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Never miss a moment of fantasy Baseball action and Welsh. A few days ago was the MLB Draft and we are going to start picking it apart. And this is becoming something, you know, more and more important every single year as it passes, because it used to be just the dynasty managers who are interested in the MLB Draft
for the most part. You know, back in the day, we went from all these are guys that will be in the big leagues in a couple of years too, All these are guys I should stash for the second half to oh my god, if I don't know who these guys are, I might be behind in my draft.
Going forward into this season.
And no, the names already who have already graced their presence or grace us with their presence, I should say on the MLB stage already, Jack kagleon Nick Kurtz has been terrific. Cam Smith, Ryan Johnson, Christian Moore, and Chase Burns all guys from last year's draft.
Which I thought was a spectacular cast.
We went over and over last year, we did this special last season, and I thought this was a class that was incredibly talented. I likened it to the nineteen eighty six draft that was just littered with superstar talent. I feel validated because a lot of that talent's already there, and some of that talent is still on the precipice.
But this was a much, I would say, younger draft, especially with position players, not as many college bats at the top, a lot more high school bats, a lot of high school shortstops, and nobody I don't think really like I would say the best college hitter in this draft, I wouldn't have put him in the top ten.
Hitters from last year. Would you agree or disagree?
Yeah? I know, I think that's probably correct. And this draft lacks college bats and in a record setting short style. Fourteen of the twenty seven picks were shortstops, which is heard of, and you know, also from like a fantasy perspective, it's not great because you're lacking college so it's gonna be And you know, I was saying this on CBS broadcast.
One of the really telling things is baseball is a repetition game, not just obviously of just swing, swing, swing, but like you know, you see something, you repeat it, torpedo bats, everybody's doing it. Well, what was last year massive success with college players getting to the major So you would think, Okay, here we go, We're going to have more college players drafted, We're gonna have more position players, high school guys are gonna get pushed even further than before.
It's exact opposite of what happened. And the reason behind that is because of the talent pool. Clearly, the talent is not remotely close on the college bats to what it was last year. So what was the rub? What was the change? I think you had multiple teams looking at taking deals and you had teams just saying screw it,
playing high upside taking that battle. So we're not going to see the same amount of players we saw this year go into making the majors next year it's not to say that we're not going to see some because I think the I think the evaluation process and the prospecting build up process is going quicker and quicker, especially for college base hitters, even high school guys. They're just getting pushed up to levels faster and faster because they
want these guys to the majors. Because, like you said, there was a time where it was like, all right, cool, that guy got drafted, see you in five years. That's not the case. I think timelines are like they want to see high school advance high school guys in two years, you want to see college guys in one year. So I thought this class was really weird and interesting and it was very telling because there was just so little college hitting. And yeah that college hitting, especially based on
what we know now, would rank a lot lower. But I think the guy I have would probably at best be seventh or eighth at best versus the college hitters that we see last year. So there's a lot of depth here, but it is lacking the top end meat that we had in twenty twenty fours draft.
All right, we're going to break down the first round and then Welsh is going to go through some of his favorite prospects from the draft, and maybe you talk about some ETAs, but look for me at the top. You know how I feel about the college versus the high school guys, especially the college versus high school arms. You know, I am always away from the high school arms. I want nothing to do. So much can happen in development over that time, and the stats are not on
their side basically. You know, there's so many injuries, so many things that happened in those years as they grow. Where the hit rate of the high school pitcher has not been very good, the hit rate of the high school hitter is a little bit different. And Ethan Holiday to me, was the guy that if I had the number one pick, can't miss. That's where I would have gone. I've heard the Corey Seeger comp. I actually like the
Cory Sieger comp. I tend to like to come up with my own, but I think that's kind of spot on. I like him more as a prospect than his brother, to be on with you. To me, I just think he's going to fill out a little bit more. I think he's got a little bit more of his dad's genetics. Just physically looking at him as a young player, because I'm old enough to remember his dad when he was a young player.
So to me, that's where I would go.
