what is up and welcome back
to the inside the diamonds
podcast I am your host
chris I'm solo again
tonight um we got a lot of baseball talk
A lot of stuff happening
over the last week or so.
And, again, my apologies.
Last week was a short episode.
I had some stuff to take care of,
but I wanted to get some
content out and keep things rolling.
So we're going to do that
right again tonight,
and we're going to get it going.
I'm hoping to go 30 minutes to 45 again.
Keep things short for
everybody who listens and tunes in.
So if you've got a nice
commute and get things rolling,
you get your weekly baseball update.
So I want to start some things off with –
What's going on with the
division race right now?
I mean,
we're hitting the last week of
August is right now.
We'll have September 1st on Sunday,
and that means the playoff race is live.
And if your team's in it,
you're following along.
I mean, as a Red Sox fan,
I'm locked in on it,
and they're continuing to
let me down in the last week.
As a Tigers fan,
they haven't really been in it,
and they're doing what they
do when it comes to the
second half of the season,
and I'll get to that in a little bit.
But right now,
the way things sit entering play tonight,
the Yankees currently lead
the American League East by
a game and a half on Baltimore.
I'll tell you right now,
I don't think that lead holds up.
I think Baltimore ends up
running away with that division.
Maybe not running away,
but ends up winning that division.
We have the Guardians and the Royals.
and the Twins all fighting
for the American League Central.
That's a three-game
separation between the three teams.
Actually,
it might be two and a half as I
talk right now because of
the Twins winning – actually, sorry,
two games because the
Royals beat the Guardians earlier today.
But that's a race that – you know,
I really like the Royals
entering this year.
I think I had them second or
third in my predictions.
And, you know,
they're really surprising me
more so with the way
they're doing it where you
can never count this team out.
They just fight back.
They could be down in the game.
They come back.
Vinny Paschettino is having
a great season.
Bobby Witt,
if Judge wasn't doing what he's doing,
is definitely a
conversation for the
American League Rookie of the Year.
I mean, American League MVP.
But that's a big series,
the Guardians and the Royals.
But they got four games this week.
And so, you know, entering today,
that's three games.
The Royals sweep that series.
They're in first place.
So we'll have to see what goes on there.
for the american league west
the houston astros have
just pulled away from the
mariners and you know the
mariners made their moves
at the deadline and adding
randy rosarena justin
turner but it just hasn't
panned out offensively for
that team you know they're
still in the bottom of the
league in most offensive
categories uh their
pitching is what's keeping
them in it I mean they're
still in the wild card race
which we'll get to shortly
But the Astros,
like JC asked me at the
beginning of the season if
I was worried about them, no.
And they just seem to plug and play, guys.
Their biggest problem, I think,
that we're going to be
talking about is not this year,
but the future.
I mean, they have one prospect, I believe,
in our top 100.
Realistically,
Bregman's a free agent after this year.
I think they have a couple
of other guys who are.
And so, you know,
can they have the guys to replace that?
Because Bregman's been a key
part of them for the longest time.
And I like Alex Bregman.
Despite 2017, you know, forgive and forget,
I guess.
It is what it is.
It happened.
They won the championship.
Nobody took the World Series
trophy away from them.
We're in 2024.
It's been seven years.
Moving on.
I mean, like I said,
I consider Barry Bonds one
of the best players of all time.
He did steroids.
So...
I mean, he cheated.
The Astros cheated,
but they were one of the
best teams that year.
And yes,
it might have been due to some
helpful things,
but they did what they did,
and they won the World Series.
So Bregman's a guy you can't
count that team out.
They're pitching Blanco, Hunter Brown.
You know, Verlander's back now.
He didn't look great the other night,
but they're probably going
to win that division.
They're probably going to be
a problem come postseason time.
In the National League,
the National League East, surprisingly,
the Phillies lead the
Braves by six games.
That lead is a little bit slimmer now.
The Phillies have seemed
kind of somewhat average
since the All-Star break.
But is that the second half
struggles and then they
figure it out and they get hot?
We'll have to see.
The team that I kept saying
for weeks on end I really
thought was going to blow
their lead was the Brewers,
and they just continue to either.
They built a big lead,
and they just have sustained it.
I think last week when we
recorded it was 11 games.
This week we come into recording,
and it's a 10-game lead.
So nothing's really changed.
They're right there.
That division seems like
it's going to be locked up
by mid-September, if not sooner.
I mean,
they could just go on a run even
more so and just run away with it.
And then finally, the National League West,
another division that I
don't know if is really safe,
and that's the Dodgers
leading it by three games
over the Diamondbacks.
I just don't know.
And we'll talk about, you know,
what's to come there shortly.
So we're going to jump right
into keeping the postseason
conversation going.
