Today's episode of Mound Visit is brought to you by Baseline Boosters.
Feeling a bit flat when the action heats up? Baseline Boosters has the perfect
pick-me-up, one little fan tab, and you'll be back on your feet ready to write out
all nine endings even for extras. No slumping in the stands for you will keep
your energy right where it needs to be. Use promo code MoundPop for 30% off
because every fan deserves to stay in the game till the end. Swing by
BaselineBoosters.com, boost your fandom today. Thanks for listening to this
episode. Let's jump right into it.
Rescinded it. Today Steinbrenner, their owner, came out to the media and said
that they talked with some of the players and they made the collective
decision to amend the policy. So they don't want it, they said quote, they don't
want it to be like Duck Dynasty, but they're gonna let people have beards now.
So who knows who's gonna actually have beards? I don't know what like Judge, the
Coles, like the guys have been there for a while, I don't know what they're gonna
do, but Devin Williams has to grow his beard. So Kenji, as our facial hair expert,
where do you stand on the beard policy? Are you glad it's gone?
What do you think? I thought it was kind of a cool tradition because
it's tradition, but when you see the pictures of the guys that have come in,
like when you just see Goldie freshly shaved and Devin Williams freshly shaved,
it's just, it's just really ugly, you know, it's just really bad. And so I think
it's good for them. I guarantee you Devin Williams had a big factor in it. He's
like guys, guys, I'm the, I'm one of the best clothes in the league, but I can't
do it. I look stupid. I look like an idiot. And I think, I think they're like you know
what? We invested a high draft capital in you or prospect in you. We
need you. I think Goldie's like guys, I'm a former MVP. I don't want to be clean
shaven. You know, I'm, I'm almost in my 40s. Gotta let me grow my hair out, my
beard out. So definitely like they said that the players talked to them about it
a little bit. So I think it's a good move for them. It'll be interesting to see
them. But I don't know, a little bit of bushiness never hurt anybody in
baseball. Are you on record saying a little bush never hurt anybody?
A little bush never hurt nobody. Kenji's on the record. A little bush never hurt
anybody. I think the funniest part of this whole saga to me is that it is
Devin Williams that caused all of this like outroar or uproar for it because he
looks good with a beard. Listen, like he looked good with a beard in Milwaukee
and then he went to the Yankees and that those first videos that came out of him
throwing without a beard, you're like, Oh, what the hell's going on with Devin
Williams? Not intimidated at all. That guy looks like an alien. Like what did he do to
his face? Yeah, he looks like a child. Like I, I'm big fans of John Boy media. I
know Kenji's too. And John Boy himself came out and he was like, Devin Williams
is a first player that I've seen. They're a diehard Yankee fan. Devin Williams is the
first player that he's seen without be clean shaven. And he's like, that looks
really bad. So I think it's good. Get with the times. It's a normal thing.
People have beards now. I mean, that's, that's how I feel. It was long overdue. I
don't know how they're going to like try to keep it clean cut or well maintained,
whatever it is, but good for the Yankees. Uh, maybe that was part of why one Soto
left. Maybe they want to keep Devin Williams that way. Goldie does look bad.
I'll give you his Goldie looks like a guy who's going to go work in ticket sales.
Like he's showing up for his ticket sales. Like you're a plumber, you know,
just looks off. You're like your plumber. Yeah. He's going to fix your pipes,
not, not bringing in runs for you. So it's a good thing that they did it.
