little bit more power because of
[48:26] Speaker 2: his air pull ability. And I I'll be honest, this
[48:29] Speaker 2: hot stretch has made me a lot more confident because
[48:32] Speaker 2: you kind of felt like, I don't want to say you,
[48:34] Speaker 2: cause I'm talking about me, but I'm curious where you
[48:36] Speaker 2: stood on this. He felt like he was going to
[48:38] Speaker 2: be one of those all-stars that you like forget was
[48:40] Speaker 2: an all-star because of how much he slows down after it,
[48:43] Speaker 2: at least for me. And I know he snuck in
[48:45] Speaker 2: there late anyways, but, So to have this hot stretch
[48:49] Speaker 2: in the second half again now too, I think is
[48:51] Speaker 2: really validating for him and for his season.
[48:55] Speaker 1: It's an interesting shout. I just call those guys Joe
[48:59] Speaker 1: Mantiplies because Joe Mantiply was an all-star for the Arizona
[49:02] Speaker 1: Diamondbacks one year when he was just brutal. And I
[49:04] Speaker 1: thought Tristan Peters was a Joe Mantiply. I thought he
[49:07] Speaker 1: was a Shane Smith. The White Sox 2025 all-star was
[49:11] Speaker 1: Rule 5 pick Shane Smith. There's a chance that he
[49:15] Speaker 1: just never, ever gets back there. So, yeah, I I
[49:18] Speaker 1: think Tristan Peters, like I've initially viewed him as a
[49:21] Speaker 1: manti blind. That just wasn't the case and won't be
[49:23] Speaker 1: the case because he's a four wind player and he's
[49:26] Speaker 1: got the bedrock there. One more guy that we want
[49:28] Speaker 1: to talk about here real quick on the pitching side.
[49:30] Speaker 1: What a five-start stretch in the month of August. It's
[49:33] Speaker 1: been for Jesus Lizardo and Lizardo is already at 200
[49:36] Speaker 1: punch out so far this year. Lizardo, the Philly left-hander,
[49:41] Speaker 1: eight scoreless with seven Ks against Washington on August 4th.
[49:44] Speaker 1: On the 9th, seven innings, a two-run ball with 12 Ks.
[49:48] Speaker 1: Then six and two-thirds, a one-run ball with nine Ks
[49:51] Speaker 1: in Minnesota. Then five and two-thirds, two or nine Ks
[49:55] Speaker 1: against St.
[49:55] Speaker 3: Louis.
[49:56] Speaker 1: And then last time out in Seattle, seven innings, a
[49:59] Speaker 1: one-hit shutout ball with nine Ks. Jesus Lizardo is, I
[50:04] Speaker 1: think at this point, a tier one left-handed starting pitcher
[50:09] Speaker 1: in major league baseball and philly's got two of the
[50:14] Speaker 1: man five best lefties in the game here in sanchez
[50:17] Speaker 1: and lizardo i think.
[50:19] Speaker 2: So i mean unless somebody like lists them out and
[50:21] Speaker 2: i'm forgetting someone i just with the way lizardo the
[50:26] Speaker 2: way he's able to punch guys out and get the
[50:28] Speaker 2: ground ball when he needs to it just seems like
[50:31] Speaker 2: this is such a a solid, a floor guy. Like
[50:35] Speaker 2: even when he's not going right, you look at like
[50:38] Speaker 2: the peripherals and you say, Oh, he's going to get
[50:39] Speaker 2: right back into it. And he's kind of, this is a,
[50:41] Speaker 2: this is a good guy for the peripherals people out there.
[50:43] Speaker 2: But I always feel like even when he doesn't quite
[50:47] Speaker 2: have it, he gives you six, like it might not
[50:49] Speaker 2: look great, but he's still able to like work his
[50:51] Speaker 2: way through that. Like I look at the game against
[50:54] Speaker 2: the Marlins, right? Like it was six and a third,
[50:56] Speaker 2: six earned, but he gave you six and a third, uh,
[50:59] Speaker 2: so many games where I see like, Oh, he didn't
[51:01] Speaker 2: have it today. I feel like he still works his
[51:02] Speaker 2: way through five or six innings for the most part.
[51:05] Speaker 2: Even as like horrible outing against the Cubs early in
[51:07] Speaker 2: the year, we gave up eight earned, still gave him
[51:09] Speaker 2: five and a third. Like, I just feel like he
[51:11] Speaker 2: rarely gets balanced in the first, even when he gets
[51:13] Speaker 2: into traffic and he has a bad innings, he's just
[51:15] Speaker 2: so level headed. I watched him coming up with the
[51:17] Speaker 2: Marlins doing that, where it's just, he could stay in there,
[51:21] Speaker 2: handle it and, and be able to, you know, at
[51:23] Speaker 2: least get you through it and keep you in the
[51:26] Speaker 2: ball game. But when he's on, I think he's as
[51:28] Speaker 2: dominant as anybody. And I think we've really seen that
[51:31] Speaker 2: this year where the strikeouts are up to the highest
[51:34] Speaker 2: they've been in his career. The command. Do you remember
[51:38] Speaker 2: when there's questions about his command? Do you remember people?