The American League wildcard.
Right now the Orioles hold
the four-seed top spot in
the wildcard with a three-game lead.
The Royals are right behind them.
The Twins are right there.
Those are the three teams.
The Orioles, like I just said,
I think we're going to win
the American League East.
But they have a tough start to their week.
They got three games at the Dodgers.
Then things kind of get a little easier.
They got three games at the Rockies.
We'll have to see how they
handle the Dodgers.
I mean, you take two out of three,
you're sitting pretty good to come,
you know, fight for that division.
You drop two out of three, you get swept.
It's a tough climb because
the Yankees look good.
The Royals.
They got four games against the Guardians.
Like I said,
they could be in first place
after all of this.
Then they got four at Houston.
So...
The conversation,
being a Red Sox fan everywhere I've heard,
has been the Red Sox now
get their easier part of
their schedule over the next, what's it,
they got five games against
Toronto this week,
three against the Tigers,
three against the Mets.
So 14 games coming up over
the next two weeks.
They got a chance to come
back in that race and make things closer,
but it all depends what the Royals do.
I mean, the Royals are a good team.
Like I said, they fight back.
So they can make things tough,
and they can really just run away,
take the division, run away with that.
They could be two,
three seeds come playoff time.
The Twins,
they got three games against the Braves,
and they got three against the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays have been one
of the best teams in baseball lately.
I mean,
they seem to have figured some
things out.
They're not going to make a postseason run,
I don't think.
I mean, you never know with teams,
but I just don't see it.
So the team's trailing those three.
The Red Sox are four and a
half back of that final spot.
I was entering today.
Right now they're currently
five games back after they
lost earlier to Toronto and
the Royals won and the
Twins are playing right now.
But they have five against the Blue Jays,
like I said.
And one of them was the
makeup they played today.
Right now they're up 1-0, I believe.
And they got three more this
weekend at the Tigers,
who I'll get to in a couple minutes.
They are on this list.
I know I said I doubt they
make the postseason, but you never know.
But they are slowly climbing back.
So, you know, weird things have happened.
Very weird things have happened.
So who knows?
Mariners are six and a half
behind the final wildcard spot.
Again, they're just not hitting.
They got three against the
Rays and three against the Angels.
Again,
the Rays are a half game behind the
Mariners and seven back of
the final wildcard spot.
They got three at Seattle
and three versus San Diego.
If one of those two teams
could sweep that series and
then something happens
where the Guardians drop
all four or the Twins have
a rough stretch like they
got the Braves and the Blue Jays,
we can talk about one of
those teams sneaking up
into the conversation.
And then finally, the Tigers.
Every year, it feels like they just,
part of the reason why I
picked them to win the
American League Central in my preview is,
you know,
I thought they would build on
the momentum of the end of last season,
the second half,
where they were one of the
best teams in baseball.
They got off to a slow start.
Injuries happened.
Look at them right now.
They're one of the best teams in baseball.
I think I put up my roster
moves today for them, and I think they're,
what, 13, 14,
and 9 since the trade deadline.
And, you know, over the last two weeks,
they've been one of the
better teams in baseball.
And they're doing that with
a two-man pitching rotation.
It's been Kyra Montero and
Tyra Terrick Scruble.
And then they're just kind
of piecing it together.
Today they called up Ty
Madden to make his big league debut.
He's about to take the mound
in the next half inning.
But – and they're about to sweep – I mean,
if they win tonight,
they'll sweep the White Sox in four games,
and they're back to 500.
So they just – they build up
this hope for the next
season that they're going to be good.
But right now you're seeing the pieces.
You know, Jace Young has been called up.
Ty Madden's up.
You saw Maloy for a little bit.
Colt Keith has been there.
He's in a conversation for
Rookie of the Year,
which we will talk about.
So, I mean, they have the pieces.
You're seeing it.
They have a lot of arms.
We haven't even seen or
talked about Jackson Jobe coming up.
He's a double A. I'd like to
see him move up to triple
A. It's another arm to your rotation.
The question becomes,
where do you spend in the offseason?
I think they need another power bat.
Torkelson hasn't been the guy.
He's been called back up.
There's just Javier Baez.
He's done for the year.
Today he's having hip surgery.
His season's over.
His contract has been...
disappointing I mean I liked
javier baez and the cubs I
really wanted correa more
so for the tigers I thought
he made sense with aj hinch
being the manager but they
went javier baez signed him
and it just has not been
what people would expect
and his chase rates are an
issue I mean he swings it
everybody knows throw him a
slider away he's swinging
it's just how he is
Last year,
you saw glimpses of what he
could do after he got benched by A.J.
Hinch for not running out of
fly ball or a bad base running mistake,
and then he got hot.
