Effectively Wild Episode 2441: Re-signed and Resigned

Summary

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Effectively Wild Episode 2441: Re-signed and Resigned

Date: February 18, 2026
Hosts: Ben Lindbergh (The Ringer), Meg Rowley (FanGraphs)
Guests: Eric Longenhagen, Brendan Golowski (FanGraphs prospect analysts)
Main Theme:
Daily baseball analysis, with this episode focusing on notable MLB transactions, labor news—including the resignation of MLBPA chief Tony Clark—and a deep dive into FanGraphs’ newly released Top 100 Prospects list.

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Episode Overview

This episode begins with Ben and Meg catching up on several developments around MLB—including late-offseason transactions, injury updates, and labor movement in the league, headlined by Tony Clark’s resignation from the MLBPA. The main segment features a stats-and-scouts-rich discussion with prospect analysts Eric Longenhagen and Brendan Golowski regarding the new FanGraphs Top 100 (actually Top 110) prospects list, with in-depth talk on high-profile risers and the state of minor league talent.

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Key Segments and Insights

1. Major MLB News & Transactions

Timestamp: 01:07–03:59

• Tony Clark’s Resignation as MLBPA Director

  • This is breaking news amid “a developing situation,” occurring just ahead of crucial labor negotiations (01:07).
  • The hosts foreshadow discussion of the implications for ongoing bargaining and union leadership transitions.
  • Notable Quote:
    • Ben (01:37): “...this is big news, obviously, on the eve of bargaining for the head of the MLBPA to be resigning…”

• Active Padres & Diamondbacks Offseasons

  • Padres have acquired Herman Marquez, Griffin Canning, Nick Castellanos, and signed Walker Buehler to a minor league deal (02:12–02:29).
  • AJ Preller receives an extension as President of Baseball Operations (02:30–02:41).
  • Phillies had to release Castellanos, with the Padres signing him for the league minimum after trade attempts failed (02:50–03:10).

• Diamondbacks Re-sign Zach Gallen & Minor League Deal With Joe Ross

  • Gallen signs for the qualifying offer amount; most money deferred, meaning less present value (03:37–04:39).
  • Noted as a crucial piece of Ben and Meg’s annual free agent contracts over/under draft contest, with Ben emerging as the close winner:
    • “Just an improbable come-from-behind victory...the smallest margin in Effectively Wild free agent contracts over/under draft history...8 million makes all the difference!” —Host banter (05:46)
  • Ben on Winning (06:21):
    “I feel bad that this trivial victory...comes at the expense of players making less than they were forecast for...but I will say you were so obnoxious about your minor league free agent draft win last year that I am taking extra pleasure in this.”

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2. Injury and Player/Culture Updates

Timestamp: 10:02–11:50

• Pablo López (Twins) Out With UCL Tear

  • The Twins outlook worsens after losing their ace to likely season-ending surgery (10:09).

• Bryce Harper & Clubhouse Dynamic

  • Harper is still publicly stung by Dave Dombrowski’s critical comments about his previous season.
  • Quote (11:36):
    • Harper (paraphrased by Meg):
      “The big thing for me was when we first met with this organization, it was, ‘Hey, we’re always going to keep things in house’...So when that didn’t happen, it kind of took me for a run...I know that [my numbers] weren’t where they needed to be. I know that.”
  • Harper says he isn’t “motivated by that kind of stuff” but, as Ben quips, “Clearly somewhat motivated by it,” referencing Harper's “not elite” t-shirt and visible reaction (12:50).

• Dodgers Spending as Labor Narrative

  • Both Harper and Manny Machado publicly offer support for the Dodgers' aggressive spending, which seems almost coordinated—possibly reflecting union talking points ahead of contentious CBA negotiations (14:03–16:27).
  • Machado Quote (15:13):
    “I love it. I mean, honestly, I think every team should be doing it. The Dodgers have figured out a way to do it. It's great for the game. Every team has ability to do it. So I hope all 30 teams could learn from that.”
  • Meg outlines how these strategic statements counter the “salary cap” arguments and help build a united labor front (16:43–20:18).

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3. Rule & Procedural Updates

Timestamp: 21:27–29:36

• ABS/Challenge System and K-Zone Graphics
  • Initial hopes for the challenge/ABS system eliminating the “K-Zone” box on broadcasts are dashed—MLB is only requesting subtle standardization of the box (23:58–24:36).
  • Extra-inning challenges have new procedures: teams get an extra challenge if they run out (27:47–28:12).
  • Quirky rule: No pitch challenge allowed when a position player is pitching (28:31–28:35).

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4. Wagering & Integrity Scandal: Emmanuel Clase

Timestamp: 29:36–38:05

• Update on Clase (Guardians)
  • Details continue to emerge about allegedly fixing pitches—a growing number over more games, including a confirmed postseason instance (30:46).
  • Ben voices concern about the “competitive integrity of the entire enterprise” and the league’s reliance on “a lot of people simultaneously having some sense of integrity or principle for it to all hang together. And that's unpleasant to think about because we know people...” (34:53).
  • Still-unknown: Why Clase did it, and whether he benefitted meaningfully (35:05–36:20).

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5. Other Brief Player/Team Notes

Timestamp: 38:47–44:23

• Brewers sign Luis Rengifo (38:47) for infield depth
• Mike Trout wants to play center field despite injury history and age (39:06–44:23)
  • “He says he feels more comfortable in center…and he says…he felt like he was running more in right field...” (39:56)
  • Hosts speculate on balancing Trout’s preferences, value as a center fielder, and the team’s competitive reality (“We project the Angels to win 72 games…”).

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Deep Dive: FanGraphs Top 100 Prospects

Timestamp: 60:21–106:10
Guests: Eric Longenhagen, Brendan Golowski

1. The #1 Prospect: Connor Griffin (Pirates)

Timestamp: 61:08–72:26

• Rapid ascent: From outside top 100s a year prior to clear consensus #1 (61:08–61:48).
• Comparable “meteoric” rises: Vlad Jr., Wander Franco, Mike Trout.
• Griffin is excelling defensively, added strength during the season, now a plus shortstop and “special in every way” (63:51–65:50).
  • Eric: “It’s hard to deny that he does everything well to like very, very well, including the defensive part of it...”
• Marriage at 19 signals maturity/early timeline.
• Debut expectations: Think Hanley Ramirez or Tatis Jr.—not average hit tool, but plus defense and power will drive early value. “A two-and-a-half, three-and-a-half win player in year one.” (70:54)

2. Tigers’ Draft Success: Max Clark & Kevin McGonigle

Timestamp: 72:26–77:10

• Both have mature approaches, advanced tools and are close to MLB.
  • McGonigle: “Highest hit tool on our entire list.”
  • Max Clark: “Chance to be a plus center fielder...really explosive hands...”
• Both are expected to debut soon (2026), with the Tigers’ 2024 draft potentially “resetting the entire trajectory of their franchise.”

3. More on Shortstop Talent Horde

Timestamp: 77:12–80:46

• Seven of the top 15 prospects are shortstops, many projected to move quickly.
• Jesus Amezcua (Brewers) and Leo De Vries (Angels): Both still teens but already advanced, with De Vries reaching AA at 18.

4. Pitchers on the Rise

Timestamp: 80:46–88:03

• Notably high number of pitchers on this year’s list; possibly cyclical, partly due to late graduations and partly to how few hitters can handle big-league velocity now.
• Eric’s pick to wow: Brody Hopkins (Rays), a recent conversion with huge stuff who could become a lights-out reliever or even more.
• Brendan’s highlight: Ryan Sloan (Mariners), for “three plus pitches, good athlete, plus command” (84:04).

5. The "Why so many pitchers?” Discussion

Timestamp: 85:28–89:41

• Though top position prospects are usually more valuable, the depth and injury risk among pitchers always means teams need more.
• The line between “backup big league role” and impact contributor is easier for pitchers to cross.

6. Prospect Fatigue: Ethan Salas (Padres)

Timestamp: 89:41–91:41

• Once anointed as a teenage phenom, injuries and underperformance have lessened hype, though the fundamental tools and upside remain intact.

7. Public Prospects vs. Team Lists

Timestamp: 91:41–94:09

• Insider perspective: Team lists focus more on finding “any shot at being good” and will stick with players longer, while public rankings tend to be more conservative and drop risky players faster.

8. Favorite Prospects and “Pick to Click” for 2027

Timestamp: 94:09–106:10

• "My guys": Carson Benji (Mets) and Bryce Rayner stood out for their electric skills and tools.
• Clash on Carson Williams: High defense, power, and youth but also a serious swing/miss risk—comped to Willy Adames and Trevor Story.
• Fast risers to impact MLB in 2026:
  • Eric: Brandon Sproat (Brewers)—“bet he gets back to being the well-rounded, heavy sinking fastball, great change up, upper 90s starter…”
  • Brendan: Dylan Beavers (Orioles)—likely solid, if not superstar, from day one.
• Under-the-radar "pick to click":
  • Bishop Letson (Brewers)—could be “Jacob Misiorowski 2.0”
  • Trey Gregory-Alford (Angels)—nasty fastball, potential to break out under new pitching development.

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Notable Quotes & Light Moments

• “We want guys to make their money…But I will say you were so obnoxious about your minor league free agent draft win last year that I am taking extra pleasure in this.” (Ben, 06:21)
• “Making sure all 1200 plus players have a true opinion on this and a true understanding of everything we know is more important than filling it as soon as possible.” (Chris Bassett quoted, 106:34)
• “You can be honest about what’s going on. You can be like—‘That really pissed me off, I’m gonna prove him wrong.’” (Ben on player motivations, 13:22)

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Episode Structure/Timestamps

• [00:01] – Opening banter
• [01:07] – MLBPA/Tony Clark news
• [01:52] – Transaction/Signing rundown (Padres, D-backs, etc.)
• [10:02] – Injury news and spring training issues (Lopez, Harper)
• [14:03] – Payroll narratives & labor relations
• [21:27] – Challenge system/K-Zone
• [29:36] – Integrity scandal: Emmanuel Clase
• [38:47] – Infield depth (Brewers), Trout/Angels discussion
• [44:36] – In-depth on Tony Clark’s resignation, MLBPA stability
• [60:21] – Prospect roundtable: Top 100, favorite players, state of prospect world
• [106:10] – Final thoughts, credits, and light outro moments

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Overall Tone

• Smart, inside-baseball banter: Deep, precise, and playful as always; dense in statistical and procedural references, punctuated by self-aware jokes and friendly ribbing among the hosts.
• Nuanced labor discussion: Especially in the Tony Clark and Dodgers sections, Meg and Ben balance analysis, speculation, and a sense of the high stakes ahead.
• Prospect segment: Dense with information, full of enthusiasm, varied in level of certainty and risk, transparent about the difficulty in forecasting teenage or newly converted prospects.

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For New Listeners

This episode is an ideal listen for fans interested in:

• Understanding MLBPA dynamics during a leadership crisis
• Recent offseason moves and their roster impacts
• Discovering which prospects might impact MLB in 2026 or beyond—and why
• The state of prospect evaluation and trends in pitching/hitting development
• The return of baseball’s favorite, most irreverent statistical banter

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Listen for...

• The inside look at how players and staff shape labor narratives before CBA talks (15:01–20:18)
• What makes a generational prospect, through the story of Connor Griffin (61:08–72:26)
• A comfortingly nerdy debate on the practicalities of MLB graphics (23:58–27:43)
• The sobering reality—and odd motivations—of sport’s integrity crises (29:36–38:05)
• The annual free agent contract draft results—always a tongue-in-cheek highlight of Effectively Wild rivalry (05:46–06:21)

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps & Attribution)

• “He signed for the qualifying offer amount...He got the same guarantee, but most of it is deferred now.” – Meg Rowley on Zach Gallen (04:34)
• “You want your membership to have confidence in the union...If the owners decide they really want a salary cap and they are willing to lose games over it, you are going to have to ask your membership to sacrifice and lose money to hold what I think is a very important line.” – Meg (53:50)
• “There are certain players who...just rise to it...when you’re doing it every day for longer than you ever have in your life.” – Eric Longenhagen on Connor Griffin’s rapid development (67:47)
• “I have so much editing to do and you’re going to grandstand, you’re going to Adrian Brody this.” – Ben, playfully ribbing Meg about the over/under draft win (08:47)
• “The field looks small for him...There are really great players. Jose Altuve has been, had an amazing career. He doesn’t make the field look small...Connor Griffin does.” – Eric Longenhagen (68:00)

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Final Notes

If you care about the intersection of player development, statistical analysis, labor politics, and the ongoing drama of major league baseball, this Effectively Wild episode is a dense, insightful, and surprisingly fun listen. Be sure to check the episode page on FanGraphs for full links to the Top 100 Prospects list, the “Prospects We Disagreed About” article, and more deep dives.

