The Long Awaited Debut

CJ talks about the four teams he was wrong about through six weeks. Paul Skenes debuts for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Who's hot and who's not? What are the Baltimore Orioles missing to be a World Series contender? Pitching debuts and more!
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what's up and welcome back

to the inside the diamonds

podcast as you can tell by

the voice I am solo again

tonight jc is stuck at work

um so it's just me uh we

want to get everything out

busy weekend a lot happened

so just me cj and we're

gonna roll with it so

probably a little bit

shorter podcast tonight for

all you um so let's get

this started off so

The first thing from this

weekend that I wanted to

talk about was I want to recap.

We're about six,

maybe seven weeks into the season.

And, you know,

we did our predictions and I

was wrong about some teams.

Starting off,

I had the Blue Jays finishing

third in the American League East.

Right now they're fifth and

things don't look good.

They have a minus 47 run differential and.

Watching them right now on

my little TV and they're

down 2-1 to the Orioles.

Tough series for them.

We'll get to that later as

that's one of my things to

talk about later on for things upcoming.

What's up with Kevin Gosman?

You know, that was my,

he signed there and

everybody talked about him

being a potential Cy Young

candidate and all of that.

And he was great for the

first couple of years, but this year,

I don't know what's going on.

On Saturday, he pitched against the Twins,

went three innings, gave up seven runs,

six of which were earned on 10 hits,

walked two and struck out six.

For example, this season,

he is 2-3 with a 4.95 ERA.

The whip's not bad, 1.51.

He's had 37 strikeouts in 36

and a third innings.

Not ideal.

The next one I want to talk

about is Jose Barrios.

What a start he's had.

I mean, he looks good.

Again,

he's pitching tonight against Corbin

Burns, so that's a pitcher's duel.

But the question becomes,

if that team's struggling,

are they going to sell at the deadline?

And there are some pieces

there they could sell.

There's been talk, I've heard talk of,

is Bo,

Bo was talking about in the

offseason going somewhere.

Do they look into that now?

Do they look into it's time to rebuild?

Justin Turner, one-year deal.

It's a bat that will help a team, you know,

in a playoff chase.

Jose Barrios,

I don't know if they move him,

but that's an option to explore.

But there's a lot of pieces

there that they might have to talk about.

And that would be something to watch,

especially as things go the

way they're going.

I mean,

they got some tough series coming up and.

If they can't right the ship,

that A at least is tough.

I mean, right now it's Orioles,

Yankees just fighting at the top.

You got the Red Sox and Rays.

They're playing each other

right now in the first game

of the four-game set.

And, you know,

they're fighting each other

for third place.

And I said they were going to be fifth.

And so that's one thing I

was way off about.

Another team that I want to

talk about is the Rangers.

I had them as my team that, you know,

we talked about in the

beginning of the season,

the Cardinals as the team that falls off.

I know we saw that free fall coming.

At least I didn't.

I don't think a lot of people did,

but they were terrible last

year and are not good this year.

That's another team that

might move some people.

But the Rangers,

I had them as that team

this year to fall off.

And right now, entering play tonight,

they're 22-20 in their half

game back with the Mariners

for first place.

And not for nothing,

at the point they're at,

And they're going to get

back two great pitchers if

they're at the top of their game.

Now, granted, we haven't seen, you know,

Scherzer pitch last year in

the postseason, but wasn't himself.

So what pitcher are we getting?

But they're going to get Max

Scherzer back and Jacob DeGrom.

And if both those guys are

at the top of their game,

that rotation is going to

be something to watch.

And Wyatt Langford's out,

so they get Wyatt Langford back.

There's a lot there.

So I was – right now I'm way off on them.

I'm surprised the start they've had.

Wyatt Langford's a lot of fun to watch.

Again,

I said last year at draft time I

wanted him to be a Tiger.

They went Max Clark.

He ended up falling to four,

and the Rangers didn't pass

up the opportunity to take him.

So the next team was the Twins.

I think I actually had the Twins fourth.

I thought the Royals were

going to be third.

I had the Tigers first,

and I believe the Guardians second.

The Royals are good.

That's another team that I

didn't put on my list that

I was wrong about because I thought third,

and they're right there.

that division is going to be

a jumble for most of the season.

But it's a lot of fun to watch.

It's a good race.

But the Twins, I mean,

what they've done after starting off,

you know, not so hot.

They've won seven of their

last 10 and 17 of their last 20.