So you can see what he can do.
The problem is he can't put
that together for a full season.
So we're going to shift
right to the National League.
That race has, like I said,
every week we talk about this.
It's a roller coaster.
One week your team could be in.
The very next week we talk about them,
they could be done.
And so here we are, the Diamondbacks.
reaching the Dodgers.
They have a four and a half
game lead at the top wide spread spot.
And they got three against the Mets,
team behind them.
And they got four against
the Dodgers this weekend,
a team they're looking out
for the NL West.
And they are behind by three games.
So, you know,
if the Dodgers struggle with
the Orioles and the
Diamondbacks take care of
business with the Mets,
then they got that series
against each other.
We could have next week's
podcast being a new team in
first place in the NL West.
I don't think so.
But the Dodgers do have a
lot of question marks.
And the Diamondbacks are one
of the hottest teams in baseball.
They just swept the Red Sox.
And they just keep hitting.
They've lost two of their
best players in Christian
Walker and Ketel Marte.
And they just keep delivering.
Jordan Montgomery,
who was the big offseason
signing that everybody
wanted for their team, like the Rangers,
the Cardinals, the Red Sox,
he went to Arizona.
He's been moved to the bullpen.
And they're still finding a way to win.
Ryan Nelson looked good on Friday.
Zach Gallen pitched Saturday.
Merrill Kelly Sunday.
So that's their three big arms right now.
The Padres are in second in
that wildcard chase with a
three-game lead.
They got four at the
Cardinals and then three at Tampa Bay.
They have a chance to really, you know,
potentially make some damage too.
They could be right there
with Arizona fighting for
the Dodgers lead too.
They're four and a half
games back with the Dodgers
entering today.
But you have a good week.
Like I said, you're right there.
It's the same thing as the
NL wildcard race.
The NL West is kind of the
same thing with those three teams.
The Braves hold the final spot.
They have three games at
Minnesota and four games at Philly.
So they have another
interesting week where
things could change for them drastically.
The first team out right now is the Mets.
They're two and a half games
behind the Braves.
They have three against the Diamondbacks,
like I said.
But then they get three at the White Sox.
You could make up some
ground this weekend.
You know,
you come out of that series
against Arizona.
You take two out of three.
You get the White Sox.
Now we're having a
conversation about you making a run.
And, again, I've been all in the Mets.
I like the way they play.
I like Francisco Lindor.
I like Peter Lonzo.
I like J.D.
Martinez.
They had a couple walk-offs the other day.
I liked Winkers,
the way he bat flipped and
how he walked that off
against the Orioles.
Francisco Alvarez did it the other day,
too.
I believe he did it on Monday.
They are exciting to watch
and are good for baseball
when they are good.
So if they can somehow sneak
into the playoffs,
I think that would be fun.
I just don't know what team
they would leapfrog.
I think the Diamondbacks are good.
The Padres are good.
I can't see a postseason.
Without the Braves,
despite all the injuries they've had,
Austin Riley's out.
You know, they signed Gio Urshela,
who the Tigers released
after live recorded last week.
You know, so there they have the pieces.
Chris Sale is a conversation for me,
which I'll probably end up
getting into next week or the week after.
He's a nationally signed young candidate.
He might be honestly the favorite.
He should be.
I mean, as a Red Sox fan trading him away,
you just knew he was going
to be healthy all year.
So moving right along,
the Giants are next.
They're five games out,
which makes them eight
games behind the Dodgers.
So they're not out of it,
but they got the Brewers,
who have been red hot for three games,
and then they got the Marlins for three.
You might go three and three,
four and two this week.
We'll see.
I don't know.
I mean,
you go four and two with all the
other scheduled games and
series they have.
You could sneak back into a conversation.
Cardinals are also five back,
but they have a very tough week.
I mentioned already they
have four against the Padres,
but then they got three
against the Yankees at New York.
That's something to watch.
I mean, their season could go.
where they're done quick the
cubs have come back and I
kind of wish jc was here
because it's for this one
because they have a real
chance to make a comeback
here they're five and a
half back they got three
against the pirates and
then three against the
nationals and I mentioned
all the other matchups that
are going on this week
where it seems like teams
are playing each other for
a spot where the cubs can
just sit there they take
care of their business when
you talk next week they're
two and a half one and a
half games back but they
gotta take care of their business
Next thing,
so that's the postseason conversation.
Like I said,
next week I could bring it
back up and it's all flipped on its head.
You know,
the Red Sox could be seven and a
half out.
The Mariners could be three out.
I mean,
the Mets could be tied with the Braves.
The Cubs could be two and a half out.
It's just, it's all flipped on its head.
I mean...
Talk about the Red Sox.
I'm watching right now,
and George Springer is
about to hit a home run.