You have something on your mind tonight, my friend. Are you talking about fix
plumbing pipes and bushes good and what is going on here? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I
guess so. I guess so. Okay. Well, that was the really only news where they
know every team gets into action tomorrow or the day you're, the day you're
listening to this. Uh, every team is in action from then on through October,
which is fantastic. Um, but we're going to touch on some of the prospects and
young players that we're excited to see in camp, especially these first couple
of weeks, you're going to get a lot of the starters coming out after two at
bats, not much time in the field. So you're going to get a chance to see your,
your organizations, the youngest prospects and kind of see how they
interact with big league pitching for the first time. So, uh, I'll toss it. Me
and Kenji are going to go back and forth. I'm actually going to start cause I
have five Kenji is four. We're going to go back and forth, alternate who we're
kind of interested to see. So any notes Kenji before we jump into this, any last
topics about the beard? No, the few followers we have, if you don't know who
they are, they're, they're obviously worth looking into because if we know
who they are, then probably should know who they are. These players? We don't
know many people. I mean, Gabe does, Gabe knows a lot, but we don't know the
players, the prospects. Yeah. We're not, we're not big prospects guys, you know,
we haven't got into that extent. Maybe you are a little bit more, you are way
more than I am. I am. I mean, it's good to get to know these prospects, you know,
I'm getting into that prospect world and it's interesting behind the scenes.
Kenji is, is as diehard Royals fan as you're going to find. And so he is in the
weeds of the Royals prospects, but everybody else, he's probably not as aware
of. So, I mean, you guys know I am a biased Orioles fan, so I am going to touch
on two O's prospects, but we still got some other ones in there. Some
interesting ones. I guess the first one I'm going to start off with is Samuel
Basayo. So he's the catcher, he's 20 years old for the Orioles. He's kind of
log jammed because they have Kobe Mayo who's waiting to play first base and
first base has already stopped up at the big league level.
Rutchman, of course, they're, they're talks of an extension and he's even got a few
more years left there. So Basayo is kind of log jam, but he continues to crush in
the minor leagues. He's up in camp. He looks fantastic. He's smashing balls off
the batter's eye. He looks great next to everybody else. So he's going to be
an exceptional big leaguer. He's got a plus arm, really good defender, and of
course he can swing it. So I'm stoked to see Basayo in action. Again, Adley's
kind of the number one guy in Baltimore, but I'm stoked to see what the other
options are. I mean, let's be really honest with ourselves. If Rutchman comes
out and has a year like he had in the second half of last year, then you're
looking at the Basayo guy like, hey man, when, when can you be up here?
So I'm interested to see how he plays because I think he knows he's log jam,
but he's also like, maybe I get a chance to play my way out of here. Maybe the
O's are going to flip him for a young pitcher or something. Seattle, if you're
listening, but I love the Basayo. He's a name to watch. If you play a dynasty
fantasy leagues, get on Samuel Basayo. He's just, he's going to be an
exceptional big leaguer. You should pay attention to him.
I'm curious about that. So I let's, let's put it in a, it's going to an
unrealistic realm. Okay. Here we go. Let's say Basayo Basayo Basayo Basayo.
Let's say he has a great minor league. Is he in AAA right now? Right. I'm
guessing double. I would assume he would be, well, let's say he plays great this
year, right? And next year they're like, we gotta bring him up. Like he, he's
too good to be in the minors and it's a waste not to bring him up. How do you
think that could work? Not this year, next year. So you got another year of
all these guys who are up, right? How do you see him into the O's lineup and
what other differences do you position changes? Who would you trade? Like what
would you do to fit him in the lineup? If he's hitting good, if Adley is, you
know, hitting what 270, you know, walking like he used to not an out, not, not a
problem defensively the way he was in the second half. If he's, if he's all
right and he's got that catcher position locked, how would you fit him in that
lineup? I don't know where he fits. That's the problem. I don't know where he
fits. You trade him for a pitcher. You trade him for a pitcher. Would you DH
Kobe Mayo or? I guess you could. I mean, you have O'Hern coming off the books
next year, but Mountcastle has two more years left. Mayo of course is waiting. So
there is still a log jam at first. Sam Basayo can still play first. Like I have
no doubt he could be exceptional there, but Rutchman is the cornerstone. When
Rutchman goes, the O's go. So if Rutchman is playing good, he's the guy. He's
staying there. He's the number one overall pick for a reason. He's the dude.
But again, Westberg in the outfield? Westberg in the outfield? No way. No way.