[51:41] Speaker 2: I don't know if he's going to throw enough strikes. Now,
[51:43] Speaker 2: this guy's one of the best in strikeout to walk
[51:45] Speaker 2: that we have, and especially from like the stuffy left
[51:48] Speaker 2: handers that we have in the game. I'm fascinated because Wheeler,
[51:52] Speaker 2: we got to see what version of Wheeler they get
[51:54] Speaker 2: down the stretch here. But let's assume Wheeler snaps into
[51:57] Speaker 2: playoff Wheeler. Having this version of Lizardo, who looks literally
[52:02] Speaker 2: as good as ever as he's looked in his career,
[52:05] Speaker 2: that three-man just rotation through the playoffs is really damn scary,
[52:11] Speaker 2: and I think he can go toe-to-toe with anybody.
[52:14] Speaker 1: Yeah, 100%. Peyton went through this exercise, and I was
[52:18] Speaker 1: going through this exercise too because I said it, and
[52:20] Speaker 1: I felt good about it, but I just wanted to confirm.
[52:23] Speaker 1: I think I would go... scooble sale sanchez lazardo and
[52:29] Speaker 1: then i think the battle for five is interesting because
[52:33] Speaker 1: peyton mentioned messick and max freed i'm also ready to
[52:37] Speaker 1: throw totally in that conversation right now too wow dude.
[52:42] Speaker 2: I think he needs to get left he's out a
[52:43] Speaker 2: little bit more but i i can hear it i
[52:46] Speaker 2: think yeah and wise he's there.
[52:48] Speaker 1: But i'd be curious how you stack the top four
[52:51] Speaker 1: right now like i think At this very moment, I'm
[52:53] Speaker 1: sitting here saying Sale 1, Sanchez 2, Skubal 3, Lizardo 4.
[53:00] Speaker 2: I feel like Skubal, it's like he's got the title
[53:02] Speaker 2: until he loses it, no?
[53:04] Speaker 1: I think Sale has that title right now. This year.
[53:07] Speaker 2: Right now.
[53:10] Speaker 1: That was the most badass outing I've seen in a
[53:12] Speaker 1: really long time. Last Thursday against the Dodgers.
[53:14] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if you want to go right this moment,
[53:17] Speaker 2: I could go Sale over anybody from the left side.
[53:22] Speaker 2: I go sale scooble, right? And then Sanchez, I think
[53:25] Speaker 2: Lizardo is, is, is right there. We're talking about a 23%
[53:30] Speaker 2: came on his BB rate for this guy, by the way,
[53:33] Speaker 2: that's the best of his career period. And after he
[53:37] Speaker 2: got the bag, which he deserved and two things to
[53:40] Speaker 2: remember the health concerns with Lizardo, he gave you 183
[53:43] Speaker 2: and two thirds last year. And he's going to give
[53:45] Speaker 2: you a, probably 180 or real close to it this year,
[53:49] Speaker 2: plus the postseason. It's so much fun to watch. But, yeah,
[53:53] Speaker 2: five is interesting. Messick is right there. I think you
[53:55] Speaker 2: could argue Messick's been more valuable. But if I'm going
[53:58] Speaker 2: in a postseason game, I think I want Lizardo. But
[54:01] Speaker 2: I may take that back quickly after we get some
[54:03] Speaker 2: postseason Messick this year. He's another one that's really tough,
[54:07] Speaker 2: I think, to properly assess because it feels like every
[54:09] Speaker 2: time you go watch with Messick, he's giving you a
[54:10] Speaker 2: quality start and is going deep into him. At 2-4-6
[54:15] Speaker 2: from Messick this year, it could be disrespectful. And I
[54:18] Speaker 2: have Masik right there at the three or four spot.
[54:21] Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, what about Eduardo Rodriguez too? We, we
[54:23] Speaker 1: can expand, but you know, Oh, well, all right. That's
[54:27] Speaker 1: our program. Plenty more to come on the just baseball
[54:30] Speaker 1: show tomorrow. It'll be arm and Ryan Finkelstein as always.
[54:34] Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Appreciate podcast
[54:36] Speaker 1: P being here. Like he always is for arm. I'm Jackson.
[54:40] Speaker 1: So long. And we'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Thank you.

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