Now, this is not a knock on Eli Willitts, who's the first pick, and if we can look at the top ten here, will Its goes first overall to the Nats. To me, if I'm the Nats, though, I'm a team that's got James Wood, I've got a lot of good players here at the precipice of the major leagues.
CJ.
Abrams another good young player. You hope that you can get Dylan Cruz to turn things around. I would have taken Kate Anderson first if I was them, because Anderson.
Might be able to get you.
I would say, I don't know, in the next two years, potentially contributing, if not, maybe a year in change. And will It's I think is still a couple of years away. I really like Eli Willis as a player. He's a strong kid, much stronger than I think people realize. Had a really good left handed swing. To me, Ethan Holliday was the hey can't miss and that kid so well. The top four here was Eli Willetts and then Tyler
Bremer goes to the angels. You have Kate Anderson, the number one pitcher on a lot of boards, going to Seattle falling to three, and then Holiday falling to four. We'll get to Doyle in just a second, but let's talk about these top four, how they landed in these spots and what it means for their future. Let's start with Willets at the top.
Yeah, so Willetts was a really interesting one because this, in my mind was clearly was clearly an underslot deal. This was them saving some money not dealing with Scott Boris and being able to cut a deal for a little bit later, which we did end up finding out that they took some guys later in the draft. That or high school that you know, can be some high value. So, Eli Willets is a very good shortstop. I think there's
five tools in there. I even threw a comparison out that you know, there might be a Trey Turner in there, because dudes.
I agree, one hundred so forty six.
Bases in high school batting average, great contact skills, really good defender. He can do everything. So you know, in real life, like I can see what we're doing here, I can see why they would want a player like that, but there's still some power projection, you know, long term, what's going to happen. You also have CJ. Abrams that's there. But at the end of the day, like this was, they didn't have to deal with Scott Boris. I believe he's one of the only clients and non Scott Boris
clients that was out there. And Eli Willitts is just a nice, good, complete player. But I would have taken ethan holiday at one and I think that's where it's my problem is. And then Jim Bowden agreed with me on this, and I would have said, this is that usually you take a deal because you are going to spend that money or you're going to convince another really good player to fall. That's what they do. They want
to spend that they didn't happen. As a matter of fact, all the guys that you would have tried to make fall to over pay for later they went.
They all went.
It was all high school shorts up. So I kind of thought they like, maybe overplayed their hand a tiny bit. But I like Eli Willetts. I think he's a solid player. But it started the kind of chaos of this draft because going in everybody thought it was Kate Anderson. Liam Doyle three was a little bit of a question in Ethan Holiday, but taking Eli Willets at one kind of set off a weird little cascade of a couple picks here. But you know, he's the number two high school shortstop
on my board. Ethan Holiday is number one. We'll talk about the fantasy side a little bit later in the show where they go on first year player. But again, solid pick. It's a floor pick in a very scary draft. It was a really nice floor pick for them to build on, but it doesn't help them for the near future. And that's why Kate Anderson would have made a lot of sense as we're going to step into two pitchers that are dropping here.
Yeah, Anderson reminds me of like almost a Cole Hamill's kind of guy. You know, he's got that lefty, big curveball. He's got that I mean, very repeatable delivery. This is the lot that I like about Kate Anderson.
Agree, let me give you a different comp Okay, Max Freed. There's a Max Free because he's got a big Buckley curveball that he throws. This, by the way, is like my favorite landing spot. I thought Kate Anderson dodged a bullet because he didn't go one and oh my god, the angels are on the clock. That's the most terrified the angels. They're not going to develop anybody. They're going to throw you up there. Kate Anderson has got a slew of solid pitches. It's a good fastball. There's some
you know, some good shape. It's it's not like an elite fastball like Liam Doyle or anything, but it's a really really good fastball. At the end of the day, like you know, where there might be some developmentally things that they're going to have to end up doing. This is a guy that led Division one in strikeouts. You know, he's got good spin numbers thirty I think thirty something
k minus walk percentage, and he's going to pitching. He's going to go to Seattle now where all they have done is properly developed pictures and they've got, you know, just a host and a class of guys, whether they're all following track and doing their splitters and stuff or Brian Wo Brian Woo, George Kirby Logan, Gilbert Luis Castillo. It's an incredible class on and on and on. Yeah, and so this destination works really well. And this is
where again we'll get into fantasy. The rubber meets the road of like do you want to invest in pitching? But yes, this is like my favorite destination outside of holiday for any of these like top picks.