So they're getting it everywhere.

The hitting's there.

The pitching's there.

The bullpen,

you bring in Duran and forget it.

That game's over.

I don't think many people

are touching him.

Another team,

the final team that I want to talk about,

The San Francisco Giants.

And we actually,

when we recorded the

National League Prediction podcast,

the San Francisco Giants,

we announced Blake Snell

was signing right on the podcast.

I had them right after that, I believe,

finishing third or fourth.

And fourth, I mean,

if I had them finishing second,

then I'm completely off.

I mean, they do not look good.

And Blake Snell has not looked good.

So...

And I was at the Red

Sox-Giants game a couple weeks ago.

Logan Webb was on the mound, and I,

even driving the game, I was like,

I'm just excited to see Logan Webb pitch.

He didn't even make it five innings.

So, I mean,

that's a team that's interesting.

I mean, that division's the Dodgers,

and the Padres look good this weekend.

I'll get into that a little bit later,

but the Dodgers seem like

that's their division,

and everybody else there

will fight for potentially

a wildcard spot or a player spot.

The next big story from this weekend –

Paul Skeens makes his debut.

And at the end of the day,

he went four innings.

He gave up six hits, three runs,

three of which were earned,

hit one batter, walked two,

and struck out seven on 84 pitches.

Now,

I didn't like the fact that they let

him go to the fifth.

He ran into a jam early.

They let him finish that.

He got out of it, no problem.

Then he gets into the fifth inning,

and he ran into a jam first and second.

They took him out.

Was the pitch count maybe

because of what he's pitched at, you know,

at AAA.

But I think he should have

finished the fifth.

And, you know,

he put him in line for a win.

And granted, it ended up being a 6-6 game.

They went into a rain delay.

Like, rain delay,

you're going to take him out anyways.

But they should have let him

at least finish the fifth

and see where they're at.

Let him do his thing.

Let him see where he – I mean,

you got to let him win

experience to get out of jams.

It's part of the game.

So, but not a bad debut.

No.

You know, the fastball looks good.

The splinker is one of the

pitches I wanted to see a lot,

and that looks good.

And he dropped that thing in there nicely,

and it was a good start, very good start.

The next team,

we're going to stay with the

National League Central.

The Reds are struggling.

I wish JC was here for this

because he covers the Reds.

But they're 1-9 in their last 10,

and they've been outscored

50-23 with their lone win

coming on Friday.

And so I went through the pitching staff.

And the lone win was by Andrew Abbott.

But Lodolo has a 6.54 ERA in

his last two starts over this stretch.

Ashcraft under three, Green under three,

Abbott's over three at a 3.60,

and then Frankie Montes with a 4.21.

It seems like from what I was looking at,

I didn't watch much of

their games this weekend,

but it seems like from what

I saw from the box scores,

the bullpen's costing them.

And so is there a move that

needs to be made to add to the bullpen?

There's pieces available.

I mean, they can move somebody.

You know,

it was talked about all offseason.

There's Jonathan India, a guy you move.

Ellie De La Cruz is the best

player on that team.

He's must-watch TV.

I mean,

I feel bad I didn't watch much of

them this past week,

but they seem to be must-watch TV.

And that will be Paul Skeens

versus Ellie De La Cruz.

The first time that happens,

you're locked in.

Everybody should be locked in.

I mean, Paul Skeens is must-watch TV.

Ellie De La Cruz is there, too.

I mean, the game –

with the young prospects

that are coming up or that

are here and all that,

they are must-watch.

The game is a fantastic game,

and it's changed so much,

and there's so much to watch.

I mean, there's so much talent now.

So let's move on.

I talked about the Padres, and, you know,

they took on the Dodgers this weekend,

and they went two out of three.

And Friday night,

if you didn't watch Friday night,

Friday night was a pitching jam.

I ended up going to bed

watching that game in bed.

And Tyler Glasnow for the

Dodgers is a Cy Young favorite.

He ended the night going seven innings,

giving up one run on a home run,

which was the lone hit he gave up,

walking two and striking out 10.

Now, that's a great night.

Now, Michael King,

who the Padres got in the

trade for Juan Soto with the Yankees,

well, he came out and one-upped him.

He went seven innings.

He didn't allow a run.

Gave up two hits, walked three,

and struck out 11.

And Luis Arias,

who the Padres acquired

about a week and a half ago

now from the Marlins,

he was a walk-off single in

his first game at Petco Park.