Transcript

[Ben Lindbergh]

It's Effectively Wild and it's wildly effective at putting baseball into perfect perspective. Impressively smart and impeccably styled.

[Meg Relly]

It's the wildly effective Effectively wild spin right along Shango rather than war.

[Ben Lindbergh]

You might hear something you never heard before.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Hello and welcome to episode 2441 of.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Effectively Wild, a baseball podcast from Fangraphs.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Presented by our Patreon supporters. I am Ben Lindbergh of the Ringer, joined by Meg Relly of fangraphts.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Hello, Meg.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Hello.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

We are taking a brief break, pressing.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Pause on our season preview series, which will resume later this week.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But today we're bringing you some prospect.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Talk from fangraphs prospect analysts Eric Langenhagen.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And Brendan Golowski, who published the their top 100 prospect lists this week.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And we will be discussing it. But first, just a bit of news to discuss.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

A few things have happened in baseball, one of which involves Tony Clark, who as we speak, I suppose technically is still the head of the mlbpa, but will not be for long, may not be by the time you're hearing this. And this is such a developing situation and meetings are taking place about this right now and reports are trickling out that maybe I'll just leave that for the end of the intro, just in case anything substantive comes out before we get to that.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

But I think more will certainly come out in the days and weeks ahead. But this is big news, obviously, on the eve of bargaining for the head of the MLBPA to be residing. So we will discuss some of the implications of that.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Just a quick little roundup of some transactions and player news and signings and such. As is always the case, we have.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

To start the season preview series early in order to finish by an early opening day, which means that teams continue to do stuff after we talk about them. So we previewed the Padres, we previewed the Diamondbacks.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

They've been busy. The Padres, since we talked about them last week, went and got Herman Marquez.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And Griffin Canning and Nick Castellanos is now a San Diego Padre.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Walker Bueller.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah. Oh, I missed that. That just happened, too.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Minor league deal signed yesterday.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And they did indeed sign AJ Preller to an extension of, I believe, undisclosed length. So we talked about how that seemed to be in the offing. Teams don't love to go into seasons.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

With pobos being lame ducks. And so they have signed Preller to.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Some sort of extension. And so he's the one making these moves.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And teams just waited out the Phillies with Castellanos. The Phillies seemingly were, were trying to.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Trade him somewhere they were hanging on.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

To him even though it was just a fade accompli that he would be going somewhere. But they ultimately just made them cut him loose and now the Padres have picked him up for league minimum.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

I don't know exactly how and where he fits on the Padres, but he's now on that team and change of.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Scenery very much seemed to be in order there. But the Phillies couldn't find a taker where, you know, some team would pay some portion of the remaining money or give them a prospect or something. Nah, I guess teams kind of had the Phillies where they wanted them on Castellanos, so they knew that his days were numbered.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Now he's on the Padres and also.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

The Diamondbacks after we discussed them last week.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Well, not only did they sign my number one minor league free agent draftee.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Joe Ross, but slightly bigger news, they did indeed bring back Zach Gallen, a possibility that we discussed on our preview. We talked about how they needed a starter.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Well now they got one and it's.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

The same as the guy they had before. Lots of just bringing back players that they had in last year's rotation. But obviously this has implications not just, not just for the Diamondbacks NL west, but for the effectively wild free agent contracts over.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Underdraft decided in your favor. Stunning buzzer beating fashion.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Just thrilling conclusion.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And as we discussed recently, he had to sign for $30 million or less.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And indeed he did. He signed for the qualifying offer amount.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yes.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Now unfortunately for Galland, he I suppose did himself a disservice by not taking the qualifying offer in retrospect because he got the same guarantee, 22.02 million, but most of it is deferred now. Yeah, and so he's actually getting less money in present day value than he would have if he had just accepted the qualifying offer and not been twisting in the wind all winter.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

So I guess he misjudged the market or the interest in him coming off a down season or seasons and with the draft pick compensation attached.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah, so.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

So that didn't work out well for.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Him or for Scott Boris. I suppose his agent, we can relitigate the whole is Boris washed? Conversation.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

No, he's not.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

But evidently there are some misfires and.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

You know, if he stays true to.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

History, then maybe Gallen will have a bounce back year and he'll hit the market again next winter and he'll do great for himself.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Unencumbered.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah, but didn't do so great this winter. However, this does work out in in your favor.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Just an improbable come from behind victory. I guess we're, we both came from behind, but you came from behind last.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And you got the last laugh here.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And we're separated by a mere 8 million bucks. This is, I believe, the smallest margin in effectively wild free agent contracts over underdraft history. So it was 265 million for you and 257 million for me.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And that 8 million makes all the difference. Congrats to you and to all of us because this was quite an entertaining competition.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah. And once again I'd like to say that I, I feel bad that this trivial victory, this, you know, bit of bragging rights and really nothing else comes at the expense of players making less than they were forecast for. Right. You know, we want, we want guys to make their money. We're not opposed to anyone getting the bag. But I will say you were so obnoxious about your minor league free agent draft win last year that I am taking extra pleasure in this. And I know it was a squeaker. I know it was close, which I think is more a testament to how well dialed in these estimates are, have been and especially are lately. Right. There isn't quite as much big margin to be had. Although, you know, we've each enjoyed a couple of deals that have really moved.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

The needle for us. Yeah.

[Ben Lindbergh]

But you know, I'd like to thank my family and the intense prep that I did for the draft and I guess also these markets being misjudged in some cases. But I'd like it if, I'd like it if we were winning on the overs more often than on the unders. And you know, as we go into a contentious labor year, I worry about that. Although the last time guys were about to get locked out, teams doled out a, just a boatload of money right at the last minute. So who knows what we'll see come December. But yeah, what a, what a wild ride, what a roller coaster it was. I'm excited to get to watch Gallon in the desert again. Last year didn't go well for him. But when you know he's right, like it's, he's really fun. He's a really fun pitcher to watch. He's got the glasses. You know, we love a guy in stock specs out there on the mound. So I hope that this is a nice bounce back year for Zach Allen and that he is able to secure the contract that he wants and I think at various points in his career has very obviously deserved. But in the meantime, I'm glad for you to get taken Down a peg, buddy.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yes.

[Ben Lindbergh]

There we go.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

You earned it. And it was in fact a squeaker, unlike the minor league free agent draft, which I won. Okay.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And it was really just, you know.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

This was more entertaining, I think, because it came down to the wire faster.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Than usual, this episode. I have so much editing to do and you're going to, you're going to grandstand, you're going to Adrian Brody this.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

No, you're done the other draft.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Kind of just like waiting to see.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

How much I would win by.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Whereas.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Okay.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

In this.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Anyway, what else you got for me? I'm going to hang up and go work if you're going to do this.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

I'm happy to see though that we both still got it because when we did this over underdraft, we, we were thinking, well, maybe there's no point anymore because the predictions are so well calibrated that maybe there's no edge here and.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Maybe there's no point in continuing to do it. But we ended up being a combined 500 million plus bucks in the right direction, I guess.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Given our forecast, which you know, was.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Largely because of this trend towards players.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And teams meeting on these, these trampoline.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Contracts, these short term high AAV as.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Opposed to maximizing the year. So if this becomes the norm and MLP trade rumors starts predicting those.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Well, I guess we'll continue to evaluate.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Whether there's any point in doing this.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But I'm glad we did it this.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Year because it led to a quite entertaining outcome. I was hoping that he'd signed for exactly 30 million so that you would win by the 025, but it was.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Quite close as it is. Okay, so that was exciting. And also more injury news has continued to pile up.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

So we did do a Twins preview and since then Pablo Lopez, it has come out now, has a torn UCL and is likely facing season ending surgery. So not that the, the Twins preview wasn't dismaying enough, but if we were to do it again today, it might be even more dismaying. So that's not great.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Also coming out of Philly's camp, not.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Just Nick Castellano's departing, but Bryce Harper.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Continuing to re air his displeasure about Dave Dombrowski's comments, which were just honest.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

I guess, and fairly accurate. His evaluation of Bryce Harper's season and how it was good but less than elite, not as great as he's been before.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And I don't know whether Dombrowski was just caught in a moment of candor and was just saying what he thought, which is not Usually what team executives do or whether he was hoping to motivate or Harper light a fire under him somehow. But obviously, Harper was upset about that.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

At the time and about the trade rumors that Dombrowski's comments spawned, which he wasn't actually suggesting they would trade him. But of course, sports talkers took that and ran with it. And so Harper did not take kindly to that and asked about it again at Philly's camp.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

He, in somewhat more measured terms, but.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Still smarting from that, clearly just said, I don't get motivated by that kind of stuff. For me, it was wild, the whole situation happening.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

The big thing for me was when we first met with this organization, it was, hey, we're always going to keep things in house, and we expect you to do the same thing. So when that didn't happen, it kind of took me for a run a little bit. Obviously, I didn't have the year I wanted. Obviously, I didn't have the postseason I wanted. My numbers weren't where they needed to be. I know that.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And I don't need to be motivated to be great in my career or anything else. That's just not a motivating factor for me. For Dave to come out and say those things, it's kind of wild and maybe ineffectively wild. If Harper is to be believed, though.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Wouldn'T be shocked if he just has.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

A Bryce Harper revenge year, I think.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Right.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

He was. He was wearing a. A not elite shirt. I mean, clearly this. This touched a nerve. And I don't know whether this had anything to do with the alternative treatments that he has pursued and that we have discussed to no end this offseason.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Wait, what. What. What would. What about his. What alternative treatments would he have pursued that would make him grouchy? You make.

[Eric Longenhagen]

Well, yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

I don't know whether the circulation of the blood makes him grouchy or whether they're just a manifestation of his motivation.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Or his own lack of contentment with how he plays.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

So I wouldn't be surprised if, even though he says he's not motivated by this, that maybe he actually is.

[Ben Lindbergh]

And I mean, sorry, my not elite T shirt has people asking a lot of questions like he. He's. He's clearly somewhat motivated by this. Like he.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yes, I think so.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Clearly somewhat motivated by it.

[Meg Relly]

You know?

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah, I. And look, fine, you know, sticking it to your boss that that's a motivation as. As old as time.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Sure.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Tale as old as time, but. Bryce. Bryce.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah, we can.

[Ben Lindbergh]

You can. You can be honest about what's Going on. You can be like that. Really pissed me off. I'm. I'm proven wrong. I'm gonna prove him wrong, you know?

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And I don't know whether that will make him play better or not, because presumably he's.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

He's trying his best at all times. And so maybe if he's just consumed by rage and he's just, like, seeing Dave Dombrowski's face superimposed on every pitcher's body he faces this season, like, I don't know whether.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Whether that'll help or.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Or hinder his efforts, but, wow, George Plimpton's delivery.

[Ben Lindbergh]

So weird.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah, there is a resemblance there. Still got great hair after all these years. But you know what? So does Bryce. Anyway. Yeah, so we'll see how that all plays out.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

But clearly still smarting a little bit.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Still a little bad blood, so to speak. Anyway, I also noticed that Harper and Machado both addressed the Dodgers and their spending okay in a way that almost made it seem to me as if there were marching orders, there were talking points, perhaps provided by the union.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

I don't know who at the union.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But there are a lot of other.

