Minor League Development and Future Prospects

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Plus, with an annual shipped membership, you get unlimited orders, zero delivery fees on orders over thirty-five dollars, exclusive deals, and even the option to request your favorite shoppers again. Download the app or order at shipped.com. That's sh i p-t .com. Well we did we're having a party by the way if you're in Boston on Tuesday we're having a party at Cisco Brewers Cisco Brewers from six to eight the best shape of my life club people are all gonna be there showing off what they did. I'm so inspired by everybody. I'm so happy that we did it. It changed a lot of lives, and now we get a chance to have a party. And it's not just a party for that, it's a party to celebrate the great game of baseball as we storm into the season. Rich Hill, by the way, is gonna be there. Uh it may or may not be his retirement party as well. I don't know. But anyway, no matter where you are, no matter where you're listing, we want you to celebrate baseballs and boring. You can do that. BB isn't boring. BB isn't boring dot com . BB isn't boring dot com to go get your merch. We get more in the way. But in the meantime go take a look at what we have right now I think you're gonna like it I think it's gonna give you a chance to walk to the park walk to a park walk down the street and s and everyone will say oh, that's interesting. Yes, baseball is indeed not boring. And we had examples of that across the board. We have examples of this on the podcast. Today's podcast, the centerpiece, is Dick Scott is back. Dick Scott, in case you don't know him, he's a triple A manager for the Syracuse Mets. He's one of our go-tos when it comes to knowing what's what in the minor leagues and getting players from AAA to the major leagues. There's nobody better and explaining it. There's nobody better in doing it. Dickie Scott has had some great success stories throughout his career, and he has a couple great success stories going on right now . And really, I wanted to know a few different things from Dickie about just his lot in life as triple A manager when you enter into the frigid, frigid ways of the early season, when you have guys who have never ever played baseb all in temperatures of 30 degrees or something like that. But more importantly, what's it like? How do you know when a guy is ready? And we have a couple good examples from Dickie's point of view, and that's of course Matt's Mets rookies. That's Nolan McClain and Carson Bench. So we talked to Dickie about all that stuff about how he knew that Bench and McLean were ready and he's he's given honest, precise , intriguing, outstanding answer when asked about both guys. And then he ow obviously talks about guys he already has he has right now who, might be the next Ben or McLean. But hey, before we get to digging, I want to give you what's what when it comes to that first series that we went through with Major League Baseball. Now we have five undefeated five undefeated teams. Blue Jays, Yankees, Marlins , yes, Marlins, Brewers, Dodgers. We have five teams that science would suggest has not have not won a game. Those are White Sox, A's, Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Giants. Alright? And in case you don't know, I want to get this out there before I forget. Per MLB Network ABS Challenge, which was all the rage, there's a lot of ABS drama. You could go check out our baseballs and boarding on the radio where we spent an hour doing the talk about the ABS chaos. All right, batters were 26 for 57. Catchers were batter, 40 for 63. Pitchers, if you're a pitcher, don't challenge. One for four. All right, but let's go back. So like we said, we had five undefeated, five teams that didn't win. I look back at this year la this time last year where you had four teams who were undefeated. Those teams were Yankees, Dodgers , Padres, Cardinals. Now , remember, Yankees, Dodgers, okay, Padres, Cardinals, eh, didn't have a great year. And four teams that hadn't won a game. Now, this should give hope to everybody. Two of these teams made the playoffs. Brewers, Tigers, and then there were the twins and the Braves. Alright, so just to give you some perspective. Also, was there any trends? Did baseball change at all? Uh maybe a little bit. Maybe. Played appearances per walk last year ten point nine oh, this year nine point seven oh at bats per home run , well, they're hitting fewer home runs this year. Last year was 20, that's over 26. This year is just over 30 . So they hit more home runs last year. Stolen base percentage, a little bit better this year. Alright. Still, I I'm trying to give you guys some science, some facts. I guess we're gonna need some more time to really get definitive answers. The walks are gonna keep I'd be thinking gonna be interesting with the ABS stuff. All right, who did well ? Well you had here the lead lead league leaders. Yandi Diaz leads with nine hits. In case you don't know, Chase DeLoder . He has four home runs. He leaves everybody a home run. Four home runs already. Mike Trout leads everybody with seven walks. Cal Raleigh and Kyle Menzardo, they are tied for the most strikeouts, 10 strikeouts. And David Hamilton of the Milwaukee Brewers, he has three stolen bases. He leads everybody with three. Three pitchers went seven innings in their first start. Trevor Rogers and two Marlins , Yuri Perez and Cindy Alcantara . Then you have strikeouts. Dylan C struck out the