I mean, that's storybook.

Then on Saturday, the Dodgers win.

James Paxton was dominant.

He went six innings, gave up four hits,

didn't allow a run, didn't walk anyone,

struck out four.

And Freddie Freeman led the

offense going two for three

with a double and a home run.

So on Sunday in the rubber game,

Hugh Darvish came out and

he did his thing.

Seven innings pitch, two hits, no runs,

one walk, seven Ks.

And the Padres offense, Jackson Merrill,

who is in my top ten,

I believe he's still there.

He hasn't graduated yet.

He might have.

Or he wasn't in the top ten.

One of the two.

He was definitely in the top 15.

He went three for four with a run scored.

Alexander Bogarts went two

for four with a run and an RBI.

And Fernando Tatis had a home run.

The Padres now are five and

three against the Dodgers this year.

They split the series in Seoul.

And then since then,

the Padres have won both series here.

So, like I said,

it's the Dodgers division.

But the Padres seem to be a

kryptonite for the Dodgers right now.

And both teams have pitching.

I mean,

the Padres guys aren't as big names

like you got Hugh Darvish, but, you know,

you try to tout a glass now,

and don't forget they got

Clayton Kershaw coming back.

So there's a lot of talent

in that Dodgers team.

The Padres, though,

they play good baseball,

and they got a good bat in Louisa Rice.

Bogarts is starting to get going,

it seems like.

Merrill's a good bat.

You know, they got pieces.

They got pieces all over the place.

And so they can compete.

The question becomes, both those teams,

you put them head-to-head, the bullpen.

And the Dodgers got the

pieces that they might have

to move guys to the bullpen.

So, I mean,

that's going to be a fun series.

They got what?

That's eight games.

So they got five games left

against each other, I believe.

I think it's 13 they play.

So that'll be something to watch.

The next thing.

I wrote the other day,

and I'm going to put the article link.

If you're watching on YouTube, right here,

I put about the Baltimore

Orioles needing to acquire a reliever.

Now I know I'm decked out in

Red Sox stuff.

I'm watching the Red Sox.

We all know I love the Red Sox,

but I like baseball.

I've always been like,

even I'm a Red Sox fan, but in Tigers fan,

but I love baseball.

And so I'll watch any game.

I'll watch any team.

I like watching.

I'll root for teams.

I went to Camden yards a

couple of years ago,

came home with a bunch of

swag for the Orioles.

I still like,

I think it was last week or

two weeks ago's podcast.

I had an Orioles hat on.

I'll, you know, I'll wear that stuff.

Um,

They got to figure something

out there because they

signed Craig Kimbrell.

And in the article I wrote

about their bullpen,

and I forget exact totals I

did the other day,

and I've written so much

lately that I can't

remember off the top of my head.

I believe they've blown

eight saves this year with

Craig Kimbrell leading the way.

I believe he has three.

That might have changed by now,

but when I published the article,

that was where the numbers were at.

And the biggest thing is

they need somebody at the

back end of that bullpen.

That back end of that bullpen needs help.

So what do you go do?

Now,

you have the pieces to go get anybody

you want.

You can go get anyone.

Yeah, Craig Kimber has three still.

Cano has one.

Aiken has one.

Webb has one.

Baumann has one.

And Colombe has one.

So that's one, two, three, four, five,

eight.

So they're still at eight.

They didn't blow any this weekend.

So I wrote about there's

five arms out there that

they could go get.

And after I wrote about that,

all of a sudden all these

other articles coming out

that they need a reliever.

The name that popped up was Mason Miller.

And now if you're not familiar with him,

he is the closer for the A's.

He touches probably 103 with his fastball.

And, you know,

he plays on an Oakland A's team.

So, again,

I said last week that I was in

on the A's.

They had to go four or five

wins last week against the

Rangers and Mariners.

They didn't do that.

So I'm out on them,

and they're going to look to sell.

So can the Orioles – the

rumor is the asking price is absurd,

which for a guy that throws 103,

that could be a lights-out

closer in this league.

That seems realistic,

that the asking price is kind of absurd.

But the Orioles could go get them.

They have the pieces.

And I mentioned the other

day I was commenting with

somebody on an Orioles fan page,

and they said, who do you move?

And I said, they have a crowded outfield.

And they just sent Kersted down.

And they have, you know,

Hayes came back today.

Cedric Mullins is out there.

They have pieces.

And then they have, like I said, Kersted,

Kouser, and Judd Fabian's in the system.

