Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: WVUAFm Tuscaloosa welcome back to student section MLB here on Wednesday, April 17. I'm your host, Luke Tory, joined by.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Tyler Harrison and Luke Anderson.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: And we were off last week, but this week we're back and we got a lot to talk about.
Let's just start with.
I mean, the Yankees are the hottest team in baseball.
Best record in the bigs, 13 and six. They started off twelve four. They lost three straight, one to the Guardians and then the first two to the Blue Jays. And they almost lost again today. But they had a very big comeback. They were up. They were down four one in the 9th and they put up a four spot or four two. They were down four one in the 8th. They put up one in the 8th and then four in the 9th and came back and won six four.
Anthony Volpe is breaking out.
He did a lot of work to fix his swing in the offseason.
I got some notes here.
Okay.
Yeah. Anthony Volpe. I mean, all spring, the talk around Volpe centered on his flatter bath path and, like, through the zone at noon. Improved swing has allowed Volpe better play coverage and has produced more hit hard hits to center and right.
Volpe on the year is.
Here we go. Right now, after he struggled in this series against the Blue Jays, I think he was like one for twelve or one for 13 in this series against the Blue Jays. But prior to that, I mean, he's still batting 324, two homers, eight RBI's, 881 OPS.
But I mean, before that, he was bat. He was betting, like, before the series, he was betting like 415, 375, like, somewhere in that range. But, I mean, he has looked phenomenal and he's looked phenomenal in the field.
I'm excited to keep watching him this season. Juan Soto is quite literally the best player I've ever seen in my life. And I'm not even kidding when I say that. Like, I've never liked, witnessed someone so disciplined at the plate. Like, I never really, like, watched Juan Soto as much as, obviously as much as I am now.
I mean, dude, he might be the best hitter I've ever, like, seen. I don't like no bias. Like, he just has a different, like, vibe about him at the plate is like, I don't know, but still has.
[00:02:45] Speaker C: A better start to it.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: He leads. He leads the. How old is Acunya?
[00:02:49] Speaker C: Do you know?
[00:02:50] Speaker A: They're the same age. Okay.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: Or they may not be the same age. They debuted. They debuted the same year.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: Well, Soto's 25 when he was like 19. Yeah, Soto's 25.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: I mean, Acuna is like, yeah, less.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: Than 36, but something that Soto's batting 350, 217 ribbies.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, he had 500. His 500th today, I saw.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Yeah, he's got four homers on the year. He's just like, he's just everything you could ask for. And finally, the Yankees are starting to look complete. Their lineup is very well balanced, although their offense kind of quieted down these past few games.
They've been, it's really hard to complain about anything other than injuries. I mean, we lost. We lost Loisica for the year.
Cole's gonna be back eventually and is gonna be back soon. Another guy I wanted to talk about who's off to a rocket hot start is Oswaldo Cabrera.
He was filling in. I mean, this guy, he's been decent for us in the past. He's still young. He was horrible through all of spring, basically, like, he was going to be sent down after spring training included. But the single reason that he was on the big, the big league roster off the bat was because of DJ Lemay. He was hurt, and we needed just him to fill that spot. And, man, he took off and ran with it. Provenance. He is. He said, play me every day is what he. Oswaldo Cabrera, on the year, batting 309, three homers, 13 Ribby's 895 OPS. I mean, like, it's, everything is going well right now for the Yankees, besides injuries, our starters have been pretty decent for the most part.
I think the Yankees are going to shock a lot of people this year. I mean, they jumped from, they jumped in the power rankings from eight to one, like one in, like a week.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Since when were, why were they ever.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Eight in the power range to start the year?
[00:04:57] Speaker C: Really?
[00:04:58] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I thought that was pretty.
[00:05:00] Speaker C: Fair if they're going based off last season. I mean, yeah, I mean, the teams over more, what? Dodgers, Braves, Orioles, Phillies.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: They had the Phillies of four, I think.
[00:05:10] Speaker C: Wow, man, it's crazy.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: But anyway, Yankees, like, zero, honestly, zero complaints. And we got a series of the Rays coming up, and then our schedule gets pretty easy.
Athletics for four. Although apparently they're.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: I wouldn't say that's easy.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: What happened?
[00:05:36] Speaker C: Like, apparently everyone in the AL west is good except the Astro.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Let's talk about that.
[00:05:41] Speaker C: Oh, man, the bridge.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: We haven't even had a show since the opening day, have we? Last show was the. The day before opening day.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: Right. We didn't have a show last week then. Yeah.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Yeah. So.
[00:05:56] Speaker C: Yeah, there's a lot of weird.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: Open up the year. Yankees in Houston, I'm like, okay, you know, maybe we come out of here. So split series, I'll be happy.