I think they really like Westberg, Henderson, Holiday, Mayo is like the
future, like around the horn. Would you DH him that early and just like, you know,
give two games a week to Basayo and the rest of the four or five games a week to
Adley? I could see it. I mean, I know that they've talked, they signed Gary
Sanchez this year to be their backup and he's going to be really good against
lefties, but I could conceivably see them do something like that to get Adley off
his legs. I mean, maybe even could split it three, four games a week. Adley
DHs the rest of the time and Basayo gets some days off and DHs occasionally too.
I would like to see it. I think Basayo is going to be a great big leaguer, but again,
if they could trade him for one of the higher end young arms in the game, I would take it in a
heartbeat. So it's a great resource to have having a great young player who's kind of log jammed.
So I'm a- Good problem to have.
Yes. It's a great problem to have. All right. All right. I'll go with mine.
It's pretty obvious. It's our best prospect in Kansas City. It's Jack Caglione. He's a big
swing and miss guy. He's definitely not going to pitch, at least for now. They've told him
strictly, just worry about getting his hitting mechanics fixed. Like I said, his swing and miss
stuff is a bit of a problem, but there's no denying the talent that he has. He's huge. Bobby commented
on how it's hard not to notice how big of a player he is and how the way the ball comes off the bat
when he swings. And so that's great to hear from Bobby Wood Jr. Who's obviously the best player
in baseball besides Shohei Otani. I don't think I'm crazy for saying that, but I'm pretty excited
to watch him. I'm excited. I didn't get to watch him today because of the blackout, which was really
unfortunate because I was really excited. But I can't wait to see him progress to get his mechanics
figured out and one day help the Kansas City Royals win a World Series because we need some really
young youth that can play baseball to come up and help this team because we're kind of stuck,
I think, at the moment. Where do you see him fitting in and when would you like to see him up?
Because I don't think it'll be this year. Maybe next year he comes up. I think next year he'll
come up. And where? Because they have Vinny at first and they kind of have their outfielders.
They've been playing him in right field. They've been playing him in right field,
which is good because Renfro is getting old. So he would fit great in there.
And if he can pitch, if he can be great too, but if not, having him in the right field in the
middle of our order of our lineup, which is what we need, we need Pop in the middle of our lineup
after Salvi. So next year if he's able to go, I would love it. And it would make my dreams come
true to see that team skyrocket. I mean, he was great in college at Florida. Being in the College
World Series, he gets to watch. I don't watch much college baseball, but I do watch the College World
Series and watching Kat Glione do what he did with Florida was impressive. He can pitch mid to upper
90s. He can smash homers over the wall. He's a freak talent. I mean, it's kind of like the Otani
thing. Like when he came over to America, they were like, are they going to let him pitch and hit or
what are they going to do? So having Kat Glione go just to solely hitting and sticking him in right,
hopefully let him use some of that athleticism. I think he's good. It'll be exciting to see when
he comes up. And he started today, right? Yeah, he did. Yes, he did. He got in today, at least.
I think he got in something. Okay. That's an interesting one. I'll pivot now. I'm going to
go back to my O's. This is the last one. Don't worry, everybody. I'm going to our first round
pick last year, Vance Honeycutt at North Carolina. He's got a lot of raw talent,
but he has a lot of swing and miss too. He struck out at a really high clip in college and in the
minor leagues to start his career. But everybody said on draft day, they said, be careful if
Honeycutt goes to the O's because the O's just kind of have this way. We can un-tap some potential,
I guess. Honeycutt, excited to see what his hit tool looks like, what his power looks like,
how he plays in center field. I think he could be the outfielder of the future. They have Bradfield
who's from Vanderbilt and he's kind of the Cedric Mullen's replacement in waiting.
We'll see what Honeycutt can bring. And I'm excited to see him because we
spent a first round pick on him. May as well see what he's about. Your potential outfield in a
couple of years could look like Kerstad, Honeycutt and Fields. Kouser. You got Kouser. Man, you got
too many players. Kouser. The Kouser and Kerstad are going to be playing next year. Yeah. And then
you got Honeycutt and what was the other guy? Bradfield, Enrique Bradfield. Field. I don't
know where you got Bradfield from. Oh, this is where you got Field. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Enrique Bradfield, he's good. He's a wicked stolen base guy. He's freak speed, like 80 green speed.