They have a bunch of outfield prospects.

There's a log jam.

So you could move one of them.

Now,

if you go move one of them and you go

get somebody like Mason

Miller to be your closer,

this team is good enough to

win the whole thing.

They could very well win the

whole World Series.

And if that's something where you say, hey,

let's go get two arms for the bullpen,

and we have a back-end guy

and an eighth-inning guy,

you move Kimbrell to six.

I mean, at the end of the day,

Kimbrell's here.

I forget what his contract is.

I thought it was one year.

I might be wrong.

They're going to get Felix

Bautista back next year.

But look at the Royals in 2015,

how they won the World Series.

They had their start to go five innings,

and then they brought in

their bullpen for the sixth, seventh,

eighth, and ninth,

and they shut you down.

That's how they won that World Series.

The story has become if you

have a lights-out bullpen,

you can win a World Series.

So the Orioles have the lineup.

With the addition of Corbin Burns,

they have the pitching.

Now,

I've said it in this – I think I

believe I said it in the article –

The pitching staff,

they're going to have a

question mark come once

everybody's healthy.

Because you've got Kramer, Burns,

Means is back, and Cole Irvin.

And I'm forgetting one other name.

And I'm looking at the roster right now.

Why can't I think of the other name?

Oh, Bradish.

How did I forget Bradish?

And Grayson Rodriguez is

right now on the injured list.

He comes back.

Who do you move?

So that could add to your bullpen.

That could be something.

They did it with Jack Flaherty last year.

They acquired him from the

Cardinals at the deadline.

Things didn't go right.

They moved him to the bullpen.

He was good in the bullpen.

So they got to figure that out.

They got to figure out the

bullpen because that could

be the one thing that holds

them back from winning at all this year.

I mean, right now it's been talked about.

I think I said it last week

where Gunnar Henderson

seems like the best

candidate besides maybe

Juan Soto to win American League MVP.

Kobe Burns could be the

American League Cy Young.

And so the rookie of the

year you could put up right now,

it's Colton Couser in the

American League.

could run away with all

three awards it's they seem

like the best team in

baseball and they're built

that way all the way around

so is that is I mean if

you're an orioles fan

you're listening to this do

you agree like you need a

reliever go get a back-end

guy in the bullpen and this

team's a full go and maybe

something pops up during

the season they need

something else but I think

right now they have all the

pieces they need you know it's

I was a little interested

today about the DFAing of McKenna.

I'm kind of hoping he stays

because in nine games,

he didn't play that bad.

He had a 375 average, a 444 OBP,

a 1.125 slugging,

and he finished with a 1.569 OPS.

I mean, I get it.

You had to create room on

the roster for the moves you were making,

and he just was the odd man out.

But I was a little surprised by that.

And we all know that Jackson

Holiday is coming up again at some point.

He just got hot again.

He had a good week.

That will be out tomorrow

with my top 10 recap for prospects.

So, I mean,

Orioles are still my pick to

make the World Series.

I forget.

I can't remember.

I have to go back and listen

to that podcast.

I can't remember if I had

the Braves or the Orioles winning it.

But right now, I might lean the Orioles.

If they get a closer,

a back-end guy in that bullpen,

the Orioles are winning it all.

So we'll move on.

And this is something I was

going to do a two-part question on,

and I decided not to.

I want to start with,

we've got to put some

respect on Cutter Crawford

and Tanner Houck.

And it was originally Cutter

Crawford that I was going

to talk about a lot,

but right now he's gone five innings,

given up four in runs on seven hits.

He's walked one and struck out four.

Not a bad night,

but I took him out of the running.

And I really want to talk

about Tanner Help, who is going to start,

I believe, on Wednesday.

Right now, he's got eight games started.

He's three and four.

Not his fault.

I mean, they lost Friday night.

He gave up three runs.

The Red Sox just didn't score for him.

He's got a 2.24 ERA,

which is ninth in all of

baseball and fourth in the

American League.

He's got 50 strikeouts,

which is 21st in baseball

and 11th in the American League.

He's got 52 and a third innings pitched,

which is eighth in all

baseball and fourth in the

American League.

He's at a 0.97 whip,

which is 12th in the MLB

and seventh in the American League.

And the other day,

Major League Baseball came

out with their top 10

pitcher power rankings.

And while I agree with a lot of it, I mean,

Scooble's on the list.

Glasnow looks great.