most, 12 strikeouts. Right behind him, his teammate Kevin Gossman, 11 strikeouts, which made me look up how many strikeouts the Blue Jays had. Sure enough, they led the entire major leagues in strikeouts with 50. But guess that get this. Conversely, the Diamondbacks, they only had 15. Blue Jay had 50. The Diamondbacks pitchers only had 15 strikeouts. And of course, they were going up against the Dodg ers. So that's something to keep an eye on when it comes to the Dodgers, how good they are and how they are built. I mean, the Dodgers only struck out 15 times. Batting average for teams, Rays led the way 33 9 . Giants. Well, I'll just save the Giants. So batting average Rays led everybody 339. Home runs, Angels led everybody with 9. OPS, Brewers led everyone with 972. Now, all the three categories, the Giants were last. The Giants had a 143 batting average. They didn't have a single home run. Their OPS was 388. Not Not good. All right, well, I just want to give you a taste of what happened to make you more educated, because we're here to educate, offer insight, offer entertainment, all of it . And I think we do it all on this podcast in large part to thanks to this conversation with Dickie Scott. Alright. Carson Bench is uh I guess off to a little bit of a slow start. He has one hit, but that hit was a home run. Nolan McClain, his first start pretty good. Five innings, two runs, eight strikeouts. The Mets start the season at two and one. But not only are you going to get these early season results, or results, you know, that you have, whether from maybe from McLean from last year, WBC, and then this year, Ben from what he did in the minors, and then now what he's doing in the majors and spring training. But more about how the Mets and how the coaching staff and how the front office of the Mets are viewing these guys and why they think they're ready to do what they're they think they can do. And Dickie Scott makes a perfect, perfect, perfect pic ture when it comes to why and how and what to expect with all these guys, with both these guys, Benjamin McLean. It's really insightful. It's really good. I think you're going to enjoy it. App BB isn't boring. App BB isn't boring. A lot going on. Appreciate everybody. Keep on going, man. Brands never hotter. All right. Here's our good friend, Dick Scott . There's no human being on the plane there rather be talking to more than Dick Scott. Okay . You say that to all the guys. Oh no. Well I do, but I s I mean it now because w every time I see your team, you, everything, because I know that I'm gonna have a good conversation. I know that um you know you're a good human being. You know, you're good manager, good scout, everything. But also have a great perspective on a lot of stuff. So first of all, thank you above everything for letting me do this inside. Oh, it's cold out there too. I just asked Joe Natal, Canadian guy. Coldest I said coldest game, you know, coldest game that you ever went in. Now, his is just sort of a baseline, this every game was cold. Right. But you're from Maine. I am. What was the coldest game you ever played in? Well, actually, you know, my high school games are definitely remember snow happening, but the coldest game I can remember, uh there's actually two. One was in Beloit , Wisconsin when I was managing Oh my god, it was freezing cold, no heaters. We had like a pillbox dugout that was all concrete that would could have been a refrigerator, just the wind coming off the lake. It was it was awful . Really? Yeah, it was awful. And this is like coming from Maine. This is Yeah, no, well you're coming from spring training mostly. You're probably open in Beloit. I was managing the Madison Muskies back in the day for the Oakland A's. They're not even around anymore . Yeah. But uh yeah, that was cold. And another day was really weird in Memphis when I was managing for Huntsville. Really? Which was double A of the uh A's at the time. Yeah. The Huntsville Stars. We went to Memphis and they were in double A and oh brutally just one of those brutal cold. You wouldn't have we wouldn't have thought it in Memphis, but man, it was just so cold. So it could be it could be anywhere really in the northeast this time of year. It's still March. So it leads me to like one of the dynamics is I think spring training's weird because the times are completely flipped, right? From what you're used to. You're what time do you get to the park? Like seven o'clock in the morning? Yeah, earlier than that.. Yeah You know, we have meetings probably that start at seven thirty, eight o'clock. Yeah. So it's everything's flipped. But then also obviously the weather, which is and there's no way around it. And the uh you have to play in some cold places. But for a manager of a team and you're telling these guys like okay we gotta play baseball I don't care how cold it is. I don't care where you came from like how does that do you some guys I remember you saying this and not that I'm being long winded, but I remember you said the other um when we talked a year or so ago about a cunha. Right. About how he got off to a slow start 'cause he had never played in the cold. He never played in the cold. He just always had been in places that were warm and uh it's tough, you know, it's tough for everybody. And the other part, just going to spring training in Florida. Like we left, it was eighty five degrees down there and now we're coming in it's in the thirties. I mean that's a big dip and you have to