I got the update.
It's now 3-1 Toronto.
You're in this 14-game stretch,
and you might right now
going down 3-1 in the fifth inning.
You lose the first two games.
That's not ideal.
You can't come out of this
14-game stretch at 7-7.
Oh, my goodness.
You can't come out of this 7-7.
That's his second one today, by the way.
He had the home run to make
it 1-0 in the first game
and a three-run home run now.
But you can't come out 7-7
while the Royals have their gauntlet.
You've got to come out realistically 10-4,
9-5.
You've got to come out with
a winning record in this
14-game stretch if you want
to make a run in the postseason.
But it doesn't look good right now.
Again, that could all change, but...
It is what it is.
Now we're going to move on
to some stories.
And the biggest one from
this weekend for me was Aaron Judge,
his 50th and 51st home run of the season.
And I was hanging out with
my friends yesterday at a pool,
and he hit the 50th one.
And the conversation started
of where do we look?
It's August.
Yesterday was August 25th.
Today is August 26th.
Where do we look at Judge
when the season comes to an end?
Are we having the
conversation of could he be
in a home run race to break the record?
I don't know.
It's a tough one.
But I said yesterday when I
was talking about it that
if he has 55 by Saturday or
at the end of play Saturday,
70 is very much in play.
And so I looked at it more and more,
which that would be great for baseball.
I mean, if you haven't seen it on ESPN,
there's a 30 for 30 documentary,
The Long Gone Summer,
and it's about the 1998
home run chase between McGuire and Sosa.
That was really,
I was five years old when that happened.
And that was really my big
introduction to baseball.
I had a Cardinals hat.
I was like McGuire.
I know they both did steroids,
but that was all must-watch baseball.
So with that being said,
then 2001 happened.
Barry Bonds had that season.
That was must-watch TV.
I was watching a Giants game every night,
late night.
I didn't care.
It was summer.
I was falling asleep on the couch.
I was, what, eight?
It was just over the next day,
reading the newspaper, like,
what's going on?
What's going on?
I'd stay up as he got closer.
So I went through it.
In 2001, through 129 games,
Barry Bonds had 58 home runs.
Judge this season, through 129 games,
that's where he's at, I think tonight,
he has 51.
So he has seven less home
runs than Bonds did.
However, at this point in the season,
the Giants had 138 total games played.
For the Yankees, they have 131.
So that's a seven-game difference.
Judge has been hot.
I believe he hit at least
four over the weekend.
So with the seven-game difference,
say he's hot right now,
he hits a home run in those seven games,
he's tied.
But, so that's what, 142?
So the Giants had 24 games left.
And in those 24 games, Bonds hit,
I can't believe he ended
with 73 that year.
Exactly.
So Bonds hit 15 more home runs.
The Yankees have 31 games.
31 games.
And Judge needs 23 to home run Bonds.
Yeah.
He really has a shot for this.
And it depends on what
happens over the next week.
You know, like I said,
they have the Cardinals over the weekend.
I forget who they have this week.
I have my phone on.
Oh, they have the Nationals.
Did he hit another one?
They're up 4-0.
No, he did not.
Gleyber Torres hit a homer.
So I really think that at
the end of the day,
if he has 55-plus by the end of the week,
then there is a conversation
that we could be having in
September that he could be doing this.
And if he does, maybe we do a live stream.
Maybe that's an option.
But, you know,
as much as I don't like the Yankees,
what he's doing is good for baseball.
It's must-watch.
I'll find myself watching
Yankee games because I want to see it.
It's like I tell this story all the time.
Back in the last year of Derek Jeter,
I was at a friend's house
and I was driving home
And, you know,
I just had the game on my
phone when I was listening to it.
And, you know, they were talking,
and I heard Baltimore came back.
And then they said, oh,
the bottom of the ninth coming.
Jeter will be up.
And so I got home, turned on my TV,
sat right down, and I said,
he's going to do this right here.
And he hit that walk-off
single in his last game at
Yankee Stadium.
I mean, that's – I'm not a Yankees fan,
you know, but I like baseball,
and I like seeing that stuff.
So –
I think Judge really can,
and I think he's benefiting
from having Juan Soto in that lineup.
So I wouldn't be surprised
if the Yankees spend on him,
but I also know the Mets really want him,
and they have no problem
throwing the money around.
The next thing we want to talk about,
the Rookie of the Year conversations.
And we're getting to that
point where we're hitting September,
as I said,
and award conversations start to hit.
And so I looked today.
That's why I said I'll talk
about Cy Young as an MVP.
He's probably over the next couple weeks.
I think the AL MVP is locked up.
I think that's Judge.
But the rookie of the year,
and right now the favorite
is Colton Couser,
and second is Austin Wells.