Sweep them on the road. And I'm like, okay, all right. Are we good or the Astros bad? And then, I mean, the Yankees.
The Yankees. Continue. The Yankees. I mean, the entirety of the Astros rotation is on the IR.
And I mean, the entirety.
Like, they're there. I'm pretty sure they have like one starter remaining.
[00:06:28] Speaker C: Renell Blanco. Gotta carry that.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: Yeah, him. He's the only one that's not hurt. I think everybody else is like, let me see if I can pull up their, their injury report.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: I'm looking at the standing while you do that. I'm looking at the standings, and it is crazy to see the teams that are doing good versus aren't. Like, the Angels are eight and nine.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:46] Speaker C: Losing record. That's not bad. That's not bad to start the season.
Who else? I'm looking on ESPN, and the top four teams based on record is the Guardians. And Braves have the same record at twelve and five. The Yankees are 13 and six. And then the Orioles are twelve and six, which I expect three of those teams to be up there. The Guardians.
Goodness.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:12] Speaker C: I mean, and the Royals are twelve and seven. I should have, earlier in the year.
[00:07:16] Speaker A: Before the season started, I should have.
[00:07:18] Speaker C: Gone with what y'all said, with the Orioles winning the AL Central. I mean, not the Orioles, the Royals winning the AL Central.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: It's a good division right now. Even the Tigers. I mean, the Tigers have been kind of lacking since they started. Like seven and two or something.
[00:07:33] Speaker C: I thought it was seven and, oh.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: I think, I think it might have been. Now they're ten and eight, which is not great.
Javier Baez looks terrible. I saw a video.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: He is God awful.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: I saw a video on my TikTok feed earlier.
That has to be the least competitive swing I've ever seen ever in my life. I mean, swung at something, it was insane. It's actually unbelievable. But they're still winning games. I mean, he's the highest paid player on that team, I'm pretty sure. And like, he's negatively contributing to their team, but they're still finding ways to win. I mean, their starting rotation is pretty good. I mean, they lost Edward Rodriguez, which kind of hurt, and people are counting them out, which made sense, but people were super high on Tarek scubal going into the season, which he's been impressing everyone. And I mean, their lineup is, I mean, it kind of seems like a lot of nobodies, but they're finding ways to score runs and win games.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: I don't, I don't know how Carrie Carpenter is doing.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: They have a negative run differential, which isn't super surprising, but, I mean, they have a 500 record, so. Good thing for Detroit, I guess.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Yeah. I think the main topic of today that I want to talk about is the epidemic going on in the league with pitchers injuries. I mean, it is, it's not a coincidence that the best pitchers in the major leagues, it's not even the, it's all. A bunch of pitchers in the major leagues are having arm injuries and it is 100. 100 has something to do with the pitch clock because it's messing with pitchers original, like, ways they go about thing. They written their, their original routines. I mean, let me see if I could pull up a list of pitchers that are injured.
[00:09:22] Speaker C: I'll give you one.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: Spencer Strider.
[00:09:25] Speaker C: Spencer Strider.
[00:09:26] Speaker A: Yes. I mean, we could hammer off the top ones, off the top of the head. I mean, strider.
Here we got this. Lucas Giolito, Jonathan Loisica, Garrett Cole, Spencer Strider, Kodi Sanga, Shane Bieber, Forever Valdez, Trevor Stefan, Daniel Bard, Herman Marquez, Luis Garcia, Kendall Graveman, Robert Stevenson, Clayton Kershaw, Edward Cabrera and Yuri Perez. There are more.
Ken Waldachuk, Trevor Gotta, Tywin Walker, Glenn Otto, Austin, Warren Jackson Koar.
I don't know. Shane McClanahan, Tyler Mailee, Eric Swanson, Jordan Romano, Josiah Gray, Eduardo Rodriguez. I mean, the list goes on and on. Heard, like, Paul, see Wallaces, there's, there's a bunch of aces, a bunch of key guys in the bullpen. Something's got to change. I mean, you're losing. Garrett Cole is out for a couple months. Spencer Strider is out for the year.
Shane Bieber, who had a down year last year, but goes and strikes out twelve in his first game and then bang.
[00:10:37] Speaker C: One of the best, like, comeback.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Yes, like first and then gone. Done for the year. I mean, everybody, Isaac is out for the year. The Yankees are without that. Their Yankees have the best record in baseball without their ace and their best reliever.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: I mean, what, it's surprising. Even the Guardians are, like Tyler said, top five record in the league without Shane Bieber. Who's their ace? I thought the Guardians were gonna suck this year and Shane Bieber was gonna be like the number one coveted trade.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Guardians have a deadline. Really, really good bullpen. I had what's keeping.
[00:11:09] Speaker C: I had class going back to back, like, really of the year.
