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Locked On Guardians - Daily Podcast On The Cleveland Guardians

Jeff Ellis, Locked On Podcast Network

Closing Thoughts and Future Coverage

From DRAFT HYPE: Cleveland Guardians MLB Draft BUZZ - Logan Hughes or Prep Hitters Who COULD Go at #19Jul 7, 2026

Excerpt from Locked On Guardians - Daily Podcast On The Cleveland Guardians

DRAFT HYPE: Cleveland Guardians MLB Draft BUZZ - Logan Hughes or Prep Hitters Who COULD Go at #19Jul 7, 2026 — starts at 0:00

This is the locked on podcast Network celebrating ten years of your team day Thank you for making locked on your first liston every day. For your second listen, find the All night Lcked on MLB Game Night, every game, every night until a Wor Series Champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale. Find MLB Game Night on Lcked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts It's smart to always have a few financial goals and a really smart one you can set earning cashback on what you buy every day. And with Dcover, you can get this. Discover automatically matches all the cash backack you've earned at the end of your first year Seriously, all of it, and we trust you to make smart decisions. After all, you listen to this show. See terms at discover dot com slash credit card. That's discover dot com slash credit card MLB draft week is upon us and we know Cleveland. Everybody loves a draft We know everybody wants hitters We'll talk which high school hitters. get us excited at nineteen in this draft Parker Mestic, Cleveland Guardians, you're listening to L loocked on Guardians. You are locked on Guardians, Y daily podcast on the Cleveland Guardians, partart of the locked on Podcast network, your team every day. I'm so excited PSA from say by the Bell back in the nineties I just don't want to hear about high schoolers getting us excited at nineteen. Like that was that was it was your words, not mine. for frazing. Okaykay. well I this is I raraising was going was going save by the bell there. But okay. comment below if you saw that episode, see where our age ranges in our comments here. But on today's lockdown Guardians, we will talk briefly at the end about this Twins Guardian series coming up Got some outfielders in the miners who maybe are breaking out. We'll talk about those It about Austin Hedges today too and what the heck is going on there and why He all of a sudden is apparently a good hittding catcher, the best hittding catcher on the Guardians we're starting off this episode of talking about Ppetters at nineteen who the Guardians could take in the MLD draft this coming Saturday before we get into that today's episode is brought you by Ode, G great orrganizations win because operations matter And that is why you should get Odu. tryry for free today at odu. com slash lockgown. That's OdeO o . com slash locked on and this is locked on Guardians. You're only includleing Gardi's podast, coage team rem today from the majors is minus the draft And everything in between ' going to do that today of course in You got Jeff Ellis over there, hosts the show for eight years who is a draft expert. the last nineteen years and I am Justin Ladd. I've been for four years And I've been covering the Guardian' Fm system for the last nineteen years as well quickly, I wanted to we wanted to get into some carryover from yesterday's episode. you were talking about Logan Hughes, the Texas tech outfielder who also, Jeff Hughes said would be the only player they could draft nineteen that would get you excited. So he's in college at least Yes. and I'm going to finally remember so I can get rid of this checkedem give a shout out to Born Delight who said an nice thing on our podcast a while ago. 's that's one of the new listeners. If you're the other gentleman, I deleted the screenshot I took. so I apologize as always, you know, if you're new and you say something nice, we like to give a quick shout out. So of But what I was saying is I did go through and I entered all the big toldve data for Logan Hughes And if you're worried that Logan Hughes was, you know, a player who only had non conference, that you know, all of his great production was there He hit three hundred and eighty eight in conference with five hundred twenty seven on base seven thirty ninth slg and a one point two six five OPS. he struck out ten point eight percent of the time and walked. twenty one point seven percent of the time F games where he was hit by pitches and four games where hes intentionallyalked I don't think the entire rest of this spreadsheet of Hitters where I was tracking how they didn't conference play u had that many hit by pitches or games where they were intentionally walk. So he was a pretty feared hitter on that team. He constantly showed up, constantly performed well And I and I do understand why there is some doubts. He is not you know, the, uh He's not huge. He's a five hundred eleven outfuilder. He is Not a great athlete He is probably a left fielder our first baseman, but he's just he hits and he hits the wall hard and he's hit at every stop. And he like no one doubts his ability as a hitter or as a power hitter. so That's why I like him. I just I think he's a really safe bett and All the data backs them up. You know, when I sat there and looked at chase rate, contact rate and percentile data and told a spreadsheet to be like, o okay, what are the best hters, you know, composite average Uh, you know, he