I like the Freed comp too. Gef somewhere in the hybrid between Hamils and Freedman if he can land there. And I do think he's gonna be a guy that goes quickly through this organization too, I really do. And look, Bremmers, it's funny if I gave a comp to Bremmer. And I don't want to stir the pot here, but like he reminds me of Trevor Bauer when he was young a little bit in terms of physically how he throws, in terms.
Of his Actually, that's interesting you say that I saw that same thing.
You see that little Trevor Bauer And oh yeah, I know, I saw that watch, very similar delivery, similar arsenal. He's got a little bit of a fire in him, you know, hopefully he's got less of a.
Fire in him than Trevor Power.
But speaking of guys with fire, and then Liam Doyle at five, another guy with you know again, arguably the best fastball. Right he goes to the Cardinals. But Liam Doyle is a kid that has a lot of maturity issues. In my opinion, you watch him pitch. I love a guy who's fiery, Don't get me wrong, I really do. I love a guy who is intense and all that stuff. Liam Doyle to me, reeks of too much. It rereaks
of immaturity. It reaks up a little bit more of John Rocker syndrome than it does of Randy Meyer syndrome.
You know what I mean.
I do think he'll be an closer at some point. I don't know if he's going to stick as a starting pitcher, to be honest with you, I just don't know if he's built for it.
He might be built as a closer. He has the screw loose.
So if you can harness all of that attitude and all that demeanor, but the fact that he was a college kid and still with the antics on the mound and talking to the opposing coaches and doing It's like, bro, you're twenty years.
Old, now stop it.
Grow up a little bit and bad on the Tennessee manager for not being able to wrangle him. I know he had some other issues too where he was out of shape, and they were able to work with him on that, but that took a lot of doing too. So I did not love this selection here by the Cardinals, to be honest with you, Seth Hernandez. Another interesting selection here by the Pirates as they continue to look forward more pitching for them.
I want to say it right, Is it iv a arquette? Am I saying it correctly?
I have a arquette?
It is Iva?
Okay, now I've arquette. Everybody said it's the best college bat. That's not a guy that jump off the page to me. I watched him a ton. Jojo Parker also didn't really jump off the page. Steele Hall, Billy Carlson, all these guys I think are projects. I'll be honest with you. To me this first round, if you're looking dynasty wise, Holiday Anderson, that's where I'm putting my capital behind Welsh. What'd you make of the rest of this top ten here five through ten?
Yeah, I'll just give you just a couple like quick little anecdotal things. Liam Doyle best fastball in the draft. He led college baseball in k per nine thirty four K minus walk percentage seventy five grade fastball a nineteen IVB, so that's that vertical break you know, throws like high stuff, got a splitter with big swift rate. So I actually think he's interesting. He'll be one of the top ish guys,
whether there's maturity or not. Seth Rnandez is one of my favorites, but he's super risky just because, like he's a high school pitcher. But he has got probably the best changeup in this entire draft, him or Brimner, they're kind of similar. Brimner's maybe the college's version, but you've got three to four pitches for seth Rnandez, and he goes to the Pirates who do really, really well. So that's interesting, but it's risky. I've Arquette is the guy
I told you I talked with Travis Bizana about. Yeah, he lacks some of the upside, but he is like six foot five, two twenty, he has power, he makes contact. You worry about some of the chase stuff out there. I think at the end of the day, he's still a really solid bet and he might be a better Colson Montgomery. So I like him. I've got him pretty high. Jojo Parker is probably the most well balanced of the high school guys that where Eli Willitts has a lot
of the tools but lacks the power. Jojo Parker has that power, but he doesn't quite have the speed. Ethan Holliday has the power, maybe not the contact, So he's pretty good. I'm not as high on Steel Hall and Billy Carlson. Billy Carlson's a plus defender. I think his bat lacks So this is where when you get into fantasy things are going to start to unravel compared to where they went in the draft. But yeah, I think Ethan Holliday, Kate Anderson, Eli Willett, Seth Hernandez like those
are like really main targets. And I would frankly say I have a Arquette. I might move I've Arkette down a little bit when we get to first year player. But as a college bat, like, he's a dude, he is a real okay like, but he's not Nick Kurtz's Nick Kurse.