I don't know how he's doing right now.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: Okay, so the Yankees. The Yankees just played the Guardians. He hadn't given up a run until that series when Anthony Volpe hit a. It was one of the most impressive swings I've ever seen. Turned around on a 100 1 mile an hour cutter, which was up and away. He hit in the right center gap. He hit it like 110 off the bat and tied the game in the top of the 9th.
That's the only run he's given up.
[00:11:38] Speaker C: Okay, so he's off to an amazing.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: But like, it's got to feel like as a pitcher you got to be like, concerned for yourself that you're like, am I going to be next? Am I going to.
Am I going to be the one to end up on the aisle next? It's like, I don't know what the.
[00:12:00] Speaker C: Key reason for it is, though. I've seen multiple.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: It's a lot of the USL, UCL injuries is what's happening.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Well, that's what I think it is. I really think, because a lot of the guys that we've named are guys who are like upper, like very upper nineties guys. Like, these are some of the highest Velo guys in the league. And not even just that, but guys who also rely on the fastball. Like, they throw that pitch the more than anyone else and they throw it harder than anyone else. I think that definitely contributes to part of it. I'm not going to say pitchers should tone down their Velo or not throw as hard because then they're not going to be as productive, especially those guys. I mean, Strider relies on his 98 miles per hour fastball. Garrett Cole's fastball is his pitch, but I mean, it definitely contributes to some of it because these guys pitch hard every day and these guys go long outings. A lot of the starters that you named are seven inning guys who throw triple digits. In the 6th inning, they'll throw 98. That definitely is part of it. I think the pitch clock has something to do with it, but I really think it is. Like, these guys may be throwing too hard, but I don't know if there's a way to fix that, like I said, because if these guys aren't throwing hard, then they might not be as productive. Exactly. I mean, we saw Spencer Strider learning off speed pitch in spring training, which worked very well. Unfortunately, we won't get to see much of it now. But I think, I mean, it's hard to tell pitchers, okay, learn more pitches and have a better pitch mix. But I think, like, for the next generation of pitchers, we'll start to see guys maybe relying more on some sort of off speed or just having a better pitch mix so guys can throw different pitches and maybe they won't get injured as much, but I mean, we won't see that for at least like five years with the next coming up of pitchers.
[00:13:41] Speaker C: I mean, I've seen a couple interviews where prospect pitchers are talking about Justin Verlander, for example. I do not remember what interview or what talk show or what video I saw. There was a Marlins prospect talking about.
Justin Verlander was throwing 93 94 when he came into the league, and as he came of age, he was piping triple digits.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: He ages like fine, watch.
[00:14:05] Speaker C: That's not a good example. That's not a good. Okay, but like people coming in, being 25, 26, 27, trying to throw as hard as they can, trying to blow everything by them instead of maybe relying on, okay, if you're a ground ball pitcher yet, there may be one that scoots through here or there and then the very next pitch you throw is going to be a double play. People don't really understand that.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: I mean, there are guys like Jose Quintana, I think, averages 93 on his fastball and he has, I think, his era on the season. He had a very good start yesterday or two days ago against Pittsburgh for the Mets, and his era is around or lower than three to start the season. And he relies on this sinker that sometimes is below 90. Like in the fifth inning, it's below 90 and he's still effective and you don't see him getting hurt. He's one of the older guys in the league anyway. And, and he's pitched full seasons for most of his career. So I think definitely we're going to see a lot of sinker, baller, ground ball sort of pitchers coming up, maybe to avoid some sort of injuries. Maybe coaches will start to change like how they pick pitchers to, I guess, develop right.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: And while we're on the topic of pitchers tomorrow, Jack Leiter making his MLB debut. Oh, yeah. He was called up by the Rangers.
The Rangers are playing.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: I think they're playing Detroit. We were talking about him before I saw that.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: You're kind of on a cold streak.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: He could get a good start. Yeah. So.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: In Detroit, I mean, like I.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: Said, the Tigers lineup is, it is effective, but it is worse. I mean, Mark Ken has been playing okay. I know I keep, I keep tracking him because he played for the Mets and I liked him, but they have some guys who are interesting in their lineup and some guys who are just not very good but it'll be interesting to see. Definitely. I want to watch that.
[00:15:47] Speaker C: Three sliders in the left hand batters box to Javi Baez and Jack letter will get his first career strike.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: I mean, that is all you have to do.
[00:15:54] Speaker C: That is terrible because he absolutely is a much better baseball player than me and always will be.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: But, and he was good. It's sad because he was good at one point. That's why he earned his contract.
[00:16:05] Speaker C: Give me 2017 buyers back.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: Looking at the AL central right now.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: I don't think that guy's coming back ever again. I don't think his fall off needs to be studied. I'm not even kidding.