was fourth and the number one guy in the list, Chris Hakapan has moved down my list because like he was a small sample. Like this was higher than everyone else because it was a super small sample. So really, if you get rid of Hakaa and then he had the third best data Criel, Von Lackkey, and then it's Logan Hughes. L those are the three best hitters who Hit the ball hard, don't chase and make good contact. That's a pretty good company. Yeah, that is a good company for sure. Yeahah. I mean, he's he's essentially this year is Devin Taylor. U but it again gets better competition even Yeah, gets definitely gets better competition. And what would you say? let's say SEC A AC And then big twelve or big twelve Okay big go. SEC Then half a step then ACC, then about four steps, then big twelve, then about seven steps, then the big ten As the SEC is fifty feet of crap No, I mean, ACC and SC are about half a step. I was a half st That's a moneyall It's money baller. I know I know. I just just in case anyone's out there. I want people know Let's talk prep hitters then. You know and I were just kind of talking off air about some guys we' interested in we think are realistic. mayaybe there's some guys that we like that probably won't be realalistic targets for the Guardiian Sit nineteen. I think the one we agree on most is Archer Horn. Archer Horn, I think is a guy that will not be there fifty nine. I know he's not ranked this high on some boards where you're on team boards and he is on boards out there. I'll say that I am very confident in that. I agree with that too. And I think also Some of the boards have not been updated to the combine data was fantastic. I mean Hit the ball hard. I know you've got data you collected at least from watching the broadcast that show he throws well you know, he was a pitcher. I'm definitely in on Archer Horn left handed hitting short style who I believe he's somewhat young for the class. Is he not at the doctor's turn U he's six foot two. He's a he's a, you know, he's not a small kid Yeah You know, he I I mean, I didn't write up anything about his age. so he must not have turned that recently or I would have I would have mentioned it in mine He have be eighteen point four eighteen point four years. so he's eight and a half at the time of they dri. Basically unless you're may or later, I don't mention it Um, yeah, I mean, his his His ninetiet percent exit velocity at the combine was one hundred and five seven his average, which I like to look at the average because some guys just absolutely sell out and they'll get because the ninetyieth percentile is just whatever your best one hit is and it's like T tryry to remember who I was looking at were like his average launch angle was over thirty. I'm like, that's not great. That's not what I want to see because thirty is too high And you know so it's a big thing to meet someomeone like Archer Horne where his average exggs of velocity is over one hundred. So he's consistently getting there. The swing is is not just like, hey, he popped it once. It is a consistent hard hit swing. his arm was very strong from short God, he just Yeah. And I gotta look. I think there's some bloodlines with him, but I didn't write it. So that may not be the case. His dad might have been drafted or something like that at some point But yeah, hit the ball hard. I know everyone's. they don't need short stop, but they do. they don't have any short stops in the system It's a really bad system for short stops right now. There is nothing coming up outside of Lanjel Hanao, like that's after him. there's it's nothing Go listen to our u our u Why can't I think of what our draft is where we our prospect draft prospect draft to see how How hard it is to find short stops in this system Yeah. So like horn horn is u, you know He's he's in that point U The other Stanford commit with him is Tyler Spangler who did not have a great combine, but was like his first time playing in a long time. He basically missed the whole season with a back injury. There was also, let's just be honest, put straightforward. There was an issue with a hazing ritual that occurred on his team They got him and a few of the other seniors they had to like They They essentially had to forfeit their first, you know, few games of the year and he wouldn't have played anyways. But there was like a lot of little things. He's just not all the way back. That much is clear. He's not all the way back. He's not healthy. He looked little tentativeive But he was a player who was, you know, third for, you know, you had yet Emerson, you had Lombard And I mean, a lot of places at Spangler is third or fourth best prep player in the fall after them. So he he's a big gamble. And then the guy you and I both have very high is Beau Lawrence. I keep wanting to say Lauren for whatever reason. I think it's just because it's got the A in it But you know, he is I compared him in my write up to like looking at a horse or deer. like when you see the baby version of it and you know it's going to grow into something strong and powerful But right now it's just it's all spindly and You know, his swings, some were great, some were mixed at the combine. There's a lot of, you know Dita, I was trying to think his birthday is right around Jose. I'd know is kind of a fun little f for him But it's easy to see where the talent could grow to There's not I don't know. L I think back to when I wrote up Ralphie at this time. There's