do it. But um, you know I, feel for some guys you could actually be a player in the minor leagues that does not play in cold weather for a couple of years, depending on where your affiliate is. Uh you could you could be in the Texas League, you could be in the Florida State League um before you get here. Uh so it's tough. And a days like today's gonna be especially cold, you know, it feels like supposed to be in the mid-20s. Yeah. Uh you know, as a hitter you're just trying to survive. I think the pitcher has a definite advantage. Um you know it's just it is what it is. Uh you there's no way around it. You just go do you walk into the room and say guys it is what it is. You know, I used to say like hey look I don't want to hear about the cold. I know it's cold, but then you know, realistically it's like, yeah, it's freaking cold out here and I'm feeling I'm I'm coaching third shivering. And uh so I just I just let the guys, you know, you do whatever. Like we just had somebody out there today in in a cut-off sweatshirt and sh orts. Yeah. It was Melendez. MJ Melendez. Yeah, T coming from team port. Yeah, he just like hey if I can get through with this it won't be as bad in the game. I'm like, all right, you do you . Um all right, well again, once again, doing an excellent job of guiding young men. Uh so if I can talk about some guys who I was just talking to Jonathan about watching the guy succeed at the major league level. You've had plenty of examples of this. So when you watch that opening day, when you watch or you watch McLean in the in the WBC , whatever. Take me through like how what you're thinking, what that's like for you. Well, you know, I'm always first and foremost happy for the players whenever they get those opportunities. It's like when you when you first start into coaching, I think you feel like you want to climb as well. It's just a natural thing 'cause as a player you want to go from A ball to double A to triple A to the big leagues. Then when you start managing it doesn't happen as quickly 'cause you might you might repeat a place two or three times. Uh I can I can tell you right now it goes a lot faster than it used to. You didn't you don't have to put your time in necessarily, you know, y you talk to guys my age, like, oh yeah, I was twenty years before I got a big league job or you know, for me it took me almost twelve years before I became like a farm director. So uh I think it does go a little quicker now. But uh to see those guys in the major leagues it's it's rewarding. I I I think that's where I was going with this is where it's gone from worrying about what I was gonna do to really just being here to try to help people as much as I can. I get a lot of satisfaction out of that, whether it's young coaches or players or and I think a lot of it's it it's not always the X's and O's, it's just the perspective. It's just you know uh there were we had a great sports psychologist named Harvey Dorfman and I I I was lucky to get into the Oakland's organization when he was there, and he always used to say that we all have trouble uh seeing the picture when we're inside the frame, you know, and it's it's so true. It's just that has stuck with me. And a lot of these guys just they can't see the photo because they're inside the frame. That's great. It is. Yeah. And so just try to give them perspective and uh where they're at. They always think they're way further away than they actually are. And uh I I that gives me a lot of satisfaction. It's funny you say that I'm thinking I'm like when I'm 4ty6 si forx straight days of spring training, I'm in the picture. Like I'm like I like that I get outside I'm like man I was there for like Yeah. You forget about everything. You don't know what day it is. No. Oh no. Um Carson Venge when he hits the the that's one of guys, right? Yes. If you could take me through sort of because that's another thing. You have him, then you have spring training, and then you have what he did. What what was your perspective of his evolution? Well, you know, we only had him for like uh maybe five weeks. Yeah. Uh obviously first round pick, talented guy, a lot of tools, and uh it's just a matter of time probably before he gets there. And then this winter it was kind of like uh hey this guy's got a chance to make the team and you know so then in my head to start processing that statement like okay is he ready you start checking your boxes from last year yeah he he can run he, gets he's a good defender he,'s got power. Uh okay, it's gonna be a big stretch for him. So the thing I like about him and I noticed last year is he's got an easy way about him. He doesn't get too caught up in things. Like he doesn't carry at bats to at bats. He he probably does 'cause it's hard just to shrug 'em off. I mean I haven't really met anybody probably the closest I've ever seen is like Curtis Granderson just being able to handle those. Uh but he does a pretty good job of it. That's pretty a key thing though. It is so important. It's easy to sit here and talk about hey you gotta let it go, you gotta do this but I couldn't do it as a player. Yeah, most people can't. So to watch him do that, that was pretty exciting and I gotta think that's exciting for entire the entire player development of the the Mets. And he you know, from the scouts that drafted him to the people that just first saw him and said, Hey, let's put this guy on our radar, bringing him in, watching him develop, watching him go from thr