That might be the biggest fall off in, like, sports history. It's got to be up there.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: He got traded to the, I was talking to my brother about it before because he got traded to the Mets and he was good after he got traded to the Mets and then that's when he signed his contract with Detroit and he was never good for a second in a tiger's uniform. I don't understand. I don't understand.
[00:16:37] Speaker C: He plays good.
[00:16:38] Speaker B: He does still play good offense.
[00:16:40] Speaker C: He's like, he's like Atlanta Braves Bartolo Colon. Like, it is so horrible.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: But he's also like, not as good defensively as he was in 2016 either. I mean, he's good, but I mean, he's not getting paid. I mean, you can't be paying a guy that much money. You can't justify, even if he's the best defender, even if he's Ozzy Smith, you can't justify, you can't justify that contract just on defense. If he's going to bat below the Mendoza line for quite some time, they.
[00:17:05] Speaker C: Need a designated fielder.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: I know. And dude, because I keep looking at the AL Central, the White Sox have two wins.
[00:17:12] Speaker C: It's the White Sox.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: I mean, two, two and 15. This is worse than the Oakland season last year. I don't even think Oakland started two and 15. Did they like, this is crazy work. They are very.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: The Rockies and White Sox will just always be bad, I guess.
And then the poor Astros are down.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: There with the Rockies.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: The Astros are terrible. I am loving every second of the Astros down.
[00:17:37] Speaker C: I don't see Astros fans getting a second half, a second half resurgence after.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: The all star game, I feel like. But it's, it's, it's the Astros. This happens every year.
[00:17:45] Speaker C: I will not count them out.
[00:17:46] Speaker A: They start off slow and then they end up in the ALCS.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: They'll be good and then they'll pick up at the trade deadline because they'll be in a position to do so.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: You know who has been horrible, though?
[00:17:58] Speaker C: Everyone.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Josh Hader.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: He has been so bad.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: So bad.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: He has been teasing such a crazy. I wanted the Yankees. I wanted the Yankees to give him a bag. And I'm so glad.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: I would have loved for the Mets to sign him. And he stinks. He is bad.
[00:18:13] Speaker C: We just develop no name people.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: Reynaldo Low and then give them eight year, $80 million extensions.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: Such a good story.
[00:18:21] Speaker C: Okay. Season. And now he's pitched 18 full innings and has a 0.5 era after developing from a relief pitcher to a starting pitcher.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: You know, shocked me this year.
Ranger Suarez, dude, isn't he leading the.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Entire league in ERa?
[00:18:37] Speaker A: I'm pretty sure he has like a. .18 Cutter.
[00:18:40] Speaker C: It's Cutter Crawford. It's Cutter Crawford.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: Couldn't tell you that.
[00:18:44] Speaker C: As Reynaldo Lopez. And then he's up there.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: He's got like a sub .5 right now. He is unbelievable right now. It's crazy because the Phillies are. I mean, they are good. I mean, there are ten wins right now.
Zach Wheeler and Ranger Suarez both. I mean, no, he's actually not top five. Really not it.
[00:19:07] Speaker C: Rangers.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: Rangers. He's got a 173 era.
[00:19:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Three wins, 173 era.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Let me look up Zach Wheeler because they got some good pitching over there.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: 26 innings pitched. He's three and o.
Zach Wheeler has.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: A three era and is Owen.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: 27 ks to four walks.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: Holy.
[00:19:28] Speaker C: Good night.
[00:19:29] Speaker A: Where did this come from, Ranger? Because every time I looked at you in the past when you were pitching in a game, I would be like, oh, well, Phillies are dropping this one and now.
[00:19:38] Speaker C: Is that why the nleast is kind of, oh, my lord, we only have a two and a half game.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: The Mets are back, baby.
But yeah, I mean, Ranger Suarez, dude, he must think it's the playoffs or something because he's a beast of the playoffs.
[00:19:52] Speaker C: I don't want to talk about it.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: Good start for him. I mean, Phillies are, I mean, this is like, I guess what was expected out of them. They're around 500, slightly above it, but.
[00:20:07] Speaker C: Can'T wait for us to drop 115 games and lose in three games.
Yippee.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: I mean, they're beating up on Colorado right now.
[00:20:16] Speaker C: Oh, no. Didn't see that one coming.
Not Colorado. Are they playing in Colorado?
[00:20:21] Speaker B: No, they're in Philly.
[00:20:22] Speaker C: Okay. If they were in Colorado, they'd be beating up on them worse.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess the Angels are beating Tampa right now.
[00:20:27] Speaker C: Bunce would go over the left field wall.
[00:20:29] Speaker B: The Angels are so interesting right now. They've been beating good teams, too. They're about 500 and they've been playing good teams, including Tampa.