not a Ralphie to me here in this class. If there was, he'd probably be a top twenty talent. There isn't a cold Emerson even where I feel comfortable about that. I mean I moved AJ Grasia up to eighteenth on this last big board and I don't even like them. I'd be kind of disappointed if they took them an nineteen But it's that type of class where, you know, I don't know what the best approach is, but they do, you know, this is the the bon nailer range. this is where they Ralphie, it's where they have gone with these picks with some prep talents. So I think Yeah, I don't know know right Yeah, you know the next highest prep guy Landon Tomy, they're not going to take him. They don't like to put kids in a situation with too much pressure And he essentially has a deal Ssld and delivered. he's going to be whiteaw But just very honest. that one's already done. then Cole Prosec is kind of your next guy amongst the prep, but he is all hit in some chase. I wouldn't I would not love him right there And then their traditional pick would be kind of I guess the next gu would be Rockco Monelesco who is this class would be utterly terrible if it wasn't for the reclassifiers. I think I wrote up nine to ten reclassified players. This class is loaded and a lot of guys reclassified because they saw it was a weeak class. I think that is a big part of it. Maneleskco is one of the first ones. He's one of youngest guys in this class He just turned seventeen at the start of May. Stter May he turned seventeen So he had kind of a good combine too. Yeah, he had a good combine. He had an up and down spring though, but you know, he He's a big kid for a kid who's basically sixteen. He's six three already. So there's there's some interesting talent there as well Yeah, We'll talk more about some of the high school hitters we've got in mind. There's a couple of names we haven't gotten to yet that we there could be options at nineteen. We'll see where we maybe disagree on some of these players. We'll get to Austin Hedges is weird, awwesome season. a couple of minor Lague gofailers to talk about and then Guardians and twins coming up today When you're running a business, you can't feel like a bunch of systems are going to connect that they were never designed to work together. anyway, you have an ad app for accounting, you have an app Inatory may one for sales, another program And then none of them talk to each other. that is where Odu comes in. Odu is an all in one business Mage a software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform So it's going to give you sales, inventory, accounting, marketing, everything that works in one place. It's going to help your team move so much faster. Stay organized and focus on the business instead of managing all of your software best organizations know that success is not just about town, right? It's about having everyone work together on towards the same goal. It's true in sports just like it is in business and the guardians are still working towards trying to survive the next couple weeks at Hosei Miras and not H Martinez we back up the Allsta break You know they're try to find the right pieces to fit. And they all need to talk to each other that M maybe some of those pieces aren' The best fit right now, but they're doing the best they can and the communication is so important because great organizations win because operations matter. That's why you should get o to, try for free Today at odo d. com slash lockedown. that's OD oo. com slash locked on It's smart to always have a few financial goals and a really smart one you can set earning cash backack on what you buy every day. And with Discover, you can get this. Discover automatically matches all the cashback you've earned at the end of your first year Seriously, all of it, and we trust you to make smart decisions. After all, you listen to this show. See terms at discover dot com slash credit card. That's discovever dot com slash credit card As always, we appreciate you making locked onn Guardians, your first listen tonight everyday whenver see a podcast. Thanks for making the locked on podcast network, the number one sports podcast network out there could not do it without you could not show up every day and do this without the entire community and the support you provide. If you want more of the show, more guardians talk, more insights, you can check out the Everare Club. N not only does it get you add free access to the audio versions of the show. But you also get the private Listener discord as well where you can talk to other Guardiian fans. in there, my myself, Jeff, which will be, you know, I think certainly important during draft time. and the trade deadline And there's other channels in there as well for every single lockdown show. You can go check that out at lockdown Guardians at suupercast d. com. Check the link in your show notes You can start a seven day free trial when you sign up So couple' see, we talked about Spangler. I think Spangler and Um Archer Horn to me or like, As long as as long as the health and the background checks out for Spangler, I'm okay with it at nineteen Um thoseose are questions right there. And then I think horn for me for the last couple weeks, I've had Spanglers my top position high school position player for the Guardians at nineteen I think I'm going to move Archer Horn above him after today. I have him ahead Yeah, I think'm I'm there now too. I think Ba Lawrence for me is somewhere