You need that. So he'll be nice. But I like Mullens right now. Mullens is a free agent after this year.
I don't think they'll resign him. So that's the deal with Honeycutt. I'm excited to see him play.
Cool. Cool. All right. I put Sasaki down. I think it kind of goes for both of us. This is a game.
I'm curious to see what he looks like. We kind of touched about him and I mentioned that his
fastball is pretty flat. That's what I've heard from my sources. My sources, you know, because
I have sources. Yeah. But I'm curious to see how he does. I think he's fine from his injury that
he had last year. But yeah, that fastball, I'm really curious. We've mentioned it before. If he
develops a fastball or a sinker that moves a little bit, I think it's going to help him take his game
to the next level. But just seeing him with the Dodgers, he obviously looks pretty happy. Apparently
he just got married. So good for him. Good for Rokey. Just excited to see how he fits into that
team, his role, how they're going to manage his use. Because I don't imagine him pitching the
entire year. I don't imagine Otani pitching the entire year. I don't imagine Glass now pitching
the whole year. And they can afford to do that. So it'll be exciting to see how they fit him in.
Will they ever use him in the bullpen just to get him started off? I don't know. But excited to see
how he helps his team win a World Series. Yeah. I mean, I'm stuck to watch him play.
He's the most anticipated Japanese pitcher, even more so than Yoshinobu Yamamoto, I would say.
Way more. Yeah, way more. Yeah. So I think Yamamoto's better.
So we'll see what Sasaki brings. I mean, you've been on him about his fastball being flat. So
you're not sure if he'll be successful initially. But he's with the best organization for
development. I have no concerns that he's going to be great long-term. Good for Sasaki. Stoked
to see him play. Yeah. I'm excited to see him play. He's scrawny though. What was it? 641.
180. 641. How much do you, you are what? Six foot? I've got 40 pounds on him. 220 pounds. I got,
I got 40 pounds on the scrawny little guy. Do you throw 100? No, I can't. I wish I could.
I wouldn't be here doing this with you if I could throw 100. That's a great point. That is a great
point. Yeah. Yamamoto's 5'10 and he throws harder than both of us. Crazy. Some people are just
blessed by God with freak talent. They are indeed. And he's also great looking. But anyway, who you
got, who you got as your third? My next one. So I'm going to touch, I'm going to go pitcher here.
I'm going to go Andrew Painter from the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He had some injury problems
last year, but he's got amazing 70 grade stuff. I'm really stoked to see him play. The O's actually
play the Phillies on Sunday. So I'm optimistic Painter could get in the game on Sunday. I think
he's got all the tools to be successful at the big league level. He throws really hard. He's got plus
stuff. He's got a really good slider, really good fastball, high VLO. So I'm stoked to see Painter
play. Brady would be thrilled if he heard I was talking about one of his Phillies guys. I think
there's a reason that he is one of, if not the best pitching prospect in the game right now.
He's got all the tools to be successful. Job is higher than him, but Painter is like right below
him. So Painter and Job, you can kind of flip them back and forth. I'm going to touch on one more
pitcher later, not Job, but Job also does deserve plenty of respect and excitement because he's going
to be a great pitcher too. But Andrew Painter, watch out for him. Andrew Painter. Alrighty. I put down
Christian Campbell. He's become more fascinating with the signing of Alex Bregman because he was
projected to start at second base the beginning of this year before Bregman was signed. It fit
perfectly their need. They don't probably don't really want to start the old guy. I can't remember
who else they have. Was it? I don't remember who was going to start a second base over him.
Doesn't matter. He deserves it. I've heard a lot of good things about him. People rave about him.