[00:20:36] Speaker C: They beat the MVP.
[00:20:38] Speaker A: I'd be crazy upset.
I picked four. Four people to win or. Yeah, I picked four people to win MVP. I was like, no way out of these four. Like, no way anybody else wins it because nobody's on the Angels. Trout could go off for 50 homers, but they're not going to make the playoffs. And if Soto is batting 330 with 38 bombs and the Yankees win the AL, I think he'll get the MVP over trout. Yeah, but I, yeah, like I, I picked Judge Soto, Julio Rodriguez and Adley Rushman to win MVP.
[00:21:14] Speaker B: How is Jay Rod even doing?
[00:21:15] Speaker A: He hasn't hit his first home run yet.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: Really?
[00:21:19] Speaker A: Yeah. I was watching the Yankee game today and they put up a graphic because Glaber hasn't hit his first yet. And it was like notable players who haven't at their first home run yet. It was a Cunha, it was Julio Rodriguez, it was Glaber, it was Bregman.
They had Nick Castellanos on there. But I'm pretty sure you had a walk off homer last week.
[00:21:37] Speaker B: No, it was a single. I think I saw that he had a walk off, but it.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Okay, then he hasn't hit one yet. And did I say Bregman? Bregman was the other one.
Not none of them. Well, Acuna had his first today.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: Oh, there you go.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: But other than that, those guys all without Homer's.
[00:21:56] Speaker C: I mean, I'm okay with starts for all, not hitting 60 home runs. I mean, he's with saves. He's one of the best. The best leadoff bat in EMLB debate a wall.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: No, I mean that's, that's a fair take, I think. But Anthony Volpe's coming for him. Just, just remember that.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: I want to see. I want to see good things for Volpe.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Volcania talks.
[00:22:25] Speaker C: I'm trying to be unbiased. If you threw that out there, shut it.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: That was terrible. No, I'm not comparing Vulpita to Acuna, but Volpe has been great this year.
[00:22:35] Speaker C: I hope he continues a better defender. I'll give him.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: Did you see the play Volpe made to win the game today? I'll show you guys at the break. By the way, we got to go to break here.
All right, we'll be right back in just a few here on student section. MLB or 97? 90.7 the Capstone WVUAFm Tuscaloosa welcome back to student section MLB. We are gonna pick off right where we left off.
We're gonna talk about the Baltimore Orioles and yeah, we'll get to Jackson Holiday. But I do want to say out of the twelve wins that the Baltimore wheels have, eight of them are comeback wins.
[00:23:33] Speaker C: Twelve and six.
They're a clutch team.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: They are a clutch team.
They lead the league in comebacks. Second are the Yankees and the Pirates tied at six. Where the Braves.
[00:23:44] Speaker C: I.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: Cause I thought we had like five. They just win games outright. They don't come back.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: They win probably third. I don't have a list. Yeah, they were talking about on the Yankees broadcast earlier. So they were mentioning that the Yankees were second. So.
But yeah, let's talk about MLB's best prospect, Jackson Holiday.
Yike. Struggling to start his career.
[00:24:10] Speaker C: I don't want, I don't want to call him over hype just yet.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: You can't, you can't yet. You definitely can't yet. Give him, give him a week or two more, then we can start.
[00:24:19] Speaker B: I think they should send him back down for a couple of years.
[00:24:22] Speaker C: I'll be honest, I'm not going to judge him.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: I don't see the thing with sending him back down is just like that's got to be so demoralizing and baseball is a very big mental game. You're the best prospect of the MLB, you get called up, it's a big deal, and then you're just struggling off the bat. Yeah, it's tough. He's going to overcome it. I mean you can't send him back down. That is going to mess with his head a lot. If you send like after all this that has happened, like it was the build up and then oh yeah, baseball's best prospect. We're putting it on national television for his debut and now we're just sending you back down.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: How long, if he struggle, how much longer would he struggle?
[00:24:59] Speaker A: Two weeks minimum. Maximum a month. If he, if he, if we get a month from now and he's batting under 100. Yeah. You're going back down.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: I mean I feel like it's, could be justified cause he spent so little time in Triple A.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: And I mean if, if he's struggling he could just go back there because I mean he went through the minors like crazy. So maybe he can go back there for a little bit. I mean it would be demoralizing, sure. But I feel like what could be more demoralizing is if you play a month of baseball and can't bet 100. So I feel like maybe if he can go into Triple A and start raking, then he'll come back and he'll have a better attitude about it. I mean, that's the mindset that like managers have when they send guys down. True, but I mean, yeah, all the talk about his first MLB game and it was MLB tv's free game of the day and just, I mean, MLB's hyping every game he's played in and he has one hit and in two full series now, which is not very good.