you know, A to triple A last year, now the big leagues uh it's you know that's a real success story for Mats you like you said you had him last year when you go into spring training was your inclination like okay I'll probably see him in Syracuse or did he he as went along really just change your view of him? I guess even in Survey? I I think I still thought that there would be a chance we would see him here, just depending on you know, like I'm glad he I mean he had a really good camp. I mean he hit over 400, I think. Yeah. But you know, spring training. Right, spring training, spring training. You know, you don't be fooled by a spring training. That was the old adage. Uh everybody looks good there and cause the pressure's not on. Yeah, yeah. Uh but uh you know, it's like his first game. Had two strikeouts, his first two at bats. And uh I'm telling you, that guy can put stuff behind him, uh which is a great trait. But just to I I still thought that he might be with us just because it was so fast. Mm but he every day he just kept getting hits, making a couple of great plays, made a great throw, steal a base, and then it's like wow to have that guy on your roster that can play multiple positions in the outfield is a pretty valuable guy. If you did when you like you have a great perspective of about the and I'm locked into like the turning the page on things. Like do you talk to other coaches in in the front office? Are they seeing that too? Is that part of the equation? I think so. Yeah, yeah. Yeah because some guys like uh some guys are just a little tighter wound and and it uh impacts them too much. Now it if uh affects their defense when they go out to play. Maybe they should have made that play. They weren't in the right place, didn't get a good jump, dwelling on their at bat. Well I I don't think he does. I think we have another guy like that too, AJ Ewing, who's a very talented guy, can run, plays multiple positions, got some pop. Uh so those guys for me are always I mean everybody sees the talent. It's not like that's something that like, oh this guy's talented and I figured that out. Everybody can see it, but those intangibles the that really connects at the major league level. Mm-hmm. Another guy who obviously is out Nolan McLean, who we've probably talked about before, but the to do what he did, I know it's the WBC, but still it's the WBC, right? That's a championship. It's imp it's this is this is a great I it's funny, Dick, like I look at the WBC and I'm I at first I was like, oh he's gonna wear guys out. And this I think guys are preparing for it better, but also what I saw this time around more than other times, which is guys coming away with a sense of confidence, maybe with a sense of I belong more than everybody else. I don't know if that's a thing. If but Oh I think it's a thing. I mean, yeah, to be selected for team USA or any team, right? Like there's only just so many guys on that roster and you're one of them, uh that's gonna make you feel pretty good getting invited to that, especially he's pitched a month in the major leagues. Yeah. But that guy can handle it. That was one of the things when I would talk to uh Mendy, uh Carlos Mendoza, I uh you know, he would he and I talked probably once a week, once or sometimes more, sometimes 10 days, but he's calling down last year and he's like, okay, you know, let's what do you got? Like, okay, McLean, besides the stuff, this guy's got it. Mound presence, confidence, good athlete, moves through situations effortless He's not I sold my car in Carvana last night. Well that's cool. No, y you don't understand. It went perfectly. Real offer, down to the penny. They're picking it up tomorrow. Nothing went wrong. So w what's the problem? That is the problem. Nothing in my life goes the smoothie. I'm waiting for the catch. Maybe there's no catch. That's exactly what a catch would want me to think. Wow, you need to relax. I need to knock on wood. Do we have wood? Is this table wood? I think it's laminate. Okay, yeah, that's good. That's close enough. Car selling without a catch. Sell your car today on Car vana. Pick up these may apply. And I really hadn't had much experience or exposure to him. Uh and and that's probably something that got him on some of these teams. It doesn't phase him. Uh he's he's really he's made for those moments. He really is. And his stuff will get better as he learns hitters. Uh you know, when you go from league to league in the minor leagues, you'll see I don't know what the percentage, you'll see a lot of the same guys, a number of the same guys, but the major le agues you're seeing the same guys you're eighty percent of the league so he's gonna figure out have a much better plan as opposed to all right here's my stuff you guys haven't seen me try to hit it which is difficult yeah yeah but but he also is a smart guy, setting up guys, and he pays attention to the game. Uh got a great personality, he's funny, and I think I think his makeup is perfect for a major league player. Is the jump, maybe I asked this, is the jump bigger than ever? Way bigger. Wait no. Like triple A I think is a really great place to like it's like finishing school. So if you're a hitter, you got a lot of guys. We have guys on our team that have two, three years in the big leagues. We have Carl Edwards on the team. He's got a World Series ring. You know, the guy's been a big league pitcher for a long time. Um, as a hitter, you're you're not getting the the