And so I was going through the numbers.
If you go through Colton Couser,
he's a .247 average among
American League rookies.
That is ninth.
The other names I have on
the list are hitting-wise.
Austin Wells, William Abreu, Sedan Rafaela,
Colt Keith, and Wyatt Langford.
Austin Wells is hitting .252.
That's eighth among rookies.
William Abreu is hitting .268.
That's first among rookies.
Sedan Rafaela is hitting .260,
which is third among rookies.
Colt Keith, .264, second.
And Wyatt Langford, .245, tenth.
Going through the OPSs, the top three,
there's William Abreu with an 8.39.
Actually, the second one's not on here.
And Colton Couser's third with a 7.71.
Home runs, Colton Couser's 19.
He's first.
Abreu is second.
He is 14.
And Rafael is third.
He is 13.
Going through the RBIs,
Rafael is first with 61.
Colton Couser's second with 57.
And third is Colt Keith with 51.
Now,
Colton Collins is having a great season,
and I understand why he's
in the conversation for
Rookie of the Year.
I definitely believe he
probably will win it, should.
And I said this a couple
weeks ago on a podcast with JC.
How are we not talking about
Sinan Rafaela?
He should be up there higher.
Abreu.
But Colt Keith, after a slow start,
has been one of the best hitters.
And somebody I used to write
with at a different company
posted today against him
and Wyatt Langford.
And people are saying, Langford.
Langford's had a good season.
Missed him time.
Not with an injury.
Colt Keith has been very good.
714 OPS this season.
12 home runs, which is fourth.
I said the RBIs on his average.
Um.
You know,
the other names that are on the
list are Luis Gil and Mason Miller.
Both of them have fallen off.
Miller's a great bullpen arm,
but he had the finger
injury right around the
All-Star game and deadline.
Luis Gil has kind of tapered
off throughout the year.
So the conversation right
now is based on the odds on DraftKings.
It's Colton Cousin.
But I think Abreu and
Rafaela hurt each other
because they're on the same team.
Because they just both look at, you know,
David Hamilton is the third
one in the Red Sox.
I didn't put him on the list.
But those three kind of all
hurt each other because of their numbers.
They're all kind of similar in a way.
Austin Wells is having a great season,
but he really gets overshadowed by Judge.
The argument I make towards Rafael, though,
and why I think he should
be at least third, second, above Abreu,
is defensively.
And he is playing gold glove
defense at the two most
important positions.
You know, they came into the year,
he was a start to center
fielder for the Red Sox.
Trevor Story went down,
people were confident to play shortstop.
They put him at shortstop.
He's played gold glove
defense at shortstop and
center field whenever he is
put in the lineup.
Wherever it is,
he plays gold glove defense.
And not saying the other
guys on the list don't,
but being where you are
offensively and then just
being able to switch, not even night in,
night out, but within the game.
He might start in center field,
and then the next thing you know,
in the seventh inning, he's at shortstop.
Or vice versa,
he's at shortstop for seven innings,
and then he goes to center field.
That's a quality that I
think is getting overlooked
in this conversation for
rookie of the year.
Do I think he's going to win?
No.
But I think he should be
talked about more.
I think Cole Keith should be up there.
I don't think Cole Keith
right now with his odds at seven.
He should not be seven.
He should be up there with
Abreu and Rafaela.
I really think he's ahead of
Luis Gil and Mason Miller,
especially with the season he's had.
And now maybe, you know,
the Tigers are playing better.
He has a great September.
He might win the awards.
But right now, when I looked at the odds,
I was kind of shocked about it.
On the National League side,
it's down to a two-player race.
Number one is Jackson Merrill.
He's the favorite right now.
Looking at his numbers for
National League rookies,
second in batting average, 288.
Second in OPS with an 807.
First in home runs with 19.
First in RBIs with 72.
So he's one of the best
hitters rookie-wise.
And honestly,
he's helped the Padres to
where they're at.
I mean, remember,
they didn't have Xander Bogarts.
They haven't had Fernando
Tatis for a little while.
So, I mean, they've missed some key bats,
and Merrill has had no
problem filling right in.
The other name?
We all know it.
It's Paul Skeetons.
This season, he's 8-2.
He's third among rookies in wins.
And remember, he came up late.
216 ERA, first, and 0.94 whip, first,
and 104 innings pitched.
Again, came up late.
That's fifth among all rookie pitchers.
Sheldon Imanago is another one I saw,
but he kind of tapered off.
It's down to them, too,
and I really think it's
just Jackson Merrill.
I think Paul Skeens has been great,
and he's had a good season,
but the thing is Jackson
Merrill's done it for most of the season,
more than Skeens does.
And the Padres are in a playoff spot.