I mean, now he's got the lowest ERA.

Ranger Suarez has been

dominant for the Phillies.

Yamamoto,

despite that first start in Sewell,

he's looked good.

Corbin Burns is an ace.

Again,

maybe the Cy Young candidate for the

American League,

if not for maybe Schuylkill,

which is who was my pick.

Logan Gilbert looks good.

Got lit up, though,

against the Twins the other day.

Jared Jones, part of that.

Pirates pitching staff with Skeens.

Those two guys are going to

be a problem for a long time,

and Pirates baseball is a

lot of fun to watch.

And Jose Barrios.

Now, Zach Wheeler is number one,

and he's the favorite to

win the National League Cy Young.

And so I know Tanner Houck

is in the American League,

and he's not going to win the Cy Young,

at least not right now.

But I want to compare him to Wheeler,

who they have at number one.

And the fact that Tanner

Houck's not in the top ten

kind of bothers me.

So Wheeler has started one

more game than Houck.

Now, record,

you can take that out because

you could have a guy who

has a one-something ERA, and he's 0-6.

And it's just his team

doesn't score for him.

He gives up one, two runs,

and his team's not scoring.

So you can take out the win-loss record.

I don't look at that.

But Wheeler has a higher ERA

than Tanner Houk.

He has a 2.53.

Houk has a 2.24.

The strikeouts is the big difference.

Wheeler has 65.

Houk has 50.

Okay.

That's also, I mean,

Houk's not going to get 15

Ks in one start.

So the one start difference

doesn't really matter.

Wheeler, one start more than Houk,

has pitched 53 and a third innings.

Houk's 52 and a third.

Wheeler also has a 0.99 whip,

and Houk has a 0.97 whip.

Now,

I'm not saying Tanner Houk is Zach

Wheeler,

and I'm not trying to necessarily

compare them exactly.

I'm more so along the lines of saying...

If that's your number one pitcher,

which rightfully so,

he has looked good this year.

He has been dominant.

He had 11 Ks a couple days ago.

And I think he actually, if I remember,

if I saw what I,

remember what I saw correctly,

he struggled in his last outing.

But if you're going to talk

about Zach Lillard as your

number one pitcher,

we got to put Tanner Haupt

in the top 10 conversation here.

I mean, what he's doing,

he's been dominant for the Red Sox.

And it was the question in

the offseason of him being

a reliever and a reliever only.

This team is, I believe,

off the top of my head,

they're two games over .500,

three games over .500 during today.

And right now they're down

4-3 against the Rays,

but they're two games over .500.

This team was expected to

not make the playoffs.

Now they may not.

They really might not.

With all the injuries they've had, I mean,

they're missing Tristan Casas.

They're missing Trevor Story.

They had Devers out for a period of time.

They had Bale out for a period of time.

Whitlock is still out.

Pavetta was out for a period of time.

And they were piecing together things.

And they were winning ballgames.

Now, I mean, the Andrew Bailey,

I've said it so many times,

the Andrew Bailey effect is

proving itself.

that the pitching is good.

And Tanner Houck is the

perfect example of that.

He is not a reliever.

He looks like Chris Sale as a righty.

Does that make everybody

nervous that an injury is coming?

Sure.

It very well might.

But the start that he's had, and again,

we'll see what happens Wednesday,

but I mean, he's looked dominant.

And to not have him on the top 10,

I want a little respect on his name.

And I want the Red Sox to

respect him and get some

more runs for him.

I mean,

we've got Cutter Crawford out here

tonight.

He had three runs in the first inning.

What happens in the bottom of the first?

Tyler O'Neal hits a three-run home run.

We got a tie game.

Now it ended up being 4-3 now.

They're still in the game.

And Cutter Crawford's at 100 pitches.

I mean,

who thought Cutter Crawford was

going to be this kind of guy?

Everybody said, oh,

he's a bullpen guy too.

And I get it.

Everybody wanted a pitcher.

If they had another pitcher,

things are different as well.

But I also made the conversation,

and hit on this all you want.

and this might be the wrong way to word it,

as far as a one through five rotation,

if you put Cutter Crawford

as the number five starter

in a rotation and you put

that against all 29 other MLB teams,

he might be the best number five starter.

Might be.

Again, I'm not saying he is.

I'm not sitting here right

now going through all 29

other teams and looking at their rotation,

who's number five.

But he very well might be.

Right now,

he's pitching at the number two spot.

Okay.

Number three spot.