He's not Caglio, and he ain't Cam Smith.
He might be Cam Smith, though I disagree. I think he could be Cam Smith.
Well, there's a respectfully disagree there on that one. But I'm not saying he's bad.
I'm just saying, like I saw Cam Smith, he jumped off the page to me, and Arquette just hasn't done.
Ninety three point four average exit veloss city one oh eight on the ninetieth percentile, which is a huge, huge, really good number. Pulled the ball in the air, barrel the ball over thirty percent of the time, one of the best barrel rates in college, great launch angle. Like I think he could be Cam Smith. I'm just throwing that out there to people.
All Right, there is a guy, though, who did go in the next grouping here that I really like. So let's take a look at the guys here outside the top ten. You have Arnold going to the athletics. The guy for me here Witherspoon, interesting pitcher, guy that I think is one to watch. But it's number twenty that I like the most personally, Andrew Fisher Milwaukee.
I think got themselves a dude here. I love this kid.
He has the ball hard, he's got a major league physique, already played for Tennessee last year if he didn't watch any college baseball last year. But like this guy, hits it. You know, it's out. I love that left handed strokes. He's got a ton of power. I don't know, man like, I don't know if he's going to stick at their base, if that's like his long term thing. But to me, this is like, you know, you talk about what they
look like. I watch Andrew Fisher, and I watched it with Tennessee, and then I watched a lot of highlights of him, you know, trying to get ready for this show in the last couple of days. And let me tell you something, dude, that's the guy that I went. Wherever this guy lands, I'm going to be investing in fantasy because I do think he's going.
To rise through the ranks pretty quickly.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Fisher and this group here, in this next ten through twenty group, and who stood out to you.
Yeah, so Fisher is super interesting. I'm kind of torn on one hundred percent where I want to go with it. He's spoiler. He didn't make to my top fifteen, but I think he's run on the press office. I think a lot of people like him because he was one of those huge, one of those few college bats, great
bat speed, good power. Data Wise, in college, he had the best of the first rounders EV ninety five plus, so he had a sixty two percent rate where he was hitting the ball ninety five or harder, which is ridiculous. His contact in the zone was around eighty four percent, that's well above average. He also pulled the ball in the air almost more than anybody and had the highest barrel rate. So, I mean, all of those things really
do work out. Frankly, talking about it out loud again does make me think that's a guy that you do need to consider pushing even higher.
He has advanced physically, Like you look at some of these kids, you know, you see the high school kids for instance, You're like, Okay, there's a lot of growing left to do into the frame. He's gonna have to put on, you know, twenty pounds of muscle over the next two years in order to get to where he needs to be physically to play in the major leagues. Yeah, this kid looks like he plays already for the Milwaukee Brewer. I mean yeah, and not like in a big way
where he's like, oh, he's an overwaker. He is strong, he has got strong lower half, He gets great hip rotation through the baseball, a nice left handed swing. When he like I said, when this guy hits a ball, it stays a hit.
I wish, yeah, I wish I had his batspeed data because it's pretty sick. The rest of these guys just some quick nuggets. Jamie Arnold is like a spin monster. At one point he was seen as a first overall pick. He went to the Athletics. He's got a problem. It's a lefty throwing sweepers into righty, so they might have to figure that out. But some people think he might have been one of the steals of the draft. Kaisan Witherspoon going to the Boston Red Sox. He has got
like four highly graded pitches. He's got low, he's got a weird release point, he doesn't have great extension, and maybe some command issues, but his stuff is really great. I'm gonna just give you a preview case on Cunningham to the Diamondbacks high school shortstop. I'm just throwing it up.