That's another conversation,
the piece to it.
So I think it's Merrill's award,
but that's going to be a
fun race down to those two
to watch for the rest of the season.
With the rookie conversation,
we'll transition right into
the minor league update.
I only did one hitter this week.
I have some pitchers I do
want to talk about,
a couple that I actually
haven't mentioned.
So the first one is the hitter.
It is catcher Samuel Basalo, AA Baltimore.
This guy has reached up to
my seventh-ranked prospect.
He had a hit in every game last week,
and he faced, I believe,
Bowie faced the Erie Seawolves,
who have already clinched a playoff spot.
He would hit 421, had three doubles,
a home run, six RBIs, four runs scored,
and six walks.
Was also named Eastern
League Hitter of the Week in AA.
So Basalo is going to be, again,
an Orioles team.
Do they really need more
prospects coming up?
I mean, they're just good.
They get better and better.
They really do.
And this is another thing to
watch on the pitching side.
We're going to start with a
name that I have
continuously talked about,
and that's my 33rd-ranked
prospect right here in the picture,
Rhett Lowder,
who the Reds drafted last year.
He's already reached AAA,
and he made his first AAA
start last week.
Didn't record a decision.
He went six innings, gave up three hits,
hit a batter, did not walk anybody,
and struck out seven.
We could be seeing him come
September when the rosters expand,
which that's another thing
people don't talk about.
Some of these big-name
prospects that are getting
called up to AAA are
um they can make their debut
soon I was going through
today I'm working on my
monthly double a um
check-in for the eastern
league and as I'm going
through all the prospects
that are my top 100 so like
if you're not familiar with
the article it's set up
where any player in the top
100 that's at double a in
that league uh is mentioned
in what they did in the
month and what their
numbers are for the season
And if the affiliate in that
league doesn't have a
prospect in the top 100 playing there,
I do an honorable mention.
So there is a prospect for
all 12 teams covered.
And, you know, a lot of those guys,
as I was going through,
have been called up to AAA this month.
So, you know,
that just tells you that
you're probably going to
see a lot of those names,
especially louder,
potentially the start of
next season in the rotation for the Reds.
The next prospect is a
71st-ranked prospect,
a guy that I've actually
been following quite a bit,
is Nobel Meyer.
He's playing a high A for the Marlins.
He also did not record a decision.
He went five innings, gave up a hit,
did not allow a run.
He walked two and struck out seven.
You know, like I said time and time again,
the Marlins just seem to
develop nothing but pitching prospects.
And thankfully, at the deadline,
they added some bat prospects.
So, you know, they have the arms.
Again,
Sandy Alcantara will be back next
year if they still have Lizardo.
I don't think he's pitched.
I mean, he's come back.
He'll be back next year if
he doesn't come back this year.
So they have the arms.
They could move an arm
because of what they have coming.
Max Meyer's up.
There's another one I'm forgetting.
So next name I'm going to mention,
and I mean,
I think that he's been on the
list every week,
and that's Quinn Matthews,
78th ranked prospect,
the left-handed pitcher
from the Cardinal system.
He's at AA.
He went seven and two-thirds last week,
gave up a run, gave up two hits,
walked one, and struck out 12.
This guy continuously
records double-digit strikeouts.
Rhett Lowder got promoted to AAA.
This guy just got promoted to AA,
but he may not be far off from AAA.
and it should be rightfully so.
I mean, he's pitching very well.
The final prospect I want to
mention on my check-in,
Actually, there's two more,
but one more I want to update.
Who had a good week is the
32nd-ranked prospect in the top 100.
It's left-handed pitcher Hagan Smith.
He's a high A for the White Sox.
He was drafted in the first
round of this year's draft,
and so this is his first
professional start.
He only went three innings.
Rightfully so.
I mean, he pitched at college all year,
so you want to rest the arms,
so less innings, you know,
to get him acclimated.
Gave up two hits.
He hit a batter.
Did not issue a walk and struck out four.
So out of his nine outs,
four of them were by strikeout.
Again, did not allow a run.
So that's a good sign for a
team that definitely needs help.
And then we're going to talk about,
as we're sitting here breaking news,
the Rockies the other day
designated their former All-Star,
I believe he was the
All-Stream MVP a couple years ago,
Elias Diaz.
He has now been signed by
the San Diego Padres.
So a team that has a
top-catching prospect at
high A and needs a bat went
out and got one that can
help behind the plate as well.
So that's a good sign for the Padres.
I like that move.
It could be something that
helps them on the stretch
when they get in the playoffs.
They could be a scary team.
They could be probably not
going to have the amount of
wins that the Diamondbacks did last year,
but they could be the
Diamondbacks of this year
where they surprise some people,
make a run,
and they get to the World Series.