But at the end of the day,

he's number five starter,

number four starter.

He might be one of the best.

Very well might be.

If not, you want to put Tanner Huck there?

Tanner Huck might be the

best number four starter.

He's going up against Zach

Wheeler in the numbers I just gave you,

and Zach Wheeler's an ace.

So, I know I'm a Red Sox fan.

I might be biased, but

I think he deserves respect

with the numbers he's put

up to this point of the season.

And now Wednesday he'll make his non-start,

so maybe the numbers after

that don't look great,

and it is what it is.

But if he comes out of that

and his numbers look eerily

similar to Zach Wheeler,

at least put him at 10.

He's a top 10.

He should be.

But we can move on from that.

I mean, that is what it is.

The next thing I want to talk about is –

If you're looking to join us, you know,

the link's right there.

I'm looking for anybody who

wants to cover baseball and

just talk about it.

And, you know,

there's stuff you can –

there's always something to do.

There's always something to write about.

There's roster moves.

There's series previews.

There's opinion pieces.

Like I said, I just wrote two last week.

I wrote about the Orioles

needing a reliever,

and I wrote about the Blue

Jays and how they should

look into maybe acquiring Jess Chisholm.

Now,

I just said I think they're out of it.

They're getting close to out of it.

in May, so maybe that's not the move.

But your team needed an infielder,

outfielder like Josh Chisholm,

and you want to write about it?

We've got his place for you.

We've got a lot of options.

I actually just had somebody

reach out to me.

They're a doctor,

and they want to cover injuries.

So you're looking to hear

about somebody suffering an

injury and somebody covering it,

and you want to read an article?

We've got that coming now, too.

So there's a lot of chances

and a lot of different

things that you can come do with us.

So again, the link's right there.

Email comes right to me.

I reach out pretty much

within an hour or two for the most part.

I get you set up on our Slack,

and then it's about two

days to get a WordPress

once I get the info out there,

and you're up and writing

after three days after you

apply pretty much if you're

really interested.

So take a look at the link.

Take a look at the website

if you're unfamiliar.

Let's see what we can do for you.

If you want to reach out to me, feel free.

Let me give you my email here.

Feel free to reach out.

It is, I believe,

silavalley at insidethediamonds.com.

Let me take a look and make sure.

It is silavalley at insidethediamonds.com.

Feel free to reach out to me

there if you want to talk

and see if there's anything we can do.

If you're looking for

something in particular,

if you're nervous about it, again,

this is all part-time for us.

So reach out.

Be happy to hear from you.

I'd be happy to talk to you.

And we'll go from there.

So the next thing is my

prospect of the week.

And JC loves when I do this,

so I hope he actually listens.

I know he's at work.

And while he's working,

I'm sure he'll tune in to a

podcast throughout the week.

I didn't do any pictures this week.

I didn't think any really

stood out to me enough that

I wanted to give them from the top 100.

Again, the new top 100 is not out yet.

I still got to work on that.

I got work to do.

It's a lot of work to do it.

I'm hoping to have it out really soon.

It might be June,

but I'm hoping to have it out in May.

We'll see what happens.

But for right now, the number 12 prospect,

Marcelo Meyer from the Boston Red Sox.

He's on AA Portland,

and hopefully soon he's on

AAA because the numbers he's putting up,

and he's the future of the Red Sox.

He's one of the big three

that everybody talks about.

He went eight for 23 this week,

good for a 347 average.

He had four doubles, one home run,

five RBIs, five runs scored, four walks,

two stolen bases.

On the season,

he's hitting 289 with an 809 OPS,

three home runs, 20 RBIs, 23 runs scored,

and seven stolen bases.

He struggled a little bit in

spring training.

I believe, if I remember correctly,

out of the big three during the

spring breakout game.

He went 0-4.

I think he had three strikeouts.

So,

if you took that small sample size from

what you saw and you're not

tuning into a Portland game, you should.

If you're a Red Sox fan listening to this,

tune into a Portland game.

The future's coming.

They might very well be all

three of them in Worcester very shortly.

They all keep rising up rankings.

So,

They're a lot of fun to watch.

They had a bad week.

I think they went 1-5.

That'll be out tomorrow on

my Red Sox down on the farm.

So check that out.

But, yeah,

they went 1-5 in their six games

against Harrisburg.

Bighamton.

So Bighamton actually took

first place from them, I believe.

Yeah.