So I'm excited to see he plays multiple positions. I still think he's going to find a way to play
every week. I don't, he's probably not going to get a starting job anymore because there's just no
room, but he's going to play at least a couple of times a week, I believe. And I'm excited to see
the hype of him come to life because it seemed like he's got all the tools he needs to become a
really good MLB player. Boston is just so rich right now. They are. And they even traded away
a couple other guys to the White Sox for it. Kyle Teal, right? Was it? Yeah, Kyle Teal, who is also
like honorable mention Kyle Teal. I hope you have a great career in Chicago. I don't know why they
traded him. I feel like you could have tried to trade it to your other prospects. You got two
infield prospects, right? You should have traded one of those, I feel like, because maybe they value
the one. Connor Wong, really? Connor Wong is who you want to keep going with? She's just,
yeah. If Kyle Teal was that good of a prospect, I would have done everything in my power to keep
him and get rid of an outfield prospect because their outfield is full. They got three starters.
They got Roman Anthony who plays the outfield and they got two middle infield prospects.
And if you played it right, you could have figured it out because Sedani
Raffaella plays shortstop and centerfield. Could have slid him down there if you were
trading your shortstop. So I don't know. I wish they would have kept Kyle Teal. I think the Red
Sox regret not keeping him, but I mean, crochet is pretty nice. But that's not the point. Who else
you got for your prospects? The number one overall pick last year, Travis Bazzana,
second baseman for the Cleveland Guardians organization. You don't see second baseman
taken at the top of a draft very often because he's like 5'10". He's not over 200 pounds,
but he has an insane hit tool. I think it was a 70 or 80 grade hit tool. He's got a lot of pop
and he's got a really good glove. So anytime you take a guy 1-1, you're excited to see him play
against competitive big league pitching. And I think he's going to see that at some regard
in spring training. So I'm excited to see kind of how he handles it. He's from Australia. So
shout out Aussies. But he was a great player in college, number one pick for a reason. He's got
all the tools to be successful, but second baseman short, number one overall pick, just kind of a
fascinating story coming from Australia. I want to see what he can do for Cleveland. You think
he'll get pulled up this year? I don't think so. I don't think Cleveland's in the business of rushing
prospects. I mean, I bet they'll be there next year. I mean, I'm sure trading Jimenez was because
they had him in the upbringing, right? And they also wanted to dump that crazy contract, but
yeah, it's exciting to see. Because Cleveland needs it. They need a bat. So they sure do.
Okay. I'll just talk about mine. There's two guys. It's the two catcher prospects for the Royals.
We got two of them, Blake Mitchell and Carter Jensen. Oh, Royals prospects. You know, I don't
know if they'll get pulled up this year. I don't think they will. I'm hoping next year they'll
both be up. One of them being the starting catcher and another one finding a role. Because I don't
know how much longer Salvi can go, but I want Salvi to stay as a DH until he actually sucks.
So I'm hoping that maybe next year they'll switch him to DH, bring one of these two up,
that they're ready. And the Royals can kind of start this youth movement with good vets.
When I think the Royals won the World Series, they had a good structure. They had a good locker
room with vets who knew what they were doing and a bunch of young guys who were buying into the
system. And it worked together and they had that awesome run. And hopefully, hopefully we can have
a run that's longer than one year. And I think the three guys I brought up today are going to be
a big contributor. And we have some other pitchers who I'm excited about. But yeah,
just those two. Keep an eye out. Royals are going to be, they're going to be better than the O's
soon. So just be aware. Okay. They got a lot of good young talent. I'm all for the Royals.
When the Royals are good, they always play the O's tough. So I have a lot of respect for the Royals.
Hey, okay. All right. Well, moving on then, I'm going to talk over Kenji the rest of the episode.
Thank you, Kenji, for joining us. We're now going to cut your microphone.