three, maybe I'm not sure Um, where are you at on trait evil because I kind of like se Yeah, I I know people talk about him moving up the board. I know he's got the bloodlines and I thought he was a good defender at the combat. He looked really good Um I thought he I thought it was consistent on the batted ball side where I'm like, I don't know if he's a guy. I'd go at nineteen. Maybe fifty nine Dpending on what I do at nineteen, but I think I would be out of him at nineteen Yeah, you know,d be a very under slaght That'd be almost the Carson Tucker thing because he' I want to point this out too because we saw a couple mock drafts of people saying this. Aain, we've done the Jeff has done the re session todayk because Jeff has The last two right handed hitters the Guardians have taken in the first round are Carson Tucker And was it Danny Peopleless Danny Peopleles was the last college right hand bad they took. Yeah. And Carson Tucker was the last Yeah Carson Tucker was the last highigh school one and thenint I'm sorry Clint Fraasier before that. So It's just very, very rare that they take right handed hitters in. They've only dpped the four right handed college hitters in the history of their organization in the first round. Yeah. Yeah, you know, the thing I'll say is I have Lawce higher than a horn or Spangler Really? Yes. 'use I there's kind of like He have horn higher, you're saying? No I have Laurerence. Lawrence is in the teens. the other two are in the you know, Lawrence is significantly higher because The traits are there for more. Like I like horn. the horn is a little bit physically maxed out. What you see is what you get Yeah good not great exit velocity is like if you're talking about There's a chance for Lawrence to be plus it and plus power Horn you're probably looking at, you know, fifty five like above average h, above average power But like I don't think he's going to be a plus power guy now He could play shortstop and I think he will and that gives him more value, but I think they want to play third base and I think third base is an underrated position right now in baseball in terms of value. So I that's where I kind of am on them Um You know, I I also like, you know, I'll be very honest, like There's I kind of like the pick slater, like certain like you could I think you could have a day. just signing random prep arms from like four through eight, like you and I have fought on Jack Radeell. I like him a lot more than you. I just think there's more there because he's never been in a good developmental program But it's like a Jack Radell. I mean, I like Kid Thompson a lot. No know, it's like if they're not going to go with one of the prep pitters or you know, the other way, like go crazy with a prep pitter. Um, you know, I'm like, who would be the the craziest like gu I mean, maybe if you want another guy who's all Gaky and all future but knows how to hit in the box, maybe a little bit more polished, it's Cnor Camu, but I think he's probably a first baseman. But yeah, I mean, I'm not opposed to taking because I think the value is so poor with this pick I amm not opposed to taking like a second round player and it's not cheapness When they take a second round player It so they can save that money and then go and get more bites of the apples. So then, you know, if you if you took someone like Blake Bowen or Camo or somethingone like that that I have in the sixties Uh, like then, you know, you go get Sean Duncan, you go get Um trying to think a Jerkson u well or Ethan Washman or Logan Schmt Cleman Borthwick Those guys are probably gone, but it's probably more like the Washman levels the Kirk Shorns, the Doug Doug Watchers's kid whose name isn't Doug, Doug Wer was the Oh, Kayden Weector. Yeah. Weector. Weector, sorry not Wer Weector. but it's like, I think you could get a bunch of guys like the Weector level. watch Washman, the kid who blew up the combine with his spin rates and things like that. I think you can get that. I mean, Again, if it's not Logan Hughes, I'm just kind of, I'm very ambivalent. I mean, I'd be Archer Warren I'd be really happy with, honestly. I'd be with him Lawrence, I'd be happy with Spangler. I'd be like, Ohh, well, it's a gamble. likeike it's they're going to gamble gamble. love to gamble But where where are you at then? Th are two names that I think you and I maybe just maybe high school wise disagree the most is Jerk Gridlinger because I think you thought he was a hitter. I think he's a pitcher. Yeah. I think that he's a hitter because he wouldn't be ranked in the teens for me if I thought he was a pitcher. Yeah. I know because you don't like high school pitchers. I think Gridlinger is a pitch. I would not I would not send him out as a hitter or I would send him out as a pitcher. And then I really don't like Trevor Condan. I don't I would not I would stay away from Conden at u I like cont nineteen. I just I think there's too much chase there. I don't's enough upside with them. Really? He doesn't chase that much compared to some of the guys who's chased you like that didn't bother you. Yeah, I don't know. like he doesn't chase that much, you know, it's u my biggest concern I think he's going to be there like I said I think he's going to be there Pete Halp and that's he's stronger than Pete. So my concern with with Cond Condan doesn't chase. like that's one of the best things in his profile is he's he's got a strong knowledge of his own. He hits the ball