Another one I want to talk

about is the eighth overall prospect,

James Wood.

And one of our writers,

he covers the Dimebacks in the Nationals,

chants,

he messaged me every time

this kid goes off and rightfully so,

because,

and he actually wrote about it

the other day about the

fact that they are,

they have a plan with him

and they're not calling him out.

At least it sounds like till August.

And I think that's a mistake

because right now what he's

doing and the international league,

he looks good.

He's playing at Rochester.

He's went 10 for 22 for a

four 54 average for the week.

With a double, 5 home runs, 12 RBIs,

10 runs scored, a stolen base,

and 4 walks.

He is the prospect of the week.

On the season,

he's hitting .346 with a 1.025 OPS.

He's got 7 home runs, 23 RBIs,

33 runs scored, and 9 stolen bases.

This guy is a core piece to

the future of the Washington Nationals.

Among the top 5 of the order

in AA Harrisburg,

who I saw on Wednesday when

I was at the Fishercats game.

And if you haven't read that article,

you should check it out.

It is on the website under

both the Nationals and the

Blue Jays where I covered

the game that I was at,

covered the two Blue Jays

prospects I saw and the

five Nationals prospects I

saw among the rest of the game.

So with that,

we'll move on to the series

to watch this week.

And the first series I want

to talk about to watch this

week is Toronto and Baltimore.

And I was saying it earlier

when I would put the game

on TV that I always like

watching the Orioles and the Blue Jays.

And even with the Blue Jays not being good,

it's still a fun series.

Battle of the Birds.

So, tonight we got a pitcher's duel.

Corbin Burns is facing Jose Barrios.

It's 2-2 right now in the

bottom of the ninth.

So,

Orioles could walk it off here with a

home run.

Oh, and Adley just popped out.

So, and that's one out.

I'm going to get a walk off

while we're live.

Tomorrow,

we got Chris Bassett versus Kyle Bradish.

And then on Wednesday in the finale,

we got Kikuchi versus Cole Irvin.

That's going to be a fun series to watch.

It seems like the Blue Jays,

even though they're struggling,

they show up for this series.

And rightfully so.

Everybody's going to show up

for the Orioles.

They're one of the best teams in baseball.

The next series I want to

talk about is the one that

I mentioned earlier.

It was the Red Sox and the Blue Jays.

And I want to see it more so

because the pitching matchups,

like the Red Sox have –

Their main – well, Bale is back now,

and he won't pitch in this series.

But like I said,

the raised pitching isn't there.

And so can the Red Sox

lineup get something going

and reestablish themselves?

So tonight we had Cutter

Crawford against Zach Eflin.

Tomorrow we have Aaron

Savali versus Nick Pavetta.

Can Pavetta get himself back on track?

He just came off the injured

list and made his first

start against the Braves

last week against Chris Sale.

Taj Bradley.

We'll pitch for the Rays on

Wednesday against Tanner Houck.

And then in the finale on Thursday,

it's a four-game series.

We got Zach Littell against

Cooper Criswell.

Criswell's been a secret

weapon in the rotation

since the injury of Whitlock.

So it's another series.

The final series I'm going

to talk about for the week

is Cleveland and Texas.

And that's because, like I mentioned,

Texas I was wrong about.

And so I want to see with

the Guardians being one of

the best teams with the

best record in the American League,

Can the Rangers, you know,

compete against that right now?

And right now it's 0-0 in

the bottom of the fourth.

And we got Tanner Beebe for

Cleveland going against

Michael Lorenzen for the Rangers.

And then tomorrow it is Ben

Lively versus Jack Leiter.

Big top prospect for the Rangers.

He's not in the top 100.

He was when he was first drafted,

but he seemed to have

struggled in the minors.

Um,

On Wednesday,

it's going to be Carlos

Carrasco versus John Gray.

So that's another series to watch.

Can the Rangers prove, you know,

they're there?

We'll see and see what

happens come after Wednesday.

It'll be something I'll

probably talk about in next

week's podcast and then this weekend.

We got Pirates-Cubs again.

We're going to get Paul Skeens,

his second appearance.

And the big question is, you know,

you make your second appearance,

usually it's against a different team.

Now he's got to learn

quickly with his second start.

He's facing the same team.

So what kind of adjustments

can you make coming out?

Because they've seen you,

and they've seen you for, what did I say,

84 pitches?

So they know what you got.

And how do you attack that

lineup differently in your

second start against them

and immediately use your

second start against them?