[Ben Lindbergh]

People who work there. Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yes, it's true. But since we were talking about how various columnists are framing payroll pieces and salary cap pieces around the Dodgers and.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Kyle Tucker, and there's been so much just unrest among fans and public sentiment about the Dodgers, and Harper said, I.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Love what the Dodgers do. Obviously, they pay the money, they spend the money.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

I mean, they're a great team.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

They understand how to run it.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

They run their team like a business, and they run it the right way. They understand where they need to put their money into. You might almost think that he's trying to work his way onto the Dodgers.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Or something, that he's that sick of Dave Debraski. But he did reportedly pass up an.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Offer from the Dodgers when he was a free agent.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But I don't think it's that, because Manny Machado on the Padres was saying the same thing he said, and I'm going to quote Machado here with some.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Profanity, so be warned. I love it.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

I love it. I mean, honestly, I think every team should be doing it. The Dodgers have figured out a way to do it. It's great for the game. Every team has ability to do it. So I hope all 30 teams could learn from that. And cue the chorus of people saying.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Not all teams could do exactly what the Dodgers do. It's absolutely true. They don't have the same resources, but.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

If he's just suggesting that many of them could spend more than they have.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Been spending then I'm largely with him on that.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And that's coming from Manny Machado, division rival of the Dodgers. And there's been plenty of bad blood between those two teams. So that almost makes it sound to me like, you know how when we had Vinnie and Brent Rooker on the.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Pod and they were talking about the players kind of reclaiming the narrative and making a proactive case as opposed to just being on their back foot. That and signaling that, hey, a lockout that's owner driven, that's not player driven.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Which not everyone would know. I wonder whether this is something that.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

The players have decided to present some sort of united front here, to have some influential veterans and stars and high earners say, hey, this is actually not a reason to impose a salary cap.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

We like this. We approve of this.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

We want teams to be aggressive. I don't know, it was conspicuous. But the fact that they were both saying similar things at roughly the same time stood out to me.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Do you, do we know if they were asked or if they volunteered this proactively?

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah, that's a good question. I just. Hey, anyone wondering what I think about the Dodgers? This memo with talking points suggests that I should bring up the. No, I don't know.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah, I would imagine that it is somewhat calculated that there have been maybe if. Maybe not talking points necessarily, but. But sort of guidance given and just as well. Right. Like you're going into a period where you are. You understand there needs to be a shaping of the public narrative around this stuff, that there is value in players presenting a united front. Having it come from a direct division rival who, as you noted, no love lost for the Dodgers. Right. And a guy playing for a team that very reasonably might expect to have to bypass the Dodgers in order to make it to the World Series. That they would say like, hey, why don't we all get on the same page here? It's I think the way. And I'm not saying you're suggesting this is like bad or anything, but I always find it curious when people are like, well, they got talking points. Well, it's like, well yeah, yeah, they should. They should. You need to present your message on this stuff publicly. And, and this isn't this guy, these guys job. Right. Like having a position and sort of a well calibrated response on labor questions isn't necessarily Bryce Harper's job. Bryce Harper's job is to drink weird milk and hopefully prove his boss wrong. Right. Manny Machado's job is to make the Dodgers life difficult. Not to say they're cool. I think having, you know, messaging around this stuff is good. I do think that, you know, one of the. The challenges that the players are going to face over the next year is finding a way to articulate this stuff not in terms of team capacity, but in terms of directly countering some of the, I think incorrect, but at this point, pervasive talking points that the league has put forth, that this is a question of competitive balance. Right. This is about competitive balance. Because on some level, hearing a player say, yeah, we love it when a team spends on players, well, that's an unsurprising conclusion for them to draw. Right. Because they're players. Of course they want players to get paid. These guys happen to have already gotten paid. So I suppose they could do a, like. Well, I got mine and now I'd love a salary cap so that this team I don't like, can't play well. But, you know, that that piece of. It's not surprising to me. I do think they need to think about, like, how do we put this in terms that are compelling to fans? Because I. I do think that a lot of fans kind of buy the argument that the league is making. I think that argument is incorrect, and I think it's also insincere. But I think that, you know, that that particular argument needs to be met head on. But you can only answer the question you were asked, you know, within sort of reasonable bounds. So it's better for them to come out and say no. I think what they're doing is great. Even though, like, I have to deal with the Dodgers 13 times a year or however many games it is for division rivals. And they're the. The main stumbling block for us getting to the World Series. But I'd rather they do this than not. Yeah, Harper getting on the Dodgers would be weird. Like, where would he even play? They have a first baseman. Could he be a shortstop? They have one of those. Could he be the dh? Wait, no, he.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

They do have a pretty good dh.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Is blood guy a position? He could be their blood guy. That makes it sound like he's doing something very nefarious. Yeah, yeah, I'm their blood guy.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

You know, that might be one way.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

To take down the Dodgers.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Just appoint Bryce Harper as the.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Introduce the concept of raw milk to alternative medicine.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah, just have him be the trainer, team doctor, whatever it is.

[Ben Lindbergh]

I'm here to deal with your blood. He's like a shady weed dealer. You have to like, before you get the blood from him, you have to let him like play video games for half an hour.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah. I'm imagining Brace Harper just trying to.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Go to his happy place at the plate. And it's like Happy Gilmore when Happy tries to go to his happy place and Julie Bowen is lying there with pitchers of beer in her negligee. And then shooter McGavin crashes his happy place and starts making out with her. Except it's Dave Dombrowski.

[Ben Lindbergh]

He should, he should change his, his walk up music to Blood bank by Bon Iver just to troll the rest of us.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah, okay. Yeah. And one thing that I know annoys people about the Dodgers is it's not just when they outspend everyone, but when they don't even have to because they get a discount on a guy. And that's sort of what happened with Max Muncie because it wasn't huge news.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

But he signed a one year extension and it's a guaranteed 10 million. And then there's a.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

He gets 7 million next year and he has a club option worth 10 million for 2028.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And I know that he's 35 and he's had his ups and downs, but he's still a pretty good, productive player. And he just like, clearly is not interested in testing the market. Like he just wants to be a Dodger. He's been a Dodger. The Dodgers sort of salvaged him and he's, he's not going market rate. So that is a complication because the.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Dodgers have been so good for so.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Long, not only can they outspend everyone.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But also sometimes people just want to play there.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And that's kind of tougher to counteract, at least without getting in the way of their being able to spend and attract good players and win every year. But it would take some time to dismantle the Dodgers reputation.

[Ben Lindbergh]

I do think that this stuff washes over fans differently when it's like the guy who's been there. Yeah, Muncie. I mean, obviously he didn't start his career with the Dodgers, famously, but he's.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

A Dodger, you know, he's a Dodgers find. Yeah, he's a Dodgers. They developed him. Yeah.

[Ben Lindbergh]

And I think that he is so closely associated with that franchise. He's been there for a decade now. Right. Like this is. He's going into his 11th season with them. So I do think that these tend to not bother people quite as much. But you're, you're not wrong. He's also a specs guy. You know, a specs guy and a Teen Wolf guy. He looks like Teen Wolf. He looks like he's like pre full transition to Teen Wolf. He does. It's not even a hair thing. It's like he has prominent canines, you know.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Gosh, the Dodgers signed him.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Well, April, I'm. I'm letting that.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

I'm just. Yeah, sure. Teen Wolf. Yeah, whatever you said. Yeah, he does.

[Ben Lindbergh]

He looks like Teen Wolf. He looks like a. He looks like a mid transition to Teen Wolf.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Teen Wolf. I guess it's.

[Ben Lindbergh]

You know, stop thinking about it now.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

April 2017 is when they signed him.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

So nine years almost. But yeah, for the Dodgers, that's. It's a long time. They're not very homegrown these days.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Also, we got just a couple of clarifications and details about the Challenge system. Nothing really revealing because we kind of had some sense of how it would work. But one slight downer because we had sort of celebrated that the implementation of.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

ABS in any form, the challenge system might mean the end of K zone.

[Meg Relly]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And sounds like that won't actually be the case.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

No. Yeah. It might lead to a change, but here's what the mlp.com explainer says. Will the broadcast still feature the strike zone box?

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

It remains up to the individual broadcasters to determine whether and how to present the zone. The only change is that MLB is.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Now requesting broadcasters no longer differentiate the circle in the box depending on whether the pitch is a ball or a strike. In other words, some broadcasts would show a filled in circle on the zone if the pitch was a strike and a hollow circle if it was a ball. MLB is asking its broadcast partners to do one or the other, but not both.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

So why, I guess a, the broadcasts.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Are not bound to do anything differently if they don't want to, but be ungovernable.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah. I mean, I guess MLB is itself.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Overseeing a lot of baseball broadcasts now.

[Ben Lindbergh]

So they get their way along.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

They can kind of do their own thing. Maybe there, but this is such a subtle change. It wasn't until fairly recently that I even noticed the filled in circle versus hollow circle thing. I mean, I think Sam may have mentioned it in a pebble hunting and I thought, oh yeah, that does happen. But I didn't even really notice it before then because really where the circle.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Is in relation to the box is kind of all you need to know because it will be filled in or hollow depending on whether it intersects with the strike zone on the screen. So it's not like there's much mystery there.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Right. So no this doesn't appear to be.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Changing in any significant way.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And I guess that's kind of unfortunate because you know, even though you can kind of come to rely on the K zone and maybe you even think you like it, it does tend to.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Make you dissatisfied and upset at all times.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And, and there's still going to be.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

A delay in stadium or you know, in stadium, like depending on the feed that you're seeing, it won't show this at all. Or you know, there will still be a broadcast delay of course, as there has been to this point, which is kind of annoying. You know, it's, it's going to be like a nine second delay when you're watching on MLB TV and then there's like a five second delay on game day or whatever. I don't know if the delays are longer than they were or not. The downside of the delays, as we have noted, is that the center field.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Camera is the one with the delay.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And so there's this, once you're aware of it, there's this sort of jarring little change because there's like five extra frames added because of the K zone so that they can, you know, render.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

That in real time.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Ish. And that's on the center field camera. So when you switch from another camera to the center field camera, you're sort of like losing 2/10 of a second.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Or something and then you switch back to the field view and you're fast forwarding essentially you're kind of losing a little time. And so you lose a little field.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Or reaction time and you're less likely to see someone make a catch on a sharp comeback or that kind of thing. And maybe you can tell with the.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Crowd noise, it's, it's subtle but can bother people when they become aware of it. But yeah, we're going to continue to.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

See broadcast delays and you know, in stadium this is all concern about sign stealing and you know, people picking up on stuff in real time and using it to challenge or whatever. And so, you know, in, in the stadium the strike zone box will only appear like in the broadcast booth. It won't be on the Jumbotrons and any monitors people can see. And I guess it's, it's slightly disappointing though that K zone will probably continue to be a thing. So yeah, you know, we're kind of pro challenge system anyway, but that seemed to be an additional benefit that maybe we won't actually get.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah, I agree. Boo boo.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And one nice little thing is that.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

I don't know if this was confirmed or assumed before, but there are two challenges. But then in extra innings, you get an extra challenge because you're kind of managing under the assumption that it will be nine innings. So if the game goes to extras, if you start the extra inning out of challenges, then you get a challenge.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

For the 10th inning.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And if you use that, you get another challenge for the 11th.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And if you have challenges remaining at the start of the 10th, you won't.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Get an additional challenge, but you will for a subsequent inning if they're out of challenges at the start of that inning. So that's good. I guess. You don't want teams to have used their challenges and then be in those high leverage, late inning or extra inning moments without them.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And also, this was kind of amusing, but when a position player pitcher is.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Out there, you can't challenge, which is.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Just kind of funny. I mean, there can still be funny. Yeah, there can still be bad calls. Maybe even you're more likely to get bad calls potentially. I don't know.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Just because once you've gotten to that point, it's like, move it.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

It's just like, who cares? Yes. Let's wrap this up.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And also, you can't challenge after replay reviews, the article says, so as to avoid a complex series of challenges. So like nested challenges, just contingent challenge on another challenge. But if there is potential for a replay review after an ABS challenge, umpires will check to see if either manager.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Wants to initiate a replay review before restarting the pitch clock. If a challenge and a replay review are requested simultaneously, the ABS challenge will be accepted first. So, okay, lots of little wrinkles that are being straightened out and announced. So I'll link to that if there's any question in anyone's mind about how this system will function. In speaking about individual pitches and calls.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

The Emanuel class A stuff just keeps getting worse. Like it keeps coming out in dribs.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And drabs and indictments are getting unsealed. And you know, Luis Ortiz is trying to sever his case from Class A's, because I would too, if I were him. Seems. Seems to be much worse. Which doesn't mean Ortiz is innocent, but he doesn't want to be lumped in.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

With Class A and, and maybe wants.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

To sort of paint himself as I, he was the ringleader and I just went along with it, which, based on what we know, seems like it may well be the case. Which doesn't absolve Ortiz, but he doesn't seem to have been doing it as long or as often as Class A was, but there are all sorts of details about how, yes, he was trying to kind of. Of code it, hide it, and make it be about cockfighting and, and rooster stuff. And the feds are saying that is.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Not what it was.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And, you know, additional folks have been charged here. But I guess the biggest news is that prosecutors have implicated him on some.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Additional pitches because it was nine pitches mentioned in the initial indictment, and now.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

It seems to be up to 15.