I really would not be
surprised if they did.
You got to remember,
Hugh Darvish is not back.
He might just have been back.
I might have saw something
over the weekend on that.
But he hasn't been back.
And that's an honor.
You get him back.
A team that's in a
postseason race like this,
you get an arm like Darvish back.
And you are back.
Very back.
Speaking with the Rockies,
I want to give my Chase Dolander update.
We all know I'm very high on him.
He's towards the top of my rankings,
especially towards the top
of my ranking pitching.
The other night, I tuned in.
I had every intention of going.
They came to the place where
the Hartford Yard goes.
They came to New Hampshire last week.
And originally he was supposed to,
I thought,
pitch on Tuesday and had lined
up perfectly for me to go.
Then that didn't happen.
They had two games that day.
One was a make-up.
Wednesday I had an
independent work dinner.
Thursday I had some stuff going on.
It was my son's birthday,
so we did some stuff with him.
Um,
and then Friday we were getting ready
for my son's birthday party on Saturday.
And so it got announced that
he was pitching Friday.
Kind of the issue I have
with minor league baseball
is they don't announce
pitching right away.
Um, kind of usually the day of,
if not like the day before,
like the night before.
So I didn't see it until the day of,
and I was like,
there's just no way I can swing that.
but I watched the game on TV.
I tuned in for the whole
time he was out there.
Went on one of his better starts,
but he pitched, I thought, well.
He went five and two-thirds.
He gave up two runs on four hits.
He did walk two,
but another start he
recorded 10 strikeouts.
So, again,
we have a newer writer for the Rockies.
His name's Tanner.
I reached out to him.
I believe he actually posted
right now it's done,
so I'm either going to get
that out probably tomorrow morning,
I'll get it out, which is Tuesday,
depending upon when you're
listening to this.
But I talked to him about
there's a lot of Rockies
prospects I have in our top
100 that I am very impressed with.
A lot of them have played at Hartford,
and I've watched quite a
few Hartford games this year, and I've
Got a little bit higher on them.
Zach Bean just got promoted to AAA.
And I believe Fernandez, Ianquil Fernandez,
got called up beginning of
the month to AAA.
So they're getting closer.
They're all in Albuquerque
with the isotopes.
Dolan may not be far off.
And Adele,
I forgot how you say his first name,
Amador,
made his major league debut this
year already.
So there's some good ones down there.
There's a couple more I haven't,
I forgot to mention.
Gilbert was on there.
He's obviously in the big leagues.
And so he's writing an
article for us that is
talking about how I think the future,
I kind of mentioned to him
how I think the future is bright.
And so it's kind of covering
what they've been doing
this year and giving you a
little insight of what the
top Rockies prospects are
doing right now and the
levels they're at.
Some big news and some
exciting news as far as prospects.
The Detroit Tigers have
called up Ty Madden, who is in my top 10.
He's not in the top 100 MLB ITD prospects.
He's in the top 10 as far as
Tigers are concerned.
He makes his MLB debut tonight.
And, you know,
right now they're losing 1-0.
He had a tough first inning.
Got out of some trouble.
But this season in 22 starts,
I believe he's pitched a –
he's definitely pitched a triple-A,
and I believe I saw a double-A.
So he's been at Toledo and Erie.
It's 3-5 with a 6.98 ERA, a 1.59 whip,
124 strikeouts,
and 96 and two-thirds innings.
So he is going to be –
An interesting piece moving forward.
We'll have to see what happens,
but I like him.
He was a guy that I talked
to one of our other Tigers writers about,
Engage,
that he would be a guy I would be
interested in seeing him
write an article.
He does a lot of good stuff
as far as minor league
interest and guys who should get a shot.
And I said to him that I
think Madden's a guy that
you should talk about maybe
calling him up and giving
him a start and seeing what he does.
Because as of late, he's pitched better.
The numbers don't reflect that,
but as of late,
he has looked a lot better.
And I've watched him to Leo
games because I like watching him pitch.
He went to the University of Texas,
so I saw him pitch in college.
When I saw him fall to the
competitive round of round one,
and I saw the Tigers take him,
I was very excited.
So that was one player
making his debut tonight.
The other one is a guy that
was drafted last year, second overall.
His teammate was Paul Skeens in college,
who made his big league debut this year,
obviously, and is pitching the way he is,
is Dylan Cruz,
who right now is 0-2 with a strikeout.
So far this season at AA and AAA,
he's hitting .270 with a .793 OPS.
He has 13 home runs, 68 RBIs,
60 run scores, and 25 stolen bases.
This is a guy that I thought
was going to be a big piece
in that Nationals future lineup,
who our writer Chance
covers the Nationals,
and I've had conversations with him.
about it a lot, where I said, you know,
the pieces they have in Wood and Cruz,
it's fantastic.