And a lot of strike. He's striking out a lot, too. It's not like a lot of his outs are strikeouts, which is also bad.
[00:26:03] Speaker C: I was just about to ask what his like. Is he just getting unlucky with like line outs or ground out?
[00:26:07] Speaker B: No, he's striking out like twice a game. I think discipline wise is it just.
[00:26:11] Speaker C: He'S not getting good contact.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: I mean, I haven't really seen a lot of his at bats, but I know he is striking out quite a lot.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: One other thing, while you're looking for that, I did want to talk about before, while we were still on the topic of the Yankees.
The Yankees are statistically the most unlucky team in baseball.
They have the best record yet. They are the. Statistically, they are the most unlucky team. When it comes to ex batting average. Projected batting average versus the batting average, I think they go into depth with like, like say you barrel up a ball at like 105, like right at a guy. The expanding average of that ball that you just hit was probably like 360 or something. And obviously it's zero if he caught it. So they just like collectively do that. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's something like that. But Yankees are the most unlucky team in baseball. And Austin Wells is the number one unluckiest player in baseball. He's betting under 100 and he is. Every time he goes up to play, he hits the ball harder than 100 miles. Like he. I've never seen. It's like we are damn near 20 games in and I'm like, like, when is. When are they gonna start drop? I feel horrible for the guy.
[00:27:28] Speaker C: At least have confidence.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: Yeah, no, he's putting the bat on the ball, but like, it, the results are just not there. I just feel so bad.
You're a young catcher with the insane potential. You go up there doing everything right. You like perfect mechanics, you're hitting lasers every at bat and nothing to show for it. That is.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: I like Austin Wells, too. He's fun.
[00:27:50] Speaker C: Yeah, no, he's. Mark it down as pitchers. Haven't found his weakness yet. It's just the baseball field is his weakness right now.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: They gotta start falling eventually. But anyway, back to Jackson Holland and the Orioles. Did you.
[00:28:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: Some numbers I got. He has, so he has 22 at bats in six games. He struck out twelve times. So striking out over 50% of the time is never good for anyone. But even if you could justify it by raking, he has one. So he has one hit and he's striking out 50% of the time.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: And he walks.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: He has one walk and he has an RBI.
[00:28:22] Speaker C: One walk, one hit.
[00:28:23] Speaker B: He's an RBI fielder. I think it was a fielder's choice. And he has one hit, one walk, twelve strikeouts. So not good to start. I mean, I wanted to see how exactly he did today.
[00:28:37] Speaker C: He went over three, but. Yeah.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:28:41] Speaker A: I didn't even try to make that.
[00:28:42] Speaker C: A joke because I have a lot of people, including my grandfather, who is an Orioles fan.
[00:28:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: And he struck out twice. He struck out twice.
[00:28:48] Speaker C: Man. Good night.
[00:28:49] Speaker B: So, I mean, if he can.
[00:28:51] Speaker C: 9Th in lineup too.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: If he can't get those strikeout numbers fixed, I mean, I feel like something's good. I think sending him down is, I mean, not right now, but I think if, like two weeks, like you said, luke, and if he's still striking out half the time and doesn't even have like five hits, then you have to send him down, I think. I mean, yeah, I mean, he's only played 30 games at AAA, so it wouldn't be such a disgrace to have him play a few more down there. So, I mean, it's not like the Orioles particularly need production out of him. I mean, they're one of the best teams in baseball. Even if he's in the lineup and he's a black hole in the lineup and then nine spot, I mean, they have really good pitching. Corbin Burns has been playing unreal, and the rest of the lineup is absolutely insane. I saw a crazy play earlier today as well on tick tock. I swear, I keep seeing MLB highlights on there. SETi made some crazy diving catch in center field, like going all the way back to his right. It was some, some crazy, crazy catch. Yeah, they got really good defense over there, like pretty much every position, and the whole lineup is just so good over there.
[00:29:59] Speaker C: So, yeah, I think, unfortunately, if they, if they send Jackson Holiday down, I think it would be better for it because like I said, he's only 20.
If he's not performing even at the nine hole that's still going to be detrimental in a lot of aspects. And the people that you don't have starting like the middle infield, the infield right now looks like. Is it Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holiday, gunner Henderson, Ryan Mountcastle? Because if so, the people that they have on the bench, that could fill in for Jackson Holliday until he develops better. You have Jorge Mateo and Ramon urias.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: Yeah. And those guys are really good.
[00:30:33] Speaker C: You're not going to get mvp seasons out of them, but those are very productive guys who, you know, can product, who can produce for you 100%. And if Jackson Holiday is because I want good things for him, I've had no reason to.
[00:30:45] Speaker A: I played with him when, when his dad was on the Yankees.