[Meg Relly]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Including one pitch, at least in the postseason in Game 1 in the ALDS in 2024. Because the indictment had said that it.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Started in 2023 and continued through 2025.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

But hadn't mentioned any specific instances in 2024. Yeah, but now it is lumping in that playoff case.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And, and when we talked about this and when I wrote about it, I.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Mentioned that pitch because it looked so suspicious.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah. And actually this is mapping on really well to the analysis I did in that article where I, I think I pinpointed 14 pitches that seemed somewhat suspicious because they were waste pitches on. On OO counts.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And now I guess they're. They're saying 15. I don't know if it's exactly the same ones or not, but yeah, it's. It's not looking good for him. And it, it looks worse the, the longer this goes and the more details come out and the trial is scheduled.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

To start in May.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

We'll see if that gets delayed, but. But, you know, then it'll all kind of come out, probably, and all the dirty laundry. And as I noted, Ron Manfred was asked about this just recently and said, why didn't this get flagged sooner?

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Because this was going on for years. And he just said something about how.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

It takes time for the patterns to.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Become apparent, which, you know, not really reassuring.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And my analysis, of course, was after the fact, but that you could have been doing something like that just to flag it proactively and you could have picked that up when it was actually happening, potentially, to say nothing of just.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Whatever wagering was going on that you hope would be flagged by the betting integrity firms.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

So it doesn't inspire confidence.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah. The wagering piece of it is the more concerning part. To me, I agree with you that the whole thing is alarming, and the fact that it takes this long really makes you question how confident you can be in the sort of competitive integrity of the entire enterprise. I also wouldn't want to damn a guy on a couple of misre, misreleased pitches that were genuinely just, you know, flubs on the pitchers Part. So I can understand how you would need to see a real pattern. Although I say that, and then you're like, it's. It's actually, you know, it's. It's nine pitches, it's 15. It's like, well, that doesn't seem like very many. It's. When you marry that with the. With the betting data and then all the other stuff.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah. And like pitch characteristics and arm angles and all sorts of suspicious stuff.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah. So I. I can understand how you would need to have a high degree of confidence and obviously for it to be a criminal investigation. Like, this isn't. This can't just be the league being like. Well, we think, you know, you have a. You have an evidentiary burden as, you know, a prosecuting authority who's going to deprive this guy of his liberty. Right. Like, he can't just be like, hey, he hand got sweaty. Couple of those pitches, they went a flying. So it's a. It's a tricky thing. You're. You're really counting on guys just wanting to play clean. Right. For the incentives to not be strong enough for them not to. For the incentives to be powerful enough to prevent them. Them from doing it in the other direction, you have to rely on integrity. You really do. I mean, you have to have these systems in place. And I'm glad that even if it's on such a profound delay, that there is some mechanism for them to try to assess these things and that the bedding is being monitored. But it's a vulnerable system. You know, they can do a bunch of stuff and they should do all those things. But you're really counting on a lot of people simultaneously having some sense of integrity or principle for. For it to all hang together. And that's unpleasant to think about because we know people. You know, we know how people are. Maybe they're not quite this compromised. Maybe they're not quite this uncaring about this thing we all care about, but you're really relying on a lot of people doing the right thing. Yeah, that sucks.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Still unanswered. The thing that I'm still most curious.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

About is, is why just what was the motivation here? What was class getting out of this, aside from some small kickbacks? Was it just kind of doing a favor to.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

To benefit these people?

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Was it just feeling like he would do it because he could and did.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Get away with it for a long time?

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Was there some other ulterior motive here? That's what I still want to know.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah, it does make you wonder. And you Know, I hesitate to speculate about these things, but it's like, was. Was there more than this? Right. Because you could imagine a scenario where even though these are relatively. It's like the. It's like moneyballing crime, right? Where it's like tiny edges over time are gonna accumulate into a big. A big score. You know, did. Did they just think that they were going to be able to get away with this in perpetuity and that, you know, they look back 10 years from now and be like, wow, we made a couple million dollars doing that. But you would think that he would just. Wouldn't you just rather make money playing baseball? I don't know. I don't know. Emmanuel, Class A man who can know the heart of a man, right? You know something about him that he's like, you know what people will have sympathy for if I say it's fighting instead, it's like, no, I think that's pretty. Pretty bad too, actually. I understand that, like, this is a. That that is a. An endeavor that has some tradition that I do not have, you know, a connection to, but also. Yikes. My guy. Yikes.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah, I know.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Leave him be.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah. And I know that the analysis I.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Did did not show anything suspicious in Class A's data prior to 2023, which, if anything, just reinforces the red flags from the period that I looked at. But. But was reminded recently that we talked about this years and years ago on the podcast. And. And I had forgotten, but Class A.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Was at the center of a.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

A Northwest League title game in 2018, which was won or. Or lost because he did a walk off Bach.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

To surrender the Northwest League championship. This was Class A, you know, the Eugene Emeralds, and.

[Ben Lindbergh]

It'S pronounced Classe Ben.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Oh, yes, thank you. Yes.

[Ben Lindbergh]

That was good. You should have laughed.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

That was good. I didn't know where you were going with it at first, and then it dawned on me.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Late. But yes. Sorry, didn't mean to.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

No.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Sell your excellent wordplay there. But yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

You know, I'm not saying that Class A was.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Was throwing games in a ball in 2018. I don't know that people were even betting on those things at that time, but.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But it's just once you open the can of worms or Pandora's box or.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Whatever'S in that bo, then suddenly you're looking askance at everything.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And it's so weird because he was so good during this period when he was doing this stuff, allegedly, that you can't even say, oh, it can't be him. Because look how good he's been. Clearly he's trying to win.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

But, no, you can win and also throw some pitches in the process, and he could have done this for eternity and he wouldn't have made much money. If what's been reported is accurate, the people who were in cahoots were making some money, but he personally seemingly wasn't. So it's weird, right?

[Ben Lindbergh]

And that's, you know, that's the piece of it that I imagine, you know, if this does go to a lengthy trial that we will have more insight into, which is what is the motivation beyond that? Because based on what we know, it doesn't seem to fit, like, an obvious logical framework for him. But we don't really have a great sense of. Was this being done sort of in. In these purely for the assistance of others making money? Because, like, you know, well, this guy couldn't throw the pitches that Class A could, but he could bet some money. Right?

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

So credit to listener Steve to reminding us of that, which was discussed on episode 1269 way back when.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Also, didn't even notice the Brewer signed.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Luis Renjifo since our previous.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Are we talking about who's going to play third base? Who's going to be your infielder now? Well, now we know. I guess it's like. It's almost as if we identified these.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Trouble spots on rosters and then.

[Ben Lindbergh]

And then they're like, see the same problem.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And they're like, yeah, we're on that. Just give us a minute. We do know season didn't start yet.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And also Mike Trout apparently returning to center field or from all appearances. We'll. We'll talk about this more on our Angels preview. But he says he wants to play center. He says he's talked to manager and GM and they're both on board with it. And are they going to contradict him.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Him at this point? Who knows?

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And, you know, he also said he wanted to play in the wbc. I don't know if he could have made the team, honestly, if not for sort of sentimental reasons. But insurance issues, evidently.

[Ben Lindbergh]

I was gonna say there's no way he could get insurance.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yes, Right. Because of all the injury issues. But moving out of center was one way to theoretically keep him healthier, and.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

I guess it kind of worked, but not really because he hurt his knee and then he ended up DHing the rest of the year anyway. But he says he feels more comfortable in center, and he says at least that he felt like he was running.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

More in right field and that it was actually less strain on his body in center which I'm pretty sure the.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Data shows that center fielders run more. But you know, I don't know about Trout specifically and maybe I can understand why he would just feel better in his natural position. But I guess if the Angels had a better center fielder because.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Right.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Even though Joe Adele hit a bit.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Better last year, the defensive stats were, were pretty ugly.

[Ben Lindbergh]

He's a corner guy.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And, and Trout in 2024, like he could still play some center.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

He wasn't great out there anymore. You know, he wasn't that great out there really since he was a rookie I guess.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But, but he was still at least average seemingly at the position or close to it. And so maybe they just figure eh, make him happy, he's going to get hurt one way or another. So like at least he'll be worth a little more in center. And we just, you know, we have.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Bryce Teodosio who is a great fielder, but can he hit at all? Who knows? So maybe they can replace him late in games. But yeah, I don't know. He wasn't like great shakes in right Trout either. So maybe it's just kind of like managing his happiness because they figure eh, he'll get hurt somewhere anyway and, and.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

A lot of his previous injuries weren't necessarily like while he was playing center or going all out out there. It was just a bunch of stuff that happened for one reason or another. And I guess you could say in.

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Center at least you're maybe a little.

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Less likely to run into a wall or something. Maybe.

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But yeah, I don't, I don't know if this will last, but it's hard to bank on him staying out there at any position for very long.

[Ben Lindbergh]

I guess what I would say about all of this is right now we project the Angels to win 72 games. We have a, you know, a 5.4% chance of making the postseason. By our odds, that number might shift between now and opening day. Sure, sure, that could happen. Might shift down, could shift up. Why not? You know, I, I'm, I agree that. Is it the most conservative move that they could make to manage his avail, his health and availability? No, the most conservative thing they could do is just make him a dh. But they don't want to do that and he doesn't want to do that. And they're in this weird spot where it's like there's enough time left on that deal where there is benefit to, to keeping the relationship good. There's also enough time left on that deal that you can't be like, totally cavalier with his health either. Right. Like, they signed for so much longer. Ben. Like that 2030 is the last year on that contract. Now. Will he play that whole time? I know. Will they work something out if it gets to a point where he's unplayable? Maybe he's not unplayable now. You know, it's not like he's. He was a 120 WRC hitter last year. Like, he is still. Yeah. A viable big leaguer. But he, you know, we are aware of the decline because of the height of the height.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yes.

[Ben Lindbergh]

High height of the. High height of the heights. Previous heights. Height of the previous heights. Anyway, they're in a weird spot because you want to keep them happy. You're not going anywhere. So, like some return to prior form from Mike Trout. Well, it would be useful to improving that 5.4% playoff odds, but also give your fans something to be excited about. But like, you gotta maintain some kind of good form for this dude for a couple more years yet if he plays out the whole string. So I don't know. It's a weird. It's a weird spot to be in.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

He's not Anthony Rendone, but maybe they figure whatever we get from him is.

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Gravy at this point and 120 is not really that valuable if you're a DH full time.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Right.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

That's true. If he can continue to be a 120 as a center fielder and if.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

He feels more comfortable out there, then.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And maybe they figure, well, let's. Let's get what we can from him before he breaks or until we find a better center field alternative. But he's going to turn 35 in August. It's tough to play center field well at that age, even if you don't have a lengthy injury track record. So if it's kind of a manifestation of denial and thinking you can still.

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Be great, which we've talked about with Trout before, just always saying, I'm almost there, I can get back to who I was.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And.

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And he's saying the same thing. Like, he ended last season hitting pretty.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Well and he feels good about his swing. And I hope he's right. I hope that he can be good and actually stick in center and stay healthy. We'll talk about that more in the Angels preview. Okay, the plan here to backload the intro and sort of bury the lead.

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On purpose didn't really pan out because.

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There hasn't been any new news about Tony Clark that has emerged while we've been recording this.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But what we know, and if we had recorded this this morning, it would have been a bit different and if we recorded it later, it would probably.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Be a bit different. And I. And we'll return to this as more details come out. But the upshot is that Tony Clark is out after what, 13 years at the head of the MLB Players Association. And when I saw that news on Tuesday morning, I was somewhat surprised.

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And this was kind of a last.