well, he runs well. he's physically maxed out. It's kind of like a Clint Fraser situation. He's not going to really add more So that's why like, I mean, I had him at fifteenth on my board but then I dropped him because like baseball America had reported that he was up to one hundred six with exit Vvelocity And I got picked up and ran with with some of my friend sites like the White Sox, James and them over there. But then at the at the combine, he barely was one of And it's so that limited his because if he was the other like I think is I think's a legitimate chance as a plus hitter with seventy grade speed and playing a plus center. He's got a weird hitch with a swing too at the hand. It's a bit, but it's not as bad as some of the other ones. and I don't like movement, but that one didn't bother me as much. He does he loads up.s it's a load up so he can explode forward U to try to get more out of it, but Yeah, I you know, he he's very good about scouting the zone. He hits the ball hard. He hits line. He's a line drive hitter I' a little concerned about the exggs ofvelastities. That's what caused him. They said before that, he was probably thirteen, fourteen on my board. It dropped him to twenty two. So I mean, the guys who are technically the ranking of the prep hitters in this range would be Uh Griding Gridlinger because I think he's an outfielder because I just I'm not in love with he's kind of hurkey jer like Herkey Jerkey is a pitcher at some of the times. I saw him. I think there's a lot I mean there's a lot of work to be done with him in general but But it be Gridlinger, Lawrence And then after that comes Condan and Horn and then Spangler would be the five prerep guys I have kind of in the top thirty, your six guys landing T me who's thirty one on my board. So be the six guys that are kind of in that range amongst prep hitters. But I mean, I've got Jacob Lombard to thirteen because talk about guys who chase and expand It's very interesting to see like, you know, Lombard is is a chase artist and he might go four. talk about how Cle prorosec is like seventh on my board in this group and like everyone loves his he's also nineteen. Yeah, but everyone talks about his contact skills, but he's also a guy who's prone to to to expand. So like, I don't know, I get very I get very nervous with that expansion because that's if you I know I'm going long here, but like ve spent so much time and we'll talk about Savat in a moment when we come back from break with Austin Hedges. and I definitely have a take why. I think like what Hedges is doing is kind of legit. Um, But You know, like there's certain things that work and One of the like clear things that is going to help you be a more successful hitter is not chasing Like yes, you can chase and be successful, but most of the outcomes that I look at, most of the buckets guys fall into is don't expand don't chase. So when I look at these kids, if they're already expanding and chasing, and I know how hard that is to adjust and change tend to not go as high. So my board is heavily influenced by those chase rates because if you want to be successful, that's one of the first things to look at. It's like, do they hit the ball hard enough? Do they chase? Like that's where I'm starting with these profiles anymore Yeah Yeah, because there's fewer pathways to succeed when you chase out of the zone. likeike You have to I mean, you don't have to be Vlad Gerrero, but you have to be him or what do we talk about Jeso Sanchez andanchez to be like likeu Heno Suarez Suarez? Yeah. You've got to hit the crap out of the ball and you got to also take some walks too. I mean, you Um if you're chasing out of the zone, like you have to be able to sometimes Now maybe I' not I didn Suarez walk early that maybe he's not now Suarez used to walk a lot more. Maybe he got Maybe started chasing a little more. We had a lot of different versions of him. like the guy who Sometimes you have to do that as a major header too which is what Austin Hedges is doing right now. We're going to talk about that. couple of other minor league outfielders and we'll look ahead to this twin series coming up Boy, there's a lot of data collection in the world, right? Not just baseball and everything we do. If you probably notice that you search for something online and the ads start following you wherever you go. you've been traveling, maybe and you've been on a website or trying to watch a game Normally you do did it at home and it says the content not available in your region. 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So get notified of those and then hit the download button on all your audio platforms so the show Stays in your feet, you can catch up whenever So Austin Hedges is thirty three years old and usually By that age is a hit or y are who you are and Some guys have to make changes to survive, but usually if you've been bad your entire career as a hitter You're not getting better at age thirty three, like Han as farar as we were talking about before was a good hitter early in his career and he is just change profiles over the years for different reasons. Austin Hedges never been a good hitter. U onene fourteen WRC plus. I never thought I'd say that for Austin had just So you are su plus over a hundred. Usually he's in the twenties and never anything over eighty Yeah, I wouldve been happappy with an eighty Um and a three hundred twenty three Babbot, which is also a career high for