He could be.
He could end up being one of the best in the class. So you're just not homer aside, like.
I let all that I'm not a diamond I don't disagree with you, I'm not a Diamondback stand at all.
You know that.
I agree with you. I think that's another one where somebody somebody screwed up.
I love this little bit. He looks like Jose Ramirez a little is but a little bit better body and a funny story. He was interviewed after drafted being drafted by the Diamondbacks. He said the Diamondbacks worked him out in June and they had a pitch simulator machine there and he asked to go against Paul Skeens in that he hit some bombs off of Paul Skeens And he told us that he was on this simulator hitting one fourteen's and one fifteens maxx velocity. That's ridiculous. That is
elite power. And that's the question about him because he's got big bat speed. So I really really love that. Irish I thought was also a really great pick at nineteen. The Baltimore Orioles ended up having one of the best drafts. They got four players that I think were top twenty to twenty five valued over thirty seven picks. So those
are a couple of the guys that stand out. Again, case on Cunningham, I Irish obviously Andrew Fisher, Witherspoon and Jamie Arnold in that what eleven to twenty range.
Yeah, some definite names there, and I agree with you that Witherspoon, Cunningham, those are two guys that also stood out to me. All right, let's take a look at the latter part of the first round as well. Xavier Naans goes first, and then we have all the way down to Jace Lovelata twenty seven.
Gage Wood, who put up a huge performance not that long ago.
Was it the twenty strikeout no hitter or something to that, nineteen strikeouts whatever it was.
Strikeout again.
I love this guy, competitor when he went to the Phillies, I went yes, because you talk about a guy in a landing spot in terms of a town that's going to embrace him if he gets there.
That sort. See, gage Wood has the intensity I love.
Whereas if you look a little earlier here, you know, when I go back and talk about Liam Doyle, he has the intensity that worries the hell out of me. And I think there's just a it's a different sort of animal, it's a different sort of dude you're dealing with, and intensity is good, which you got to.
Be able to focus it a little bit.
I thought the Phillies got to steal here, not just because of that performance, but when you look at some of the other data that he had, it was all very good there. So they have a bright young future. They've got Painter, they've got Mike Able and now would coming in this rotation the years ahead, the Phillies have had some great starting pitching, and they've been able to acquire a bunch of starting pitching. And I thought this
was a great job by the Phillies. What other picks stood out to you here in this draft in the latter part.
Yeah, I got a couple. I do just want to say on gage Wood, I completely agree. The only thing is I took the him going twenty six as a health issue because he should have gone higher. His stuff is ridiculous. He had a forty five percent with rate on his fastball, tons tons of strikes he gets with a good spin. He's got a great hard curveball, big slider. Lance Brasdowski had compared him as like a Hunter Brown type of comp But there's an injury Warriors in there,
so this might have meant medicals. So I'm with you on it.
I think he's a little physical, I would say a little bit stronger.
You know, Hunter Brown not.
Quite the strong bol He's a bookier guy.
He is a bulkier guy. Yeah.
I don't know physically if that's the best comp. But in terms of approach, I actually that that's a good comp In terms of approach, he almost comes off as like when you watch him pitch, he feels like the toughest guy in the locker room.
They just like, Hey, why don't you go try to you know, why don't you go pitch? Gage looks like I could do it?
Kind of looks like a full back.
Yeah, he felt like a Yeah, he's absolutely built more like a football player, and he kind of pitches like a football player, which I think is a tremendous thing. Like I said, I think he's a great fit for Philadelphia in the future. But that's another guy that I'd be circling on the dynasty charts here and circling and redraft you. I think he's going to get to the major leagues in a quick fashion.