And that's something I

talked about with Tanner Houck

a couple weeks ago, perfect example.

His ERA when he faces the

team once was fantastic.

He faces the team the second time,

like the Guardians and the Angels.

He struggled.

So what kind of game plan do

they come up with with Skeens?

Do we see a little bit more

of the splinker,

a little bit more of the off-speed stuff,

or do they just say, hey,

hit him with your fastball in the corner.

Let's get more location on

this and let's see what happens.

That'll be something to

watch this weekend.

That'll be a series to watch.

Right now,

I've heard people say he's going

to go Saturday, Friday.

It seems like to me there was no off days.

He's slated to go Thursday.

If that's the case, I mean,

what do they have for Wednesday?

Yeah, Jared.

Oh, no,

Jared Jones is going to go against

Justin Steele, it looks like.

And then in the first game.

And then the second game is probably – oh,

maybe I'm off here.

Where am I at?

That's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

So Thursday seems like it

will be Jared Jones versus Justin Steele.

So Friday will probably be

Paul Skeens is the plan.

The next series is the

Mariners and the Orioles.

And I talked about the Orioles, you know,

at length tonight.

And the Mariners are a good team.

Right now they lead the

American League West.

So that will be a battle of

two teams tonight.

as of right now at recording,

that lead their division.

By the end of the week, when they match up,

they may not be the case.

But that'll be a series to watch.

Are the Mariners figuring things out?

They have the pitching,

but the lineup has gone off

to a slow start.

So have they figured things out?

We'll see.

And they're probably going

to see Corbin Burns in the final game.

So that's another one.

Guardians-Twins,

a battle of – that's going

to be it for first place at

the end of the week.

The Twins are the hottest team,

like I said earlier.

Could they take first place?

And if they do, they may not give it back.

So that will be a series to watch.

Another one is the Padres and the Braves.

Like I said earlier,

the Padres seem to be getting better.

And the Braves are the Braves.

Both teams are in second

place in their division.

That's actually, I believe,

Sunday Night Baseball this weekend.

So that's a good series to watch.

I watched the Braves-Mets last night.

The Braves lost in that walk-off.

I think otherwise they would have swept.

So that's another series to tune in.

And finally,

the series this weekend that

I'm going to talk about to

watch is the Red Sox and the Cardinals.

And it's not because it's

something to watch.

It's just because it's the

2004 World Series rematch.

And that's something I like

to see and the nostalgia

and they're back at that stadium.

And again,

it's one of those things like

with the new schedule where

everybody plays everybody.

You don't see them play in St.

Louis that often.

So it's nice to tune in for that.

So that is what's coming up

this week with the series to watch.

The final thing I want to

say is when this happens,

especially when it's just me,

I want something to talk about.

So what I want to do is for

those of you that are

watching on YouTube and for

those of you that see us on

Facebook and follow us

there and when this gets posted there,

if you watch it or whatever,

I want you to comment.

on the video or yeah on

youtube on the video and on

facebook on the comment

section and I want to hear

like what team you want to

hear me jc you want to hear

us or one of us whoever it

is what do you want to hear

us talk about like are we

not like if you're a

rockies fan and they're not

having a good season you

want to hear us talk about them

I want to give love to all 30 teams.

And, you know,

there's stuff where I can watch so much.

I mean, I try to watch beginning,

but you don't get all the late games.

And sometimes I'm in bed,

especially with work and everything.

So I don't want to miss out on a team.

And so if I'm lacking a team

and you want to hear more about a team,

let us know.

Give us in the comments.

And if you don't follow us

and if you're just seeing

the article and it's at the

bottom of the article and

you're listening to it there,

you can follow us on all

three socials at Inside the Diamonds.

And just give us a like, give us a follow.

And you know, if you, like I said,

the part of the joint is if

you want to write for your

team and you don't see your team covered,

say something about it, but for sure,

comment on the video and

tell us who we're not covering enough.

And we'll talk about a podcast.

I'm not going to leave anybody out.

I try to cover as much as I

can with as much as I watch

and about who I can talk about.

So let me know.

It's the best I can do.

So with that,

We come to the end of our 10th episode.

I can't believe it's already been 10.

This was like a pipe dream in January.

So we're at 10 episodes.

And with that, we're going to wrap it up.

I hope everybody enjoys

their week of baseball.

There's a lot to watch out there.

We'll see what happens.

I hope you all enjoy your week.

Enjoy the baseball.