him. notot a guy who carries a high bab but that's probably a little bit too high honestly I don't think that'll that will not that will not stick U And the funny thing is he's not hitting the ball harder. he's not swing faster. like he hasn' increased bat speed. He's not hitting the ball any harder than he ever used to.'s What a little bit faster on the bat this year I thought I saw Um Let's go to the data because I I was checking the other day and now his mat speats down from a year ago. He's Oh no, I was looking at his max his max is up. Max. Okaykay. I mean, his fast swing rate is pretty low this year. It it's his fast swing was actually higher a year ago. so it's actually way lower than it was a year ago The biggest change is see, if you're watching on YouTube, youll get the benefit of this here U I'm sure Jangle' gonna to talk launch. no, it's a screenshot. actuallyct, his launch angle is really bad if you were talking about It's It is, but it isn't. I think I think it's that is one of those debates we can have. It's Yes. Well. It's not it's good for him, but it'ss it's bad in terms of what we would normally say Um, so you see here if you' watch it on YouTube, this twenty twenty five, he is standing prettyret much even on the plate you know, feed our our straight on And look at twenty twenty six He's sitting from a very wide open stance now. he I checked it out. It is a thirty night. He is changing his stance from thirteen degrees to twenty nine degrees in terms of feet placement. So opening his stance Um The one thing he's doing better this year, Jeff is he's maximizing his exit velocity. so he's not hitting the ball hard, but He's doing what is called squared up, which is essentially you're you're hitting the ball as hard as you possibly can based on how fast your swing is and how fast the pitches and your're sessentially getting the highest output from both those things that you can based on those metrics. So that's the highest's ever been in his career. He's also not chasing out of the zone. He used to chase a ton I don't know if opening his stance has helped him. U see the ball better, you know, giving him more chances to not chase out of the zone That certainly helped him Its time and yes, his launch angle was actually way down The issue for him is he was popping up all the time in the past This year he is sitting a ton of ground balls. U but for him that's okay because he's cutting down his chase rate and that's or his, uh This pop up rates. so I will take the trade off there from Austin Hedges between the pop up rate versus the ground balls for better offense from him. So here's your headline. Austin Hedges is not a good hitter That's important. He realized he's not a good hitter. and you know, having interviewed and talked him, knows he's not a good hitter But he changed his swing. You know, last year his launch angle was up in the thirties, which is two or I'm sorry up at twenty five still too much Yeah. He he has gone instead of trying to you know, maximize the launch angle. He's trying to get the ball the bat to the ball quicker. He's trying to be able to make contact at a better rate. And you look at his overall profile, you know, everything you've talked about Um, you know, it's just like, as you said, he's he's not chasing. He's not whipping. he's not striking out. He's making more contact because the swing doesn't have as much loft and that's you know, the loft leads to power, but for a player like him, the loft can also lead. So he's squaring up balls at a rate. he's never squared up before. Like square up was never something he did. He's getting and turning around and hitting balls. hitting more line drives and things like this to he here. he changed his swing Beuse I mean, on top of it, he's older. Like it pains me as someone much older than him to say that But like it's a way to maximize where he is And I think sometimes yeah, yeah, we get focused on, hey, you change the launch angle, you get more power, but sometimes when you change the launch angle bat isn't as quick you're not getting as much straight bat to ball with the loft. It slows it down and it creates areas for you to swing under or to pop up as you talked about So this change in his approach, how he's changed his batting stance has allowed him to bring down his launch angle allows him to square the ball up a lot more and He's essentially being kind of like Stehven Kuan. Like this is Stehven Kuan at best. like Austin go look at his Svant page and then look at like Stehven Kuans Savant last year. It's not dissimilar. Like Don't you wish Stehven Kuan had a seven fifty six OPS right now He So I was look because, you know, a big shout out to Dennis Manelov had me on the show. I always appreciate how much he has the on there U And he was he was talking about like, you know, you wanted me to to look at how some guys were performing And it Steven Con'll say this over the last thirty days. he's up to an eighty eight WRC plus. We arere getting he's sneaking close to average. like that makes me happy because we know we'rere he's here. We know he's the player and his defense is so good. It's like, man, if he can just sneak his way back up to like one hundred for the second half This lineup changes because I've seen people in our comments too. I know this is really off topic, but it's like people like it doesn't matter because this teams terrible.'s like Gu, like Jose maybe wasn't being Jose of old, but I also