He was on my twelve u baseball team and I will.
[00:30:56] Speaker C: When were you going to tell us?
[00:30:57] Speaker A: I mean, I thought I'd mentioned it, but I guess not.
[00:31:01] Speaker C: Did you forget to mention that you also happen to have.
[00:31:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, no. It's kind of crazy. Like, two of the last three first overall picks were my former teammates.
Kind of insane, but he hit the farthest ball I've ever seen in person. And we were twelve. I'm not kidding.
It was ridic. I was like in awe. We were playing it at a local community college. So the fences were, this was our first year on 60 90 on MLB fields and we're playing at a local community college and he's our three hitter. I already, this was a tournament, so I'm back in the dugout.
Fences were like, I don't remember exactly. Somewhere in the ballpark or like 330 down the line, and there were like these pretty big, like pine trees behind the, the fences. And he cleared the trees at age twelve and I was just like sitting there in the dugout like, oh my. Like, what am I, like, looking at right now? It was just like, I was actually speechless. And to this day, that's the furthest ball I think I've ever seen, like, in person.
[00:32:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:21] Speaker B: I mean, there's no doubt he's got talent and he does have the potential. It's not like, it's not like one week of playing poorly in your first week in the majors, it means that you're done. But, I mean, it's, it is unfortunate, but he definitely has the potential. I didn't realize this. Tyler just showed me. The White Sox actually got their third win today. Earlier. It was the second of a doubleheader. They did win against the Royals, right.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: Speaking of the Royals, are we gonna talk about how the Royals have the best run differential in the major leagues.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: At plus 40 are very good at.
[00:32:55] Speaker C: Huh?
[00:32:55] Speaker A: Plus 40, speaking of run differential, tell me how the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays both have winning records with -17 run differential.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Whoa.
[00:33:06] Speaker C: They win small, lose big.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Yeah. What is going on?
Yeah. The two best run differentials in the league are Kansas City and Cleveland, both in the central division at plus 40.
[00:33:16] Speaker B: And plus 30 is wacky sometimes. Well, I saw. I mean, unrelated, I guess, but I'm big on hockey, so. NHL playoffs are coming up. The Capitals just clinched a playoff berth yesterday with the worst goal differential to make the playoffs in 30 years. -37 goal differential. And they're in the playoffs. And they're in the playoffs. Go Islanders.
[00:33:37] Speaker C: By the way, you lose big, win, win small.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: Islanders playoffs start this Saturday along with the Knicks. Go Nicks. Yeah.
[00:33:44] Speaker A: Go Knicks.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: Couple sports shout outs for me, but.
[00:33:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm an abs fan, though, when it comes to hockey.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: The playoffs too.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: My brother, he worked.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
Even with run differential?
[00:33:56] Speaker C: Even with run differential.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:57] Speaker C: The Royals lead the league. The Braves have the most run scored, so I don't care. Yeah. 108.
[00:34:03] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, run differential already is.
[00:34:06] Speaker C: Never mind. The Padres have more.
Oh, that hurts the soul.
[00:34:11] Speaker A: He's only scored so dead good.
[00:34:14] Speaker B: Yeah, the Padres are nice.
[00:34:15] Speaker A: Baltimore has 104.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: Orioles are nice, too.
[00:34:18] Speaker C: I was so wrong with a lease matchup. And I know you hate everybody in the MLB that isn't wearing pinstripes, and we'll push that aside for right now because I'm a nicer Braves fan.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:30] Speaker C: Looking at the Al eas, I could see that being a game 163.
[00:34:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, no, I could. 100%. I could too. I think.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:40] Speaker C: Oh, we're only two of them because.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: I think we're gonna beat each other up. So I think, I think it's. I think we're gonna finish around 95 wins each, probably.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:50] Speaker A: I mean, it's really hard to have 100 wins in this league nowadays. And it's especially hard to have two teams in one division that has, like.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: Last year or the AL east or the NLE two years ago.
[00:35:03] Speaker C: Yeah. Where the Mets and Braves were both 101 and 61.
[00:35:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: I mean, it's so weird that, I mean, their whole division, the worst record is the Red Sox at nine and nine. I mean, we all, we all predicted this going into. We were like, okay, the Red Sox are gonna be the worst team, and they're still gonna be right at 500. Cause that's how good that division is. And that division is always good.
[00:35:25] Speaker C: Do 14 division make the playoffs or do you think the Blue Jays kind of hit an even bigger.
[00:35:29] Speaker B: I don't think the Blue Jays or Rays make the playoffs, to be honest. I think they can, but I don't think they do.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: That's the team I was forgetting. Yeah, I think the Rays fall off second half.
[00:35:36] Speaker B: I mean, Tampa, I shouldn't say that.