They need some arms.
And I went to the Senators
game against the Fisher
character earlier this year
and covered that.
That article is still up on
the site if you want to see
what both teams' prospects did,
if you're a Blue Jays or a Nationals fan.
But Cruz had a bad day at the plate.
And I said,
you can just tell something was
off with him.
And then, like, the very next night,
he got hot.
It worked out that he got
called up to triple-a
Rochester and now he's a
big leaguer and My favorite
thing that they do is you
see the videos of them in
the office of the manager
You know the minor league
level and they call their parents.
I love watching those.
Those are my favorite so he
called his mom she was out
shopping and He told her
that he asked if she had
plans and then asked her if
she wanted if they were
coming to Washington to see
him make his debut tonight
the news broke on Friday, so I
He had some time to get things acclimated,
get them there,
and here he is making his
big league debut tonight.
Hopefully he gets that first hit.
Definitely against the Yankees,
that would be nice to see.
But congratulations to Ty
Madden and Dylan Cruz.
The final segment for
tonight is the week ahead.
And I mentioned already when
I talked about the
standings and where they're at right now,
there are some good series this week.
And most of them have already started.
The first one is the Royals
and the Guardians,
which is taking place right now,
started this afternoon.
That's for first place.
I mean, at the end of the day,
if the Guardians get swept,
the Royals take first place.
The second series is the
Padres and the Cardinals.
And the reason I put this as
a series to watch is
Cardinals lose that series,
it could be the end of the Cardinals.
Their season could just go slowly,
slowly away.
The third one is a potential
World Series preview that I
already talked about,
and that's the Orioles and the Dodgers.
I really like that as a
potential World Series preview.
I know I've been saying
Phillies or Braves as my
two teams all along,
and I like the Orioles still,
but the Dodgers can always get there.
The final one is the one
that can make or break for either team,
and that's the Mets and the
Nuggets for the week.
The Mets have been playing
some good baseball.
They obviously took two or
three from the Orioles.
They can come into the
series and take the series.
They're right there, and they're back to,
you know, making baseball, you know,
the postseason race interesting.
For the weekend, it's Braves and Phillies.
I just like that division race.
I like the Braves and Phillies.
I feel like that's, you know,
something that's been brewing for a while,
especially the last couple
of years where it seems
like the Braves have been
right at the top of the
division and the Phillies have been,
you know,
the wildcard team or right in second.
And this year things have flipped.
And the Braves have a chance to, you know,
put a little,
get a little closer to that
race for the division.
And the final one.
is the one I said before,
it's the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers.
And the reason I put that
was obviously that division
race could change in the blank.
It could be the Diamondbacks.
But it's going to be an interesting week.
It's going to be an interesting weekend.
It's going to be an interesting week.
Right now it's 5-1 Blue Jays,
so the Red Sox aren't looking fantastic.
So, I mean,
the Red Sox race could be over
after this week.
A lot of things could change.
That's my favorite series this weekend.
I'll be watching that
because it's my two
favorite teams in the Red
Sox and the Tigers.
I obviously went earlier
this year with my parents.
I got my mom tickets for her birthday.
And so, obviously,
I'll be watching that this weekend.
probably watching it Sunday
with my parents.
Um, it's always a fun series,
especially for me and my family.
Um, you know, we used to do,
it used to be a couple of
years back when my
grandparents were still alive.
One year was my birthday and
we had my one grandfather
who was a Red Sox fan and
my other grandfather who's
a Tigers fan during that series.
And it was nice to see, like,
this was obviously before 2013,
but they just got along and
they both talked about both
teams and the relationship was good.
Um,
No animosity or anything
like that towards when it
came to talking sports.
So it's going to be a fun week.
We're going to do September.
When we record, it will be September 2nd,
probably Labor Day.
If not, I'll do Tuesday.
Okay.
people on what's going on on Monday.
I'll be watching some
football this weekend,
definitely some baseball.
I'll have baseball on most of tonight,
most of the week.
Tomorrow night's guys' night,
so I'll have my son.
We'll be watching the Red Sox at 7.
Again, I hope your team's in the race.
If not,
I hope you're still watching
because that's all we all need.
It's been a good season.
There's been a lot of storylines to watch.
It's been a rollercoaster.
I really like the whole expanded playoff.
It's made things interesting
as far as deadline, teams still in it,
like your team's not really
out really at any point
unless they're the White
Sox or the Marlins or the
Rockies right now or really
the Angels and the A's.
But there's a lot of good
storylines to watch,
and we'll be back to it
next week to talk all about it.
I hope everybody has a good week,
and I hope you all enjoy your baseball.
See everybody next week.