wonder what Jose is going to be like when he actually has had rest for the first time in his life And then I wonder about like You know, he was he was at it like a one fifteen or something. likeike the differe a one fifteen and like Gabiarius is eighty five is still, you know thirty points different. like It's it's there's there's a lot of ways this team can improve. on the margins. and then, you know, I'm going to continue to root for the Baltimoreials to die like dogs Sorry, Baltimore fans Tyler to get Taylor Ward And Enrico Garcia, one stop shop. Yeah. give it all to us Um, but, you know, that that's where it's good. Like I I don't know, I'm not feeling negative about this team. L You know, the young guys are going to have their ups and downs, but it is interesting because we talked about swing decisions are hard It's really weird to see someone like Hedges who all of sudden like, no, for him, it's like, okay, I'm not chasing anymore. I don't I don't know if he's seeing it better. I don't know if he That's what my think is is the open stance maybe. I don't know. Yeah. And you got LSic Johny Feralta. I've got I just read someone who got lasick. I think D Laurece got lasick. And it worked for him, boy, it transformed him U I'm still interested in D Kennedy Kenny. No, I got time for Dee Kennedy as well. I got I got you and I agree on Dee Kennedy We a lot of about D Kennedyues d U another player who made some adjustments last month, I think is Alfon and Rosario. You and I were very down in Rosario the started the year honestly and then as the year went on, he got really even more kind of depressing. like Hit the crap out of the ball in April, but he struck out at a very untenable rate May was just bad all around. We both were kind of soured we thought it was really ugly about as bad as it Yeah And and I had concerns coming to theater because like I saw the swing of Lake County and I was like I just don't think he's going to pick up breaking stuff. I think he's going to a very hard time breaking stuff. He does like to chase. incredible feel for the barre. Like the guy the guy puts the barrel on the baseball. on pitches that I'm like, how did he do that? And he's got Wick and power. likeike this is a guy who's got easy plus power. So yes. I think he's a I mean if raw power like he's a thirty or forty home run guy. That's raw's that's not game power, but that's BP power. U, you know, Jordan Smith also had BP power. so u 'm one of my favorite captains all time. So I don't want to put too much stck in one month because Rosardo had a putrid May. that April Um, but June, you know, his his strikeout rate for the season is thirty three percent, his strikeout rate in June was twenty fourth. So that's, you know, over a month, that's a nice change to shave off your strikeout rate And he gets six home runs and then we go into the first week of July. And he's got three more home runs to strike out rates not to thirteen percent. I don't think that's going to stay But this could be the start of a guy who's making some adjustments to. you know, could warrant a move to AAA, whether or not they have room for him up there in the outfield. Also Could you entice somebody to buy in on the power. He's got good arm. I don't know if he's a great field, but he's got two big tools. He can Pit the snot of the ball and he has a big arm. That's going to play for some teams. Let's Jonath this Jonathan Rodriguez, if Rodriguez could ever get to his power Wh he's better athlete than Rodriguez. Rodriguez is always a bit of a statue. True, true. I don't think Rosario is going to be a great de he'll be good enough. But I mean, at the very least, he's an interesting trade trade ship for them Um, but I'm, you know, I'm solely buying back in, I think. I didn't see more obviously Yeah, I mean, I was ready to like completely drop them off just because of some of the struggles. were so high, but, you know, there's tools there there's tools there and it's you know, especially with some of the other injuries and other things it's u You know, it was u, you know, he's helping reestablish some value for sure. Yeah, be very f see what happens in July whether or not he goes to ApleA Um, I know some people are going to say keeping AouAs playing well and and um, you know, don't risk him being bad in AAA, but I don't think teams Like it's july seventh and the trade deadline is is four and a half weeks away, not quite five Um teams are not going to change their mind about a couple of weeks in AAA. They already have the date on him. they already have the video on him U there is no such thing as showcasing, there is nothing as hiding. No such thing as hiding either m, if there's a team out there that changes their opinion based on a four week sample size or a three week sample size in AAA or I don't know, changes their mind because they have a certain evaluation on a guy who's a certain age or certain time at a lower level than I think you want to trade with them because they're going to make very bad decisions. That could be the who's a team that makes really bad decisions right now? Is it the the is it the Ori not the Oris? fif team out there you can Oh, it's the giants, it's the giant. Yeah giants Yeah Yeah. and Rosario actually does kind of fit their mold, so you never know U All right, weast should probably take a look at this twwin series unless you got anything else on uh Well, I think

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