Two other guys that really stand out that I am high on. Xavier Naan's going to the Houston Astros. He's a high school shortstop. He's going to be a third baseman at the end of the day. Tremendous power some of the best. We're talking like similar ish power to Ethan Holliday. He's a feisty kind of dude too. I like the hit tool. I think he's going to thrive there. A lot of people are trying to comp his swing to Jordan Alvarez, but I love NaN's I think I'm
going to be aggressive on him and jas Lavolette. That's going to be the most controversial of players here where people are going to end up ranking him because this is a guy that was seen as a potential number one overall player, but then he got hurt and he is this mixture of strikeouts versus big power. I think he's like a baby CAGs with the type of power
that he's got. He's got ridiculous stuff. If I can pull this up here with some of the at a Lavolette here, low contact rate, but one of the lowest chase rates, so when you're worrying about those strikeouts, that's kind of floating out there. He had an over fifty ninety five plus EV so you know he was consistently getting to that one oh seven almost one oh eight
nineteth percentile exit velocity. So that's just really good if you're wondering where it is the best pull rate of all the guys, almost a twenty degree launch angle, So he is pulling the ball with massive power, which that is going to do really well in Cleveland. We know that little right handed side in Cleveland, that little wind tunnel that's happened that's created this new power potential for players.
So yes, there's some strikeout issue. There was an injury at the beginning of the year that held him back and why his batting average was down. I think people are going to be really torn on him. I'm very high on him. Uh In my first year player, he fell all the way down to twenty seven, and it's very reminiscent to Chase the latter because the latter was an almost first overall pick. He was hurt, Cleveland jumped in on him. I really really like Chase Lavalette in
a weird, bad college class. There is risk with it, but this is going to be one of those where he is the last pick in the first round, you know, the twenty seven picks, and it's compensatory, but I'm going to value him a lot higher. So when we get to the fantasy board, you guys are going to see where I differ. But those are two guys that stood out that went late that I have quite high.
I'm where you are with Lavallette, to be honest, a little bit of that matt Olsen kind of thing where he's very still and then he has almost like that big long Dolfy swing when he hits the ball.
You know what I mean.
When he hits home runs, you know that you're just like, oh, where'd that come from? So there's like a little like matt Olsen kind of vibe that he gives me when I watch him play.
And also it's two straight years. I just want to point out that Cleveland clearly has something they're targeting high, high pole rate fly ball guys, because Travis Bazana was that Travis Bazana pulls the ball like crazy, gets the ball in the air and maximizes too. Right field is a left handed hitter, exact same thing. Number one pole guy almost twenty degree laun Shingle and lava Lette. They've got a system they're working with for guys that are
going to be optimized at the major league level. So I think he's why. I think he's kind of like wildly underrated. You might see some fantasy people put him like in the twenties or something like that, simply because of the strikeout worries. I will not.
I'm with you.
Look, that's something you can fix and approach. But the upsides there clearly. The power is there, clearly. Like I said, the stillness reminds me of Olson and then that explosive, almost like golfing swing sometimes where he just gets under one and it just it just goes for miles.
Like some think they might have to fix it. Some are out there maybe thinking they have to fix the swing. I'm not sure that they will either.
It's you know what, it's not long. It's just graceful. You know.
I think there's some kids you look at when you watch them, you have a long swing. His is just he's got you know, it's just a graceful swing, like Daryl Strawberry for instance. Like that's a guy that people would say, oh it's a long swing. It's not a long swing. It's just an incredibly easy, graceful swing. And you know, guys with longer arms sometimes just have longer swing paths. It doesn't mean they're not getting to the baseball quickly. Believe me, Darrel Strubber, I got to the
baseball very quickly. But I think that's something people tend to forget or confuse sometimes when you're watching. There were some kids that I watch in this high school grouping that I thought were, you know, had a long swing that I just think, we're, you know, not real quick to the baseball. But I want to get to some of Welsh's favorites here. So Welsh walk us through this next board. Here we're going to talk about some of your favorite prospects, because again, you know, this is real
baseball draft. Here we're talking fantasy and how they equate. You've got Ethan Holiday up at the top. I could not agree more. I think he's gonna get there quickly, and I do think he has the upside even greater than his brother, who's starting to realize some of his potential this year.