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Second announcement because he and the Players association were about to start doing their meetings at various camps across Springs and they wanted to put a stop to that just as it was about to begin.

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But when I saw it, I thought, well, it's not the most shocking news because Clark has been embattled.

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I guess we could say.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Sure.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And my colleagues at the Press Box podcast would probably say embattled is one of those only in journalism words that.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

You ever really use in kind of regular speech. But he's been embattled now for gosh.

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The better part of two years because the feds have been probing and they have been doing various investigations, as they did into the NFL pa, which led to sort of a spectacular self destruction and leadership change there.

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But also there have been investigations, really a multi pronged investigation into one team, which is the, the joint licensing program.

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And also this growing the game initiative called Players Way, that there's been some.

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Suspicion that funds were maybe misappropriated, that.

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It was just, you know, kind of a, a way to say that this spending was happening and really it was being repurposed. And this is all stemming from, I believe, a whistleblower complaint to the NLRB back in 2024 about Clark or maybe other leaders in the union just misappropriating funds or doing some self dealing and.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Maybe some nepotism happening. And so all this stuff is swirling. And of course, Clark survived essentially a mutiny within the Union in 2024 too, where there was a power struggle and.

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A contingent was trying to force out his number two, the lead negotiator, Bruce Meyer, who I guess would be the number one by default at the moment. And Clark weathered that and seemed to.

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Sort of consolidate power.

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But there's, there's been a lot of that going on.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah.

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And you know, sort of a divide within the union between the executive subcommittee.

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Who were not gung ho about the CBA that ended up being ratified, and.

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The rank and file, the players who did ratify it.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

So against all of that and that backdrop, it was not the most stunning News to me that they might make a change with their executive director. But then Jeff Passon and Don VanHatta reported at ESPN that he actually resigned after an internal investigation revealed that he had an inappropriate relationship with his sister in law who had been hired by.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

The Union in 2023. And as we record here on Tuesday.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Afternoon, that's about all we know about that. So there could be many more details, some more salacious than others, that surface about the nature of this inappropriate relationship.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And whether and how it was romantically inappropriate, whether it was inappropriate in a.

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Nepotism sort of way, or maybe both. Why not both?

[Ben Lindbergh]

Right, Right.

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But this is getting messier. Yeah. And the initial, what came out of.

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Of various camps and player leaders were sort of signaling this will be okay and we just want stability. And you know, they were saying something to the effect of we want to go with an interim leader for now and, and just sort of project some stability heading into bargaining.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And I guess you could even say.

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That maybe it's better for Clark to.

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Crash and burn for personal misdeeds than for indictment misdeeds, but that they are not mutually exclusive.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Right. Yeah. Why not? We don't, we don't know what the ultimate result of the ongoing federal investigation will be.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah. Right.

[Ben Lindbergh]

So that feels like the most journalistically responsible way for me to frame that.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yes.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

If it, if it came out that everything was innocent except for Tony Clark having some inappropriate relationship with his sister.

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In law that didn't really reflect on the rest of the union or leadership or some sort of hope misdeeds, then.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

I guess that would be maybe the best case scenario.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

But all this other stuff is, is hanging over everything also.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

So I guess the, the main takeaway.

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Is that it's not good to, you know, I guess not having your house.

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In order is, is often the expression that's used here. They're about to embark on a contentious round of bargaining. There's a lot at stake.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And you know, bargaining hasn't really picked up. It will after the season starts.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And so it's kind of like. Well, it reminds me almost of when the Nationals axed Mike Rizzo right before the draft. And it was like, well, that, that.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Doesn'T seem ideal to have a change in leadership right before the draft.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But then again, once you decide you want to change in leadership, then better to do it sooner rather than later.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah. You want that. Him to be able to pick your guy at 1 1. Like.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

No, exactly.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Right.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

So it's, it's still.

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It's not not ideal.

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You could say, well, it's better to rip the band aid off now than it would be to have that happen in the middle of bargaining. So that's, it's certainly preferable for this.

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To come out now than several months from now or in December when the owners impose a lockout or something. So in that sense, better to have it out. But ideally, of course, there would just.

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Be more confidence in leadership and you wouldn't have sort of internal power struggle.

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A couple years before bargaining kicks off.

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And then an actual change at the top a couple months before bargaining kicks off.

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And the assumption seems to be in some quarters now. Well, they'll, they'll just default to Meyer running things for now, which might be true and, and might be okay. He's obviously an experienced union executive and.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And has led rounds of bargaining before.

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And, and it's not as if you can necessarily say that Tony Clark was.

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Was great with some sort of negotiating savant. You know, I, I don't know that the players have, have gotten great deals in recent rounds of bargaining. They haven't given up everything obviously, but he's come in for plenty of criticism about the priorities and how he's handled everything.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And so you could say maybe they'd be better off with a non former.

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Player running things with a, you know, career union negotiator actually handling things. Of course he would have been handling the negotiations on a day to day basis anyway.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Then again, that player revolt a couple years ago was sort of centered on trying to force Meyer out.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

So with Clark out too, then maybe Meyer is seen as his guy.

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Maybe, maybe Meyer gets the boot too.

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Or his own power is reduced. So that's why we kind of have to wait and see which way the players go with this and, and whom.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

They anoint as their next leader and what that signals.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And I'll also what comes out about.

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Clark and the circumstances of his resignation here.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

But it's not ideal, I guess is what you would say. You know, I'm sure Rob Manfred and the owners are thinking things are in disarray over there. It's messy, it's drama. And you'd prefer a united front and someone who had institutional memory and had been around for a while and whom everyone had confidence in. That would probably be better than sort of changing leaders. Right on the eve of everything kicking off.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah, so this is like, I think a couple of things. Guys are being asked about this in camp and Andy Costco, who was our preview guest for the Orioles, spoke to Chris Bassett in camp. Remember Chris Bassett's on the Orioles now, and he's a member of the executive subcommittee. And he basically said, you know, this is without a doubt added stress, added problems, but at the end of the day, I think we'll be okay, and went on to say, we're structured in a way that losing Tony is a big piece because he was the head of our union, but he was not our head negotiator, he was not our head lawyer. So we need to make adjustments, but we are okay. And, you know, of course he's going to say that he's a member of the executive subcommittee. He wants to present this as something that is survivable, but obviously an obstacle they have to overcome. I think that if what we come to learn is that this is the real reason that he resigned and that what whatever results there is from that federal investigation keeps the rest of the PA out of it, that this is something that is very survivable. You want to have cohesion within the membership going into the CBA negotiation.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yeah. And that's why you go with a internal interim director as opposed to some full fledged external search right now, which could last for a while.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Yeah, that could last for months. I mean, I also think that you. You want your membership to have confidence in the union as a force for its own advancement. It's being the membership's advancement, not the people who head the union's advancement. That's part of what is so potentially destabilizing about Clark's being a part of this federal investigation. If you, you know, have followed any of the reporting around the shenanigans that have gone on in the nflpa, that does not seem like a body that had remotely the best interests of its membership at heart. Right. And I would have, as an NFL player, a lot of trepidation about that body representing me in any kind of a negotiation with ownership. And so that. That's a. An important thing to avoid from the PA's perspective, because if the owners decide they really want a salary cap and they are willing to lose games over it, you are going to have to ask your membership to sacrifice and lose money to hold a. What I think is a very important line. What the. What the PA has persuasively argued is an important line, but is going to be a painful line to maintain. And if you have doubt within the membership about the leadership of your organization, that could be a good, really real problem. And to your point, it's not like it's been totally smooth sailing for them over the last couple of years. I Also think that, like, I want to be careful in the way I say this. You know, I think there's a lot of value in having a former player in the senior ranks at. At the union to having multiple former players in the senior ranks at the union. I think that you have credibility with active players when you have that kind of a conduit. I also think that in the course of a CBA negotiation, you really want to have a good negotiator and that person is likely to be a labor lawyer, not a former player. And it doesn't mean that they can't be complementary and reinforcing skill sets. But I think part of where the union went wrong in the last CBA negotiation before this most recent one, was that the interests of a certain tranche of player. Tranche of player was prioritized over more junior members of the membership. More junior members of the membership. You know what I mean? Guys who were earlier in their careers. Right. Guys who were in many cases pre arbitration. And I think that there has been an important course correction on that regard. I also think that maybe more importantly than any particular issue that the union has prioritized negotiating around, there has been a revive and healthy skepticism of whether the owners are going to act always in good faith. Because I think some of the failures of the last. That was the 2016 negotiation, right? Was the, the one that preceded this most recent agreement, right? It was the 2016 negotiation for the 2017 agreement.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Yes.

[Ben Lindbergh]

I think that a lot of the failures of that CBA can be attributed to the players assuming and taking as given a greater commitment to winning baseball games than ownership has necessarily displayed over the course of that cba. Because some of the behavior that has been most damaging to players or that was the most damaging to players over the term of that agreement came down to them prioritizing money and retaining talent past the six years over winning baseball games. And I think that they did a really good job, they being the union of clawing back a lot of their losses. They couldn't claw back all of them. And some of the ones they weren't able to claw back, I think were the source of the consternation. But I also think that Bruce Meyer did a good job. The union as a whole did a good job. As good a job as they likely were going to be able to given how much ground they had to make up. But you know, it's a big union and it is a interesting union from a, like a demographic perspective. The amount of stratification within it in terms of Earning potential, the variety of guys. You also have like a union that is populated with a lot of, of conservative dudes. So that can be kind of at odds, like the entire project of their union. So it's just like, it's a hard, it's a hard thing to wrangle. This is a long winded way of saying the best time for Tony Clark to have resigned, if he was going to, was probably six months ago. The second best time for him to do it, if he was gonna do it this year, is today. Because you gotta get your ducks in a row. You got to get your house in order. You have to employ several other metaphors that are about shoring things up. And then you got to be able to go into the negotiations which start, you know, they start before the, the agreement expires. They will be engaged in negotiation around the CBA all throughout this year. So you got to get your, you got to get your. Now I'm going to do a swear in order so that you can come to the table as a united front and say, hey, this is what we want. This is how far we're willing to go to get it. Also. Tony, what are you doing? What are you doing? Sir? Sir.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Well, I guess we'll find out what he was doing.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

For now, we can only imagine. But there will almost certainly be more.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

To come on this subject.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And there's also more to come on this podcast. So after a brief break, we'll be back with Eric and Brendan to talk about top prospects.

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Well, it's moments like these that make you ask, how can you not be pedantic about baseball? If baseball were different, how different would it be on the case with light ripping all analytically cross check and compile, find a new understanding, not effectively. While our canyon not be pedantic. Yes, when it comes to baseball, how can you not be pedantic?

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Well, this year's top 100 prospects list.

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At Fangraphs, which of course was a top 110 prospects list, in actuality was.

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A three person affair.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And we are joined by two of those people today. James Fegan, I'm sure will join us for our White Sox preview. Maybe we can talk about some prospects when he's to talk about the White Sox too.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But today we have Eric Longenhagen and Brendan Golowski.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Hello, guys. Welcome.

[Meg Relly]

Hello.

[Eric Longenhagen]

Hey, thanks for having me.

[Meg Relly]

Thanks for having us.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

So you have been hard at work.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And you have ranked many prospects and we will talk about some of them and we will talk about the differences.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Between you when it comes to some of those prospects because you have published a piece on prospects you disagree about, but I take it there was probably a little disagreement about the number one.

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Guy on your list. So we can just start where the list started.

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Connor Griffin, number one overall at fan.

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Graphs and everywhere else during this prospect ranking season.

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Also number one on Dan Saborski's zips list. So stats and scouts, not that they're.

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All that different these days, like them very much.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And your write up on Griffin was among the most effusive, dare I say horny, that I can recall in Fangraph's top 100 list history. And I think what is most fascinating.

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To me about Griffin is not just.

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How good a player he appears to.

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Be, how promising, how loud the tools are and everything. And I definitely want you all to.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Talk about that, but also just how quickly he climbed these lists. Not that he came out of nowhere because he was a top 10 draftee, but last year when you made this list, he had not yet made his professional debut and he was not yet on the Fangraph's top 100 list. He was on some top 100 lists.

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A year ago, but not super high.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

On them, I guess, understandably given his youth and lack of professional experience. But now he's just a no doubt number one. So I don't know that I can.