one oh fastball, the 2-1 fastball. You get off-speed pitches. So I think as a hitter, you learned that you're gonna that's how you're gonna be pitched at the major leagues. The stuff might even be better at the major leagues. It will be, but it's not the same as it was in double A because this for me all the all the time hey big arms are in double A and triple A is kind of a you know it's a just a rehash type I I don't agree with that. I think you really learn and then from a pitcher's perspective you also have guys. We have Christian Arroyo on this team. Five years in the major leagues. I mean you have to learn how to pitch the guys because they don't swing as much, they don't chase, uh they're good breaking ball hitters. And so I think it's a really good finishing school. But with that said, you don't see the big arms like you see at the major leagues because if if guys pitch well in triple A, he's he's in the big leagues. Yeah. I'll give you a good example. Abbott from Cincinnati a couple years ago. We played them, and all of our guys, and that was probably at least three months into our triple A season, all of our guys were like that that's the best guy we faced the whole season. Really? Yeah, it was just he's really just stood out. Yeah, yeah. And uh because there's a lot of guys that are close. You'll have a guy that has good VLO but no command. Uh you'll have a guy with good breaking ball, but he's throwing 93. You just don't have that combo of big fastball, good breaking ball, or change up or split. And uh he he was he was very refined and he had very good stuff. And it was I thought it was funny because the players recognize it right away. Like and those guys just aren't there very long. Yeah. They're gone. Then you still have this kind of the middling group of pitchers. Well that's why I said the best analytic is is hitters reactions, pitchers reactions, um outs. Right. That's the best analytic. Yep. But and the just the last thing is, and I know this is game too, but maybe this is the best way to phrase this instead of just saying, Who are you really excited about on this team? But y like we talk about spring training and we see guys like and I've s I was all in entire spring training, I'm like, oh, that guy's interesting. I'm gonna keep my eye on him. What's a guy that you saw that's that now is on your team that's like, okay, let's see if he can keep doing what I saw him do in Port St. Louis . Yeah, I think there's a couple guys. You know, you you you always kinda think of younger guys first. Although th some of the older six year free agents are probably gonna be the first guys to the major leagues. But I think a guy like Ryan Clifford is somebody to keep an eye on. He's got big time power. He can play first and left field. Got some work to do. I think he's aware of that, but he could be an impact player for us. Nick Morabito in center field, you know guy can really run and just having the impact of speed, which historically uh well not historically, but since I've been with the Mets, we haven't had a lot of team speed. I think uh I think our roster up there this year probably has more than we've had in the past. Uh but to have those impact guys that can come up and steal bags and get in scoring position, play a premium position. Uh it's kind of exciting. So, you know, it's a quick jump for him as well. He had a good year. Uh you know, pitching wise, we got kind of a sleeper, Ryan Lambert's out there. He's got a big arm. Obviously, you talked to Jonah today and uh Jonah the funny thing about Jonah, he he looks like he's about 15. And uh I you talk about players going to the big leagues, right? So his first start at the big leagues, I watched the game on TV and actually my wife and I were watching it at at uh wherever we were and uh just like he's sitting on the bench and my wife is like he just doesn't look like he's a major leaguer. Uh he just has such a young face and he's so innocent. And but then he gets out there and he's got good stuff and he competes and uh he's such a polite guy. And that was probably one that I was like we're all like cheering extra for just like this guy, yeah. He is. He's such a good thing. I mean he's asked about the Lensicum thing a million times, right? Oh yeah. Because no one throws like Tim Lensicum until Jonah came along. Yep. So yeah it,'s all good. The last thing for me is like every year's different. You think there's there 's a lot of similarities, but every year is different. You have different players, different personalities, uh different different ask from your front office. Uh all of those things. And that's what that's what makes it great really. And then for me, the best part is just the games. Once the games start, you know, because there's a lot of work. You know, I don't know if people really know how much time the guys spend behind the scenes before they go out to play a game. Just the drills they do out in the cages and on the field and B P and in the weight room and and all the the prep that they do and it's just to go out and play. I I I enjoy watching the guys succeed out there. It's awesome. Well, thanks, man. Appreciate it. My pleasure. Thanks. Introducing Fidelity Trader Plus with customizable tools and charts you can access across all your devices. Try our most powerful trading platform yet at Fidelity.comlash/s Trader Plus. Investing in false risk, including risk of loss. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC, member NYSE, SIPC.