So this is my first year player board Top fifteen. You guys are listening on an audio. Go to the YouTube if you want to see it. I'll also have an article on fantasy pros up in the next twenty four hours where I'm doing some written form, but if you do your first year player drafts, I put fifteen representing a top first round. So these are the top fifteen guys. I'm gonna listen them all out real quick, and then we can pick a couple names. I have
Ethan Holiday at one. I have an Arc headed to Kate Anderson at three, Seth Anderson or Seth Hernandez at four, Eli Willets at five. I believe that is a tier. Those can all move around. Number six, Liam Doyle seven, Jojo Parker, Jays Lavallette at eight, so I mentioned I'm very high on him, Jamie Arlin at nine, and Xavier
Naan's is ten. Tyler Bremner, who could be the first guy to the majors at eleven, Cason Cunningham with the Diamondbacks, I absolutely love him, Gavin Fiends with the Texas Rangers at thirteen, Ike Irish at fourteen, and Gavin Keeline at fifteen. So that's my top fifteen board. The thing to remember is these tiers are bigger. There's a whole lot other players that are, you know, like that fifteen. I think
it extends out to probably like twenty more players. Andrew Fisher is a player that they could jump into there, but I have them blocked into tiers. So I personally think Ethan Holliday is the top pick. I think I've already talked to two different people. Chris Cleig likes Eli Willetts air A Cross likes Jojo Parker. So there's no consensus right now. We're all over the board. I'm going with the power, going with the Colorado back, and I think it pairs out with the rest of those that top.
So again, that Tier one is Eli Willis is your safe pick. Holiday is your dream pick. I have our catch, your college proximity pick. But he might lack the upside and he might need to come down a little bit. And then if you like pitching, I wouldn't care if someone took Kate Anderson one because the destination is incredible if you're in a points league set as Hernandez might have some of the best stuff. He's just a high
school guy that's that kind of block. Anything you want to hit in that little Tier one block real quick or we move on to the next.
Yeah, No, I like I'd go Holiday one.
I think he's the guy you could build this rebirth of the Rockies around, like I honestly do.
I think he could be that good.
But again, that's going to be a couple of years away because he's a high school kid, so I'm looking out of a three year window for him.
To remember, Jackson Holiday did do it in about a year and a half. Yeah, I don't think he will, but I'm just pointing that out.
It was too soon, and I think there's something to be learned from that. It's like, look, let's not rush it too much a little bit necessarily. Plus, I don't know what's going to be around him. I think the reason that the Orioles are rushing is because, well, you know, we can compete, and he can help us compete, and we've got all this other young talent. I don't know what the Rockies have. You know, Tolio will see how he goes. It's a couple other guys that are intriguing.
Anderson is the safest of the two, like Andrews' is the quickest, He's the safest at Seattle.
The question is where's he fits the rotation.
I assume Castillo won't be there sooner than later, and that will be the opening spot and he will get there.
The only look, I think it's a good list.
The only thing is I think Fisher should be on it, and I'm gonna pound the table for him.
I like gage Wood too.
I think both of those guys, and of course the Orioles did take another catcher, so we can only assume that Cayden Bodein will also be called up this year.
Yeah before Basayo, Well.
They technically took like two ike Irish played catcher and outfield, so then real quickly if we jump off of it, I want to just get through the rest of these tiers. Of these guys, Tier two is Liam Doyle and Jojo Parker to me again, Jojo Parker's another safe, kind of does a little bit of everything. Bet Liam Doyle. I know you don't love him, but he should be quick to the majors. It's a really big fastball splitter. Tier three opens up. I do have Jayce Lavallette as a
top ten pick for college. I'm betting on power. I'm not afraid Jamie Arnold Xavier Naan's with the power. Tyler Bremner. Tyler Bremner is the one we didn't like talk a ton about, but you know he's got a big fastball, big change up. I think they don't feel he needs a lot of work, and that's why he could be
with the Angels soon. What things really open up is My last guy in this kind of tier three range is case On Cunningham, who I mentioned, who has got power, contact, doesn't strike out, probably some of the best bat speed of any of these guys. And I think, and by the way, it's he's a shortstop, not a starting pitcher, which is listed on here and it's Arizona, but Keseon Cunningham is like full full of potential, and I think he might be one of the sneakiest, like having a
teens pick of all these guys. And it's not just Arizona would have been wherever he would have gone. I liked him. Gavin Fien's is a bunch of power with the Rangers. I know Claiy has got him like top five. And then you end it with a couple of college bats ike irish whether it's catcher outfield, really good exit velocities, really solid college bat in a pretty hitter friendly environment. And Gavin Keelin was mocked many times to the Red Sox.