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Recall a ascent as steep as Griffin.

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Has made from someone prospect heads might know a year ago, but no one else really would to just household name.

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That everyone is super excited about.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

So Eric, you've been doing this a.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Lot longer and better than I have. So can you recall a comp?

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He's definitely one of the most promising prospects you have ranked, but just in.

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Terms of how quickly he ascended to.

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That position, I think the only couple.

[Eric Longenhagen]

Of comparisons are when Vladdy Jr. And Wander Franco went, you know, to the Appalachian League and both really destroyed it. Just for anyone this young entering pro ball, there are aspects of their skill set that are black boxes. You just don't know how things are going to go. And for Griffin, that was true in a couple of ways. One, on defense, because you know when you're watching Connor Griffin in high school, in the environment that matters most, which is like with Team USA during Team USA trials on the showcase circuit at like, you know, Perfect game, All American and you know, where the other 40 guys around are the best 17, 18 year olds in the country or at some of the international competitions like on the planet, you know, to Apples to apples. These guys in that space is really important and In Griffin's case, he was playing right field.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Field.

[Eric Longenhagen]

Like there were better shortstops on Team USA's roster. There were better center fielders. And so, you know, to see Connor Griffin pitch and play shortstop at his high school field is one thing. And to sort of see, you know, him hit and struggle a little bit against, you know, sliders or whatever it was, there were still questions about him entering pro ball. And his ceiling has been this the whole time. Like, because some of the overt physical tools were all, you know, just as evident as they were for some of the other, you know, elite high school players soon after they debuted. And it's like, oh, actually, hey, Mike Trout can hit and this is going to happen really fast. Trout is probably the other one. For him to go from a late first rounder to the top prospect in baseball, although not in a unanimous way, more because of the presence of Bryce Harper, you know, and Matt Moore. But yeah, this is, this is meteoric, truly to the point where Pittsburgh was playing Griffin in big league spring training games in center field, you know, 12 months ago, because we just weren't sure, they weren't sure how. What is the best spot for this guy going to be. And then by the end of the year it's like, oh, this is a plus shortstop. He's added, you know, 10, 15 pounds of muscle over the course, course of the season. Like showed up for spring training last year stronger, continued to progress and get stronger throughout the year, which is, you know, runs counter to what is typical. You play in a six month season, you shed weight. So just, you know, special in, in, in every way. And at the point where it's just hard to deny that he does everything well to like very, very well, including the defensive part of it at shortstop, which was the thing that really struck me me most. But like Brendan, like when this was happening and you're working literally for the.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Pittsburgh Pirates, like, yeah, Brendan was a pro scout for the Pirates. To be clear.

[Eric Longenhagen]

What were the internal conversations like when did the word that this is happening, this guy is, is actually going to do this start to become clear with within the org, if you don't like, mind talking about it pretty quickly actually.

[Meg Relly]

And one of our scouts actually called me because he had just seen our Bradenton team and he was pretty effusive and he's not somebody who's inclined to hyperbole and he's been scouting for 30 years and he said this is the best player I've ever scouted at this level. And so that made me sit up and go, whoa. And so that was last April or early May. So we had an idea pretty early on. The other funny conversation that happened was actually with Eric, like June or so, because I was with him at a field scouting a complex league game and we were talking about top prospects and I was like, you know, I think come 2027, I think Connor Griffin's going to be the number one prospect in baseball. He probably won't be, but for a very different reason than I thought at the time.

[Ben Lindbergh]

I'm curious and this can kind of go to either of you. The defense piece of the I think was the most sort of incredible to me. And obviously I haven't seen Griffin in person other than when he came into the suite at the draft combine. And I was happy that I had enough of my filter on to not go, oh my God, your neck. Because he's just such an enormous guy. Like you said, the physicality is obvious when he walks in the room. And that was true when he was a pre draft guy. When you're thinking about how his, his defense has evolved and the way that he sort of made himself into this plus shortstop, is that, do you think just the benefit of reps, of continuing sort of physical development? Like how, how do you go from being someone who can't even necessarily start at short for Team USA to being this guy?

[Eric Longenhagen]

Well, I think some of it has to do with the repetitions because once you get into the end of your first pro season and you've played 100 plus games, you've just done this now every day for longer than any other sustained period in your life. And when you're doing it at high A double A, the pace of it is totally different than when you're taken infield, you know, at area code games or whatever. And I just think that there are certain players who it exposes and then there are certain players who to adjust to it and rise to it. Not like in a, in an emotional way like, okay, like I can do this. Just that your skills sharpen because the environment you're in forces them to do so or you're going to center field. And some of it is that this is just such a talented athlete that the baseball field for him seems small. Like there are really great players. You know, Jose Altuve has been, had an amazing career. He doesn't make the field look small in a way like he's skilled enough that he can operate within it. But it's really like Corey Seeger, like watching Corey Seeger do some stuff on defense because of his size. Like, the ease with which Corey Seager and Carlos Correa make some throws allows them to be as big as they are and play the position. It's stuff that, like, Francisco Lindor has to do something acrobatic or athletic or agile to complete. Carlos Correa and Corey Seager make look like, effortless, like they're just sort of sitting in, in a lounge chair. And Connor Griffin does like both things where he's so rangy and explosive that he does some of the Lindor stuff and also can just sort of put his foot in the ground and chuck it over there on a line from all these tough, like, deep in the hole, weird up the middle, like all sorts of things. As we were going through the group of middle infielders towards the top of the list, and there are several of them and you're rewatching all these guys back to back to back play defense. Most of them are just like, okay, this is fine, or you can play there. And then there are a couple of them who stand out and really blow your mind. Connor Griffin is in that group. He's in that group with like Carson Williams and Franklin Arias, where this is a special defensive shortstop, not merely someone who, who is fine to play there. And when Connor Griffin was drafted, if you would have guaranteed me he would have been fine to play there, well, then he is someone who is probably just like, you know, 75th on the top 100 list.

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Twelve months ago, I was looking at.

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His Instagram and evidently he got married a few weeks ago. He has yet to turn 20, so.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

He is just ahead of the typical developmental timeline in all sorts of ways. So I guess this is tough to project, but if and when he gets.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Promoted this season, as soon as the Pirates are ready to flip that switch.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Would you expect him to just be ready to star from day one a la Tatis? Or could you foresee some growing pains.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

A la Jackson Holliday or Bobby Wood Jr.

[Eric Longenhagen]

The comp that felt right from a tools standpoint like two weeks ago was young Hanley Ramirez. Where the stolen base piece of it is what is gonna jump off of the page at you during the first, like year and a half, two years of this guy's big league lifetime, and then the power is really gonna start showing and they're gonna be some peak, like 30, 30, maybe 40, 40 seasons or 30, 40, something like that, where he's also like hit hitting 280 just because of how hard all the contact is, even though it's like roughly an average amount of contact. But you know, when you look at like Bobby Witt's prospect DNA, when you look at Hanley's plate discipline and like zone contact rates and stuff like that, Wit and Hanley are better like pure contact hitters than Griffin is probably like half a grade at least in Witt's case. And more than that in young Hanley's case, like really, really special player was young Hanley Ramirez. Griffin, I bet you will struggle with the big league breaking ball enough that he's not going to be like super duper star right away. But playing plus shortstop defense and getting to power on its own makes you an above average player. So I think over the course of the season he's still going to be like a two and a half, three and a half win player in year one. Even though we, we, I think we'll have seen more strikeouts than we will at his best and less in game power than we will at his best. But still really, really good basically right away.

[Ben Lindbergh]

So we can maybe pivot now to some of the other guys on this list. We could just talk about young shortstops all day and I guess we'll hit on a couple of them. But I want to actually talk about a duo from Detroit because if I'm a Tigers fan, I have to be thrilled with where Kevin Mc Gonigal and Max Clark placed on this list. Not only because of how much you guys like them, but how close to the majors they both seem to be. Talk to us about those two guys and then maybe when you think Tigers fans can expect them in Motown, I.

[Meg Relly]

Think what stands out with those two is just how mature their skills are. They're obviously tooled up. You know, Kevin McGonagall I think had the highest hit tool on our entire list. Max Clark has a champion chance to be A plus center fielder. They've both grown into more power than we expected them to have on draft day. But the way they're able to cover the zone, the way that they're able to take a mature at bat, the way that their approach has grown just kind of screams competence. And these are guys that even though they're young, they're moving very quickly. And that's why somebody like McGonagall has a 2026 ETA. And it wouldn't check me if Clark also gets to the big leagues at some point in the 2026 season, even if he's probably got a little bit more Runway ahead of him than McGonagall does.

[Eric Longenhagen]

Yeah, I think that's right. Like McGonagall has worked at second and third base because he's probably not a big league caliber shortstop. I don't think either Brennan or I really care where he ends up playing defense. He worked at third base more during the fall league. I thought that he was a pretty good fit for him. And if Colt Keith doesn't hit or if Gleyber Torres gets hurt or, you know, Zach McKinstry crashes to Earth. Good player, I think. But like, you know, Zach McKinstry strikes me as great utility guy on a real contending team rather than the year he had last year. And then the same thing for like with Clark. Parker Meadows, who deserves prolonged like healthy period to, to show us what kind of player he actually is at 26. But if like by July he's hitting a buck 80 and Max Clark is destroying in AAA, well, Clark should probably be up if the Tigers are serious about, you know, going for it in schools last year. So both guys I think are really talented. There's something about the way how explosive Max Clark's hands are that is just, you know, really, really special and has been so since he was like a high school sophomore. There were times scouting Max Clark in high school where I was kind of worried for the safety of like the pitcher because of how hard like back through the middle of the field his contact is just at that level. Like some of these kids could not. Were not capable of protecting themselves. You know, how hard from how hard he was putting the ball into play. You know, towards the end of our process, I did mention to Brendan, I was just like, you know, we like Clark in center field and we think McGonagall is more like second or third base. Is there an argument that these guys should be flipped? You know, I like McGonagall a lot. I do think it's more like closer to six hit than seven hit. And think that the reverse might be true of Clark ultimately because of how quick his hands are. But McGonagall is just like so short to the ball with sneaky power for his size and, and it just feels so much safer. But great draft, great draft, great first round for the Tigers to totally change your fortunes in potentially of your franchise with one year what it was John Schneider picking players for the Tigers for.

[Meg Relly]

Just one night to completely reset the trajectory of the franchise potentially. This is not when the Tigers had two of the top hitting prospects in baseball and Torkelson in green when there was a little bit of hit risk or just kind of a lower floor for Torkelson. If he didn't really hit for power because he was kind of locked into first base. Like these are nobody's truly safe, but these are young up the middle types or third base in McGonagall's case if it goes that way with mature hit tools. They're just higher floored players and it's really exciting because there's also ceiling and there's one other point that I kind of wanted to touch on with those two is just like how different they are and how different they carry themselves out on the field. Where McGonagall is this extremely intense competitor. He's going to get in fights with umpires, he's going to be yelling at himself. And Max Clark is this extremely polished all over the video board. Has a full time crew that goes around and handles his social and travels around with him. They're very different people, but they're also kind of tied together in a way that, that is special and, and kind of rare.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Well, we could keep talking about shortstops.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

For a while because you've got seven of them in your top 15.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

I don't know if that's unusual. Obviously shortstops are valuable, so a lot.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Of top prospects tend to be shortstops.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And a lot of the most athletic guys start out as shortstops, at least in pro ball and maybe move elsewhere.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But maybe we could linger a little.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Longer on two of the top six guys.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Two fellow teenagers, Jesus Mate and Leo Devries.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And they came up on a couple of our recent team previews. But happy to hear more about them.

[Eric Longenhagen]

Yeah, I mean Jesus Mate probably talked about him on the POD last year at this time because you know, then he was coming up from the DSL and was ranked and rarefied air for a player who had that level of experience. And again, just like he's been pushed through the minors pretty aggressively and performed basically the whole time. And the way things are going to pan out for him, I think there's still variance as far as what position he's going to end up at and what he looks like physically when he's hit. Maturity. There are like Robinson Cano type outcomes. Comes for Mate where he's like a switch hitting version of that at second base. Times when his left handed swing looks like that. And then there's a version of him that stays more agile and ends up being a really good shortstop where there's a lot of contact and great plate discipline and he sings the ball but you know, doesn't necessarily like lift the ball enough to hit for 25 plus home runs. All that stuff is still in play. He's still changing. He showed up for camp looking stronger, such that I'd like tailor my forecast more toward the physical second base bucket now than I did when we wrote the brewers list in the fall winter. But still an unbelievable prospect where there's just a chance for him to do everything at a premium level. And then De Vries is more big, switching power, probably going to strike out. And some of the same variants I think applies to him on defense.