Noah Schultz. Again, there's a lot of recency bias here because three of the guys I'm mentioning
have been, were drafted last year. But Noah Schultz fits the white socks kind of a hard
throwing funky left-hander archetype. Like the Chris Ailes and the Garret Crochet. Like this is
the next one of those. He throws really hard. He's got a funky, what's the word, deceptive delivery
and with plus stuff. So look out for Chicago. They're going to keep him under, I think in the
minors for at least a year or two. But when he comes up, he's going to be really good. I'm excited
to see how his stuff plays against minor leaguers or even some big leaguers in the spring. White
socks, if they'd play their cards right, can have a really, really solid young core. Trade Luis Robert
if you're listening. But Noah Schultz is a really interesting guy. I loved him coming out of college.
I was, I didn't, he wasn't going to fall to the O's, but I was hoping that maybe he fell a little
bit. White socks get their guy. He's a great player. I'm excited to see him play. So any other notes,
Ken? It's amazing how great of prospects the white sacks have had in the past couple.
I mean, probably the last 10 years, you'd go back and look at the players that were drafted by them
and you're just mind blown that they suck. The pirates too, the pirates have drafted really good
pitchers, right? Cause they're cold from there. Who else? Joe Musgrove. Joe Musgrove. There's like
three or four like aces today that not aces, but like top tier pitchers that were drafted by the
pirates. Yeah. Glass now. That's right guys. Glass now. Yeah. It's, it's, it's amazed with me that
these teams can draft, right? But they just, they're just crappy organizations. Tell your team if
you're bad at your job, don't stay in baseball if you don't want to play. Yeah, I agree. I agree.
White socks are an interesting spot, but again, they play the cards where they're going to be good.
Yeah. They'll be good in a couple of years time. It's going to be a fun spring. Excited to have
games going. I know I'll be watching for you. Yeah. We're going to end it with a random question. Sure.
Okay. Who, uh, besides the white socks, besides the kind of Bush is best, what shape of Bush?
Wow. Who's going to be the worst team? Who's going to have the worst record behind the white
socks? Cause I think it's pretty obvious. It's going to be the white socks behind the white
socks. Who's going to be the worst or I guess who's going to be the 29th best team this year.
Miami. They're going to trade out Kintaro at some point. They better. And after that, after him,
I have no clue what they have. I don't know, buddy. Otto Lopez had a good year. Xavier Edwards had a
good year. But Miami it's, uh, they traded away their best players, but I don't really know what
they got in return besides like your O's guys who you are kind of being stowers aren't like crazy
sad about having them gone. Cause you said that they're, their ceiling was kind of limited. I
think is what you said, right? Yeah. Especially more. I just like stowers, I stowers is a,
as a two outcome hitter. He's got a lot of strikeout in his game. Norby is going to be a good big
leaguer, I think, but he just had no room to play. So I think Miami's screwed. They just don't have
anything. I don't know. I mean, they're pitchers. They got some young guy. I think Max Meyer is
pretty good, but yeah, I'm worried for the, for the Miami Marlins, which sucks. Cause
would that be your answer to Marlins or would you go with like Rockies or something?
I would say the Marlins. Yeah. I like the Rockies baths. That's what, that's what,
that's what makes me more optimistic than the Marlins is cause I like the Rockies
who they can have in that lineup. Yeah. Toe. Toeglia has a good year. I mean, wow,
we're going to get into some Rockies discourse. Toeglia has a good year. Ryan McMahon has a good
year. Like Zeke Tovar. Yeah. Who knows? They got some guys. I can't say that about Miami,
but they don't got pitching. That's one thing they ain't got. They ain't got, they don't,
they never have pitching. They never have pitching. Golly, get them out of there. Yeah. But I think,
I think we're good. All right. Yeah. Well, those are the guys we're excited to watch in spring
training. Again, games, uh, everybody plays tomorrow through the rest of the spring. Enjoy
watching the games on in the background, take a nap, listen to the ambience of having baseball back.
Wish you were in that sunny Arizona or sunny Florida weather. I know I'm wishing I was there.
I love watching the games. It's been lovely. So Kenji, any final notes? Listen to people off.
Hearing the bat, the crack of the bat in spring training is a great sound because it is quiet
and you can hear how firm it is and oof.
Oof. Benji loves it firm, baby. Thanks for listening everybody.