I've got him at shortstop or they drafted him at shortstop. I've got him on this list and the guys that just fell out of it, as you mentioned, you got Andrew Fisher, Kayson Cunningham, a bunch of the high school shortstops. And I think that's the biggest thing that stands out, Joe, is people are going to see, you know, Steel Hall and Daniel Pierce and Billy Carlson. Billy Carlson went ten and they're not in my top fifteen, and I'm lower on them, and it's just I don't know if I
feel great about a lot of the upside. But the most important thing out of this is this is a very evolving process. This is the initial rank set if you're a cycle path and you're out doing your first year player, because I know some people are doing the first year player like this week, which is absolutely crazy. But this is an evolving process where some of these guys, these high school guys are going to come out here, some of the college guys are going to get run.
Andrew Fisher comes out and just goes to Low A and then it finishes the year at High A and then goes to the AFL. Guess what that's going to be like our version of Dick Kurtz this year. He could fly up board. So understanding the players that could really fly up boards I think is also important. Guys like Fisher, guys like Gage Wood, Ethan Conrad is in that list, and there's just a boatload of high school
guys for potential. So my last piece here, as I'm going to kind of write in this article, is that I don't think this is a year where you need to have or trade up into a draft. Like if I can get Ethan Holiday, I'm going to take Ethan Holiday in first year player for Fantasy.
I like it.
If I want pitching, I really want to probably focus on Kate Anderson. If I had the fourth or fifth pick, this is a decent year to trade back. If I had picks eleven and fifteen and I traded out of four or five, I think I'm getting talent that is on the same general range. If I'm getting case On Cunningham and then let's say Andrew Fisher with those two picks and I traded out, I think you can do it.
So acquiring the middle round of picks is important because just because I gave you fifteen, I'm looking here, I legit think the next fifteen to twenty guys could easily be top ten to fifteen players. So having as he picks as possible in a depthy draft that lacks this awesome, awesome upside for fantasy, it's just something important to kind of go into. But we'll see how things, you know, materialize and how we get to see some of these
guys in the majors. And that's why I also firmly believe you should do your first year player drafts in February next year, just so you've got a much better idea of these guys. Because LOO look at Jack cag Leon. Kag Leon had such a bad rep coming into the draft and then a bad Bridge League and then he became amazing. AFL changed him Nick Kurtz Afl. So you just want to see that taglone.
If you watch this show, I mean you were you knew very well my love with Jack Caglio last.
Year, and I wasn't hearing any of that noise. And that's what I mean.
I tend to push some of that noise away because I think some of that stuff is just a lot of the nonsense that comes in the evaluation process.
Sometimes where you get a.
Lot of team speak, a lot of agents speak, a lot of nonsense, a lot of this and that it's about money and other things. I'm using the eye tests whilst's using the data. Hopefully we come to a good agreement on some of these quality players.
But we want to hear from you.
Who is your favorite pick of the twenty twenty five MLB draft. Drop your comments below, subscribe to the channel bring the Bell to Licos Ding, and check out Welsh's work on Fantasypros dot com where he breaks down the entire draft and patience. That's the one thing I would mention here.
Patient, especially with this class.
Patients with this class is not going to be the instant gratification of last year.
It's just not going to be.
So take a deep breath, enjoy your dynasty league drafts. And there's a couple guys that I think could be quick risers in the major leagues that'll do it for us.
But the story of the game goes on for the Welsh. I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, Gidz.
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast. If you love the show, the best freeway to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow us on x, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com Slash Fantasy Pros MLB