[Meg Relly]

I think what sticks out with De Vries also is just that. And this is true with Mate, who made a very quick ascension, is actually even a little bit younger. But in an era where prospects are getting to the big leagues quicker than ever, partly because there's better training, partly because we've eliminated a level, and that's just kind of having a propulsive effect on everybody. Leo De Vries was extremely young, even by those standards, to get to AA last year, and so he was still 18 when he got promoted for three weeks or so. And he hit five homers in 21 games and just took mature at bat after mature at bat. And he's facing pretty good competition there. And against Mitch Bratt, one of the best command guys in the minor leagues, he sits on a changeup on the lower outside corner and hits a homer the opposite way from the side of the plate that he's not as good at the right side. You know, if this is what it looks like from that side of the plate, the ceiling here is, is very high. Defensively, he's not quite as advanced. He'll make some incredible plays. Occasionally he'll also be a little slow or he'll one hop a throw that you'd think, you know, why didn't you just like step through that and get it to first on the fly? And I think it's just a case of where the glove hasn't quite matured as quickly as the bat. But looking at the tape, he, you know, unless he grows in a way that we're not quite expecting, I think he's got a very good chance to be there and be all right. This is a special talent as well.

[Ben Lindbergh]

There are a lot of pitchers on this list, more than we typically have. Eric, I know you made mention of that in the intro, and a lot of these guys are going to be guys who our listeners are at least, least partially familiar with in the case of, of some of them, like Trey Savage, because they saw him throw incredibly good and important innings in the postseason. But, you know, you have a bunch of guys who have made big league debuts and gotten a couple of starts in the majors. So I want to ask who each of you would highlight among the the pitchers who have not yet debuted because I don't think we need to extol the virtues of Nolan McLean, but there are a number of guys on here who listeners might be less familiar with. So can you each pick one and tell us about him and maybe Eric, we can start with you and then go to Brendan.

[Eric Longenhagen]

We can talk about it in a lot of different ways because there's some individuals who are interesting to talk about, like where to place them in the hierarchy of all these pitchers and why. And then there are definitely guys where they're names to know for the 2026 season and they're like end up being clusters of of players as we're working on these lists. Like we do it in buckets so that we can apples to apples everyone and then sort of fold every everybody together. Brody Hopkins with the Rays, he's one who I think is going to blow a lot of people's minds because he's so athletic, his arm is so fast. We're talking mid upper 90s. He's a former college position player who converted pretty late, like smaller school. And it was part of the Randy Rosa Ranga ra drafted by the Mariners and then you know, really quickly became, I thought anyway, the Mariners best pitching prospect. He gets traded for Randy and then the Rays. Even though what is working for Brody Hopkins like very, very quickly, you know, the Rays decide we're changing this and they totally over overhaul his approach. And now he has gone from like Camilo Doval looking sidearm guy to More traditional looking 3/4 release, uphill fastball and then this dynamic cutter. Like if there's a guy there, maybe a couple guys in the minors who, you know, if they're going to be Emmanuel Classe, like this is the guy in just the baseball way. I love that we've gotten to mentor Wander Franco and Emmanuel Classic on this podcast already. So much fun. But just, you know, the, the outcome for Brody Hopkins, even if he isn't going to be a starter looks something like that freaky, totally unique guy with crazy uphill fastball and, and cut and the ceiling, you know, if he's a starter is. Well, we don't really know because there aren't many starters who look like this. And it's one of those people pitchers who if the Rays are competing for a division crown, you're, you could see this guy like pitching, he could be this year's Tradie Savage. His stuff is that good and we're just like waiting for some of the this to solidify because he is a recent drafty from a small school who is new to pitching and so you know his trajectory like who knows if there's going to be be if that thing clicks for him this year then he could be Trey Savage, you know, 12 months from now.

[Meg Relly]

I'd like to highlight Ryan sloan, Mariners draftee, second round 2024 continues the pattern of the Mariners crushing it at the top of the draft in recent years. And this is one that I wanted to push up the list from the start. I mean, you know, I started the the blurb on the site with can I interest you in three plus pitches? How about from a good athlete with a traditional build? What if I told you that he struck out or that he walked less than 2 per 9 last year? You'd like that, right? That sounds good. He throws mid to upper 90s, flashes a plus lighter plus splitter, looks like it's going to be a relatively platoon neutral mix feel. The spin gives him a chance to develop another breaking ball. He's still only 20, so this might not be the fully fleshed arsenal yet, but it's a really good combination of athleticism, size, ingredients. The one blemish, if there is one here, is that the way that his body and his delivery works is he tends to fall off the mound a little bit towards the first base side and he tends to pull the ball with him. So his glove side command is very good for somebody his age, but he's not as adept at getting to the other side of the plate. And so that predictability in locations is the most obvious nitpick there. And finding a way to get to other parts of the zone should be a developmental goal for 2026, but that shouldn't detract from all the really, really good things that are happening here. And for me he was the best pitcher in the low Miners last year.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

So we've talked about the trend toward fewer pitchers appearing on prospect lists.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

I've written about that.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

As you noted a few more on this list, 40% of the top 10 and 40% of the top 110 are pitchers. Any particular reason for that Eric, or is it just sort of a cyclical thing?

[Eric Longenhagen]

Well, I think we're going to find out over time whether there's a reason for it or if it is just a random one year thing that like I think there's an argument for at some point in the prospect population, there should be more pitchers and hitters at some point. If we do like the top 500, there should probably be more pitchers than hitters in that sample. The depth required for pitching just necessitates more dudes. And so at some point where the fungibility line is, where the margin is for pitchers is just way deeper in the player pool than it is for hitters. I don't really need a backup second baseman like Isan Diaz. Like I don't. But I do need the pitching version of that guy. I probably need the pitching version of that guy to throw like 30 innings for my team at some point during the year. And so is that line going to consistently be within like the top 115 guys or so? Probably not. Because I still just think in a lot of instances we would rather have a maybe very good hitter than a probably pretty good pitcher. And that's why you see so many, many teenage infielders high on this list. And just throughout this list in general, there's definitely a greater variance in bus risk for guys like Dax Kilby and Yofron Castillo and some of the young infielders or center fielders on this list than there is for Trey Gibson and Michael Fourrette and, you know, players who are, you know, don't have a chance to win a Cy Young Award ever, I don't think unless Michael Fett becomes, becomes Shane Bieber, who is the reason Michael Ferrett's on the list. Like some of the revisions, the reflection, the how's my driving type work that we've been doing, it says, well, you undervalue Farmer Valdez and Ranger Suarez and Shane Bieber. Why you're not properly noting that they have like roughly 7 command of good secondary stuff while. Who in the Miners is that? Perhaps Michael Ferret. I think some of it is, is a change in strategy by teams understanding pitching depth is important. Some of it maybe is just a one year thing.

[Meg Relly]

I've got two quick theories if I can. It seems to me that there's a number of pitchers who got very close to graduating. Nolan McLean, Trey Savage and then others who debuted. Bubba Chandler, Peyton Tolley, Connolly Early, Logan Henderson. I'm sure there's a couple others, just a very high number of those guys. And if four or five of them had thrown another three weeks, they're off the list. Maybe it looks more normal. The other thing that crossed my mind as we were doing this list is that the threshold for being a big league hitter is really high right now. You need to be able to Deal with elite velocity, really, really good stuff with an approach. And there's just not that many guys in the minor leagues who can do it. And there were tons of guys that Eric and I talked about in the course of constructing this list where there was just something scary in the profile that we felt wasn't going to enable them to hit at the highest level to the degree warranted to be on this list. And so both of those things working together, I think creates a list that reflects that there's a lot of really good pitching right now.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

I think. It's just obviously the injury factor, but then also increasingly the best position players are just more valuable than the best pitchers in the big leagues just because position player playing time time hasn't decreased.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

As much as pitcher playing time has. So all else being equal, you want the good position player who's more likely.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

To stay healthy and just have more playing time than the pitcher who's more likely to break and even if they stay healthy, won't pitch as many innings.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

But all of what you're saying makes sense to me.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

And yeah, we know there's pitching depth because there's just innumerable guys who have absolutely nasty stuff. They're just not showcasing it over as many innings.

[Ben Lindbergh]

I wanted to ask about Ethan Salas because, Brendan, if I remember correctly, through the haze of top 100 editing, you wrote this blurb and noted that he is perhaps the youngest patient to come down with a case of prospect fatigue. He is 19 right now, if our listeners aren't aware, and this was a guy who at points was placed very, very highly such that Eric, you felt compelled to basically write a piece to our readers being like, hey, relax, please don't hound this kid into desperation trying to get his autograph on backfields. And now he's a couple seasons removed from that, has had injury, has had underperformance. What do you guys see as Solas's realistic long term trajectory at this point?

[Meg Relly]

I don't know that it's changed that much. Part of this is just like one of those cases where I don't know if the ceiling from last year last year has changed much. It's just like all the mitigating factors from the last two seasons have made it so that he's less likely to reach it. This is still a very strong defensive catcher. Eric has highlighted in a couple of places where the blocking is the one part of his game that's not as polished to the same degree as his receiving, which is elite. And his Arm strength and his ability to get out of a crouch and his ability to work with a pitching staff, all of that is very good. At the plate, he had a really bad 2024 season. Some of the numbers under the hood with respect to his contact rate weren't quite as scary as some of the top line numbers would indicate. And we were kind of looking to 2025 as a chance to see to what degree he was going to be able to bounce back. And then when he missed the entire season with a back injury, a pretty scary one, you know, we didn't get that opportunity. But this still looks like a guy who could grow into significant power and be a power and defense backstop, and those are really valuable. Obviously, we've got a lot more risk than we would have guessed two or three years ago, but this is still a good player. This is still somebody who deserves to be ranked and somebody I'm excited to see this spring.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

What did your time with the team.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

In between stints at Fangrass teach you, if anything, about team prospect ranking versus public prospect ranking?

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And I've always thought Eric's approach to prospect ranking is maybe a little more aligned with teams than some just kind.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Of giving credit to players who might not be as flashy but just will provide value. Which teams care about more so than.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Say, fantasy players, I suppose.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

But I wonder what your perspective is on that, Brendan, or what you brought back from your time behind the MLB paywall.

[Meg Relly]

I think there are a couple things that are similar and a couple of things that are different. So I think that you're right to know, like, Eric's focus on, like, the whole game is definitely something that is emulated within a team structure. I think the biggest thing that was different for me going to the Pirates from fangraphs was I noticed, or at least I felt on the public side. And I don't know if my colleagues felt or feel similarly, but it feels to me that there's sort of an incentive to be conservative with guys. I think readers understandably want to know who will be good, and kind of rounding down on players is just a way to be more accurate. And on a team side, it's the exact opposite. You want to find guys who have like any shot of being good. Like, can we get this guy even if he's not that likely to be good, can we get him in a deal? Do we think there's something that we can do with him? You know, can we buy low? Is there any upside here at all where his current employer may not See it. And so that manifests in scouting reports in a couple of different ways. One, it leads you to being optimistic on way more players. The equivalent of like the 50 FV, you know, where we have 110 in the game. You know, I'd probably write that 30 or 40 times a year, including several times at levels where you would, would very rarely see it on our top prospect list. The format also lends itself to staying on guys a little bit longer. And I think the discrepancy again makes sense where we're dropping Ethan Salas because he's been hurt and there's real risk introduced there. If I'm a scout, my report on him hasn't really changed a whole lot because I still see the same tools and I can factor in the injury a little bit, but I'm staying on the player and what I think he can do. And ultimately it'll be up to the decision makers hiring the front office to weigh that kind of thing differently than I would as a scout.

[Ben Lindbergh]

You guys were largely able to come to consensus on these guys. Ben mentioned that you wrote a piece today for the site on guys you disagreed on, but I'm sure that you each had a guy on this list or two or maybe three whole who you both agreed should be there, but who you were the like real champion of. He's. He's your, he's your guy. So who are those guys?

[Eric Longenhagen]

Connor Griffin. Well, I guess the players to talk about, Brendan, are probably the ones who ended up on our 55 grade bubble and then tipped into that tier, that grade, you know, 55. We have like 30 of them. The number of players in the minors at this time, you know, who are given that grade like tends to hover around 25, 30 guys. There are times in the past when my list of 55s and above has like cut down to 50. So for us that was Carson Benji with the Mets, former two way player outfielders, just as was one of the best swings in the minors, really performed well throughout the 2025 season that ended with him at AAA. And then I guess for Brendan it was probably Bryce Rayner.

[Meg Relly]

Yeah, just that was one of those. You pull on the tape and you see what he's able to get to with his bat speed. And it's just one of those moments where it's like, whoa, that's electric. That's different than what other people can do. Let's stay on this. There's risk in that he's young and that he only played, I want to say 25 to 30 games last year before he missed the season with an injury. And so that, you know, maybe robbed us of the chance to have a little more nuanced view of who he is and what he can do. But in what little he put on tape, it really stood out. The other one here that I think could be interesting for Eric to talk through a little bit is we talked about Carson Williams a lot because of the degree to which that he struck out when he got promoted, which was consistent with how often he struck out in the minor leagues and some of the elements in his swing. But I thought Eric's case for ranking him that high in spite of that was interesting and maybe something that listeners would like to hear.

[Eric Longenhagen]

He's 22, he's an unbelievable defensive shortstop and there's some amount of power and it's just about how for sure there is like a binary hit tool risk where there's just so much too many strikeouts for you to survive even when you're doing enough other stuff to be have been a really good prospect to this point. But you know, Carson Williams has always found a way to perform even though he's had these underlying issues. He's only been a shortstop for so long, you know, he was a two way high school player. He was pretty serious prospect on the mound too. So you know, he hasn't focused on hitting for all that long even though it feels like forever because he's 22 and a half and we've known his name so since he was 17. But you know, there's just, there are enough examples. Willie Adamus is the version of Carson Williams that really pans out to, to the degree that we had hoped for when Williams was doing nothing but thriving into the upper levels of the Miners, where yeah, he's striking out like 28% of the time, but there's enough power for him to hit 25 plus homers and play unbelievable defense. Now with Williams, it's trended below that to this area where he's more in like that 30, 33% strikeout area. And that's definitely a little bit dicier. It doesn't feel like a big gap between what Willie Adamus has done and what Carson Williams seems poised to do. And that's why he's not a 60. It's interesting because when you look at position by position, what the DNA of, of the typical player looks like at shortstop, contact is just a big, big part of it. The average rate of players who play short contact rate for shortstops is better than that of like some of the corner positions. And it's not because the standard for offense at, you know, shortstop is, is higher. It's just because, well, the guys who can actually play shortstop tend not to have quite as much power as the athletes who can play first base or right field. And so what they have to be able to do then if not not hit for power is make a lot of contact. And so it is tough to find comps for a guy like Carson Williams, even if you're relatively optimistic that he's, he's going to dial down what he's doing strikeout wise. Trevor Story and Zach Netto and Willie Adamus and these guys like striking out 25% of the time. That's like the high end of, of the position group at short. And it's still a good bit better than, than Carson Williams, but you know, you just hoping that someone will this young and precocious and relatively underdeveloped is still going to be able to make enough adjustments to get into that sort of area.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

53 of the prospects you ranked are listed with 2026 ETAs.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

That includes some guys who actually already arrived and made their debuts of those guys.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

And it makes sense that the list would be largely composed of them because the closer you are to the majors, the more certain you can be about someone's outlook. Is there anyone there you feel most.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Confident about just making a splash this season? Whether it's your Savage just picking up.

[Effectively Wild Host 1]

Where he left off and the league.

[Effectively Wild Host 2]

Not really adjusting, or someone we got a glimpse of like McLean or Samuel Basayo or Chase Delater, someone like that just immediately making an impact. Obviously it's going to depend on, on playing time and opportunity too. But is it going to be someone like that or someone like Andrew Painter? We've been just waiting forever for him to be healthy and in the big league. So whether this is someone you think will be the best prospect long term or not, I'm interested in who you see as an impact player for this year.

[Eric Longenhagen]

There are a couple of teams, Atlanta and the Angels. Both stick out as if you're a good player in their organization. They are going to get you to the big leagues fast, sometimes at the detriment of your own, you know, performance once you arrive. And you know, Tyler Bremner with the Angels is a good bet on this list. You know, I sort of tipped my hand with Brody Hopkins and I think a lot of the time the answer is just one of the best young pitchers on a team that ends up making the postseason. And so that could be Peyton Tole, could be, you know, Bubba Chandler, fingers crossed, Pirates fans, that would be really cool. I think I'm going to say Brandon Sproat. I think that Milwaukee's player development machine, it's exceptional and the Mets are great with pitchers too. But there were changes made to Brandon Spro last year that clearly didn't work. I'd like to see him get back to the player he was for a pretty big window from 2020 to 2024 where there's a better change up and his arm slots a little bit lower like there there were things that the Mets are changed or that Sprout changed. I don't really know who was motivated to do that stuff, but he had just been so successful. But I think now that, you know, there's been a change of scenery there, Milwaukee always finds a way to contend. And you know, Sproat's 2025 season really is the weird blip that feels different than the rest of his career. And I would just bet that he gets back to being the well rounded, like heavy sinking fastball, great change up, you know, upper 90s starter that he has mostly been throughout his career and probably weigh heavily on the way the NL Central unfolds.

[Meg Relly]

I don't want to take the cop out pictures like I think Nolan McLean is pretty obviously going to have an impact as long as he stays healthy. So I want to highlight an outfitter that I think has gone a little under the radar in Dylan Beavers. He's somebody who was drafted in 2022 out of college. He was at Cal by the standards of a prospect drafted in the first round out of college. He's moved somewhat slowly through the minor leagues and then last year he managed to get to the power that scouts have been forecasting for a while and it was kind of like everything fell into place because now he's got above average raw. He's still really quick to the ball despite longer levers. He's got a great approach, great feel for the strike zone. He's going to be a solid corner outfielder. This is not the highest ceilinged guy in the minor leagues, but he's there. He produced a little bit in his, his call up last year and he just feels like somebody who could be a good player right from the outset.

[Eric Longenhagen]

I'll take Walchmid too in that vein. I'll take Walt Schmidt over beavers as a 2026 impact guy because the way Baltimore has tended to behave is like, oh, it sort of takes, you know, Heston Kirstad and there's just a crowded group there that I think they have to sift through and might be difficult for Beavers to do nothing but hit such that he sees is a job where Walchmid if Walshman goes off during spring training and Jorge Barrosa is your, you know, alternative starting left fielder like I think that those things are just a easier path to playing time for Ryan Walt Schmidt in Arizona and a clearly motivated club now that you know they're all in on financially on a roster that has Zach Allen and Merrill Kelly back.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Well, we will end Prospect week or be close to ending Prospect Week with our annual Picks to Click piece where everyone highlights guys who didn't make the hundred this year but who seem likely to be top 100 prospects in 2027. And I won't ask you to spoil much of that, but if you could each pick one guy who you anticipate being a pick to click for you and telling us a little bit about why they they didn't make it this year, but what about their profile is exciting for next year?

[Eric Longenhagen]

Bishop Letson with the brewers if you're looking for who could be Jacob Misarowski, who could be Peyton Tolle, players who you know a year ago well totally wasn't on the list yet. Mizorowski was stuffed pretty good, but just like monster extension, huge slider, projectable young brewers pitcher who who if he comes out this spring throwing 96 consistently, that guy's going to be a slam dunk top 100 guy a year from now.

[Meg Relly]

I'll take another pitcher. I'll take Trey Gregory Alford in the angel system. This is somebody who was on the Complex last summer and then got called up to low A towards the end of the season. Really big fastball doesn't have great traits, but when you're reliably upper 90s and touching 100, you can get away with that a little bit. Some projectability in the secondaries, big power pitchers, physicality. And one thing that I'm watching for all of the Angels is that they have a new director of pitching in Jarrett Hughes. The Angels for years and years have been a little bit behind the curve and what they do with their arms developmentally, they tend to take guys who throw hard and don't really have good secondary traits and then just have them throw the fastball through a brick wall practically. And Gregory Alford seems like somebody who could really benefit from a little bit of a different approach, which it sounds like is what the Angels are going to be taking by and large, just shifting directions and how they develop their arms. And so he's somebody who was already kind of in the conversation for this list, just with the big arm and some of the way the secondaries flashed and just in his natural progression could have been a pretty reliable pick to click anyway. And now there's even like secondary reasons to have optimism. He's just somebody who really jumps out to me immediately for that question.

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All right, well go read the top 100 top 110 reward the labor that.

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These guys and James and of course the many hours that Meg sank into this thing to make it worthwhile.

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And also check out their supplementary coverage.

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Their debates about other prospects.

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They did a chat on the website.

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So other players that you may be curious about may have been asked about there. We will link to all of that and as always, we welcome your prospect wisdom.

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So thank you Eric and thank you Brendan.

[Meg Relly]

Thank you, thank you.

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Well, no white smoke after day one.

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Of the player conclave, the union's player leadership did not vote on naming an interim director. Chris Bassett said, I feel we have.

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Made mistakes in the past by making rushed decisions. The executive subcommittee and all the reps agreed we want to get this right. Right.

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We don't want to get it done just because there's a void.

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He then went on to say, I would think we would have this wrapped up within 24 hours, but at the.

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End of the day I believe that.

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Making sure all 1200 plus players have a true opinion on this and a true understanding of everything we know is.

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More important than filling it as soon as possible. Sounds smart. More to come.

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Also thanks to a Patreon supporter who goes by Duke in our Patreon Discord group for spotting a rare example of a Tyler Wade Taylor Ward mix up in print. Usually it's a verbal stumble, but here we have a Ken Rosenthal column for the Athletic from February 14th which reads, the Orioles also signed free agent reliever Ryan Helsley and center fielder Leoti Tavares and traded for outfielder Taylor Wade. That's right, it says Wade, not Ward.

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And at podcast press time a few days after the piece was published, it still says Wade.

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I do see one comment from Orion.

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F that just says Taylor Ward, not Taylor Wade. Add another example to a very long list.

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Tigers and A's previews coming next time. Until then, you can support effectively Wild on Patreon by going to patreon.com effectivelywild and signing up to pledge some monthly.

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Or yearly amount to help keep the podcast coming.

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Help us stay ad free and get.

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Yourself access to some perks as have.

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The following five listeners Atticus Leo, Weber, Baby Galen and Michael McAvoy.

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Thanks to all of you, Patreon perks.

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Include access to the Effectively Wild Discord group for patrons only, monthly bonus episodes, playoff live streams, prioritized email answers, personalized.

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Messages, shoutouts at the end of episodes.

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Potential podcast appearances, discounts on merch and ad, free fangraphs memberships, and so much more. Check out all the [e-mail] effectivelywild if you are a Patreon supporter, you can message us through the Patreon site.

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If not, you can contact us via email.

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Send your questions, comments, intro and outro.

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Themes to podcastangraphts.com youm can rate, review.

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And subscribe to Effectively Wild on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Music, and other podcast platforms. You can join our facebook [e-mail] group effectively wild. You can find the Effectively Wild subreddit at R Effectively Wild and you can check the show notes in the podcast, posted fan graphs or the episode description in your podcast app for links to the stories and stats we cited today. Thanks to Shane McKeon for his editing and production assistance. We'll be back with another episode a.

[Eric Longenhagen]

Little later this week.

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Talk to you then.

[Meg Relly]

Chance Bobby Chance Bobby Chance. Effectively Wild it's the zombie runner.

[Eric Longenhagen]

Bobby Chance Bobby Shames Bobby Chance.

[Meg Relly]

Effectively Wild.

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Joey Menesis no. Walk off three Run Digger.

[Ben Lindbergh]

Stop it.

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Walk off three run shot. Oh my God, Meg, he's the best player in baseball.

[Eric Longenhagen]

Effectively.