[00:35:38] Speaker C: Out loud because they may, they may win the division after I said that, but it's true.
[00:35:42] Speaker B: I don't know. There's some weird competitions, like in divisions right now, a couple of weird, like placements. I mean, yeah, we talked about the AL Central, like the Guardians and the Royals have basically the same record at the top of their division. Both very interesting teams. Like, very good pitching stuff, staffs like we talked about. I mean, the Royals have had like a great start pitching wise. I mean, they have Seth Luga over there. I always like talking about old Mets guys, but Seth Lugos pitched pretty well to start the season for them. They have Asa Lacey, who is their star rookie pitcher, who is playing very well. And I forget. They have another couple of really good guys there, I think.
And theyre all young, too. I mean, we talk about the Orioles and how young and good they are, and the Royals, I mean, their team is, most of their guys are under 30 years old.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: MVP Bobby Witt, with the way you.
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Started the season easily, he could win MVP.
[00:36:34] Speaker C: How's he doing?
[00:36:35] Speaker A: Great.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: Oh, amazing.
I got to follow.
[00:36:38] Speaker A: Hard to start better.
[00:36:39] Speaker C: Is he on that 40 70 track or. Not that much?
[00:36:42] Speaker A: No, I don't think, I don't think 40 70 is ever getting broken, honestly. That's a really hard, like 70 bags.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: He's betting 321 bags stolen. Let me look. How many hours do you remember last season?
[00:36:57] Speaker A: Damn. Salvador Perez, is he back?
[00:37:00] Speaker B: He's, oh, Salvi is so bad.
[00:37:01] Speaker A: He's leading everything.
[00:37:03] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: He's betting 320.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: And 17 RBI.
[00:37:08] Speaker C: Got injured a couple.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: Yes, he did. Against the Met. I was gonna say that. We keep talking about how good the Royals are. Shout out to the Mets for beating them in a series. But yeah, Salvador Perez was also lighting us up, too. I mean, I looked, I looked and I kept seeing notifications that were like, Salvador Perez hit RBI. And I was like, wait, is he back? And I saw his over 300 average. I don't know what the state of his injury was, but, oh, my goodness, he is playing unbelievable.
[00:37:32] Speaker C: It look like it was, it was a slide. It looked like the cleat caught him.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: And like, yeah, it wasn't a dirty play. It was just a play at the plate.
[00:37:39] Speaker A: Wait, you know what I do want to talk about? We do have to go to break here, but when we get back, we're going to talk about Salvi and the Royals. And I want to talk about the opening series of the year with the Mets and the Brewers. I want to talk about that beef with Reese Hoskins and if that slide was dirty or not, I want to hear your thoughts on that. So we'll be back in just a few here on 90.7 the Capstone, WVUA FM, Tuscaloosa.
And welcome back to student section MLB here for this final few minutes here, and we are going to talk about the Mets for a little bit and their start on the year. Also, I want to talk Jim Bowden, MLB insider said he considers the Mets contenders still. What do you do? Do you agree? Non biased? What are we thinking on the Mets start to the year?
[00:38:48] Speaker B: Listen, I mean, four in a row right now, just saying, five out of their last six, they've won the past two series against some very good teams. They beat the Royals in a series. Well, actually, they've won their past three series going back to the Brave series, too. So three very good teams. They beat the Braves in a series, the Royals in a series. And they just swept the Pirates. They're just playing very good baseball right now. I mean, their bullpen is unbelievable right now. It's a lot of ragtag guys. It's interesting. I mean, Jorge Lopez is pitching quite well, which is surprising. I mean, Otovino's had a good start. Edwin Diaz has had a really good start, which is nice to see.
[00:39:27] Speaker A: How's Sevy doing?
[00:39:28] Speaker B: He just pitched six shutout innings today. He brought his era to, I think, something lower than three or right at three. His first start was rough, don't get me wrong, but today he pitched very well in their win. Today they beat up on the Pirates. Yeah. He's now at a two, 1421 strikeouts.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: I hope he stays healthy. He was one of my favorite Yankees. Man. It was really hard to see him go.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, they got.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: He's a really likable guy, really likeable guy.
[00:39:55] Speaker B: Sevy's doing well. Sean Maniah, his last start was pretty poor, I think, but he's been doing pretty well to start the season, which is good. Those are both guys that they offer deals, kind of b list free agents, I guess, and their lineup, which started off terrible and they're like over four skid to start the season, has picked it up really well. Marte had another homer today. Harrison Bader got his first home run today.
I mean, Pete Alonso's Pete Alonso. I mean, one thing, though, is Francisco Lindor is so bad right now. He is so bad.
I mean, I love him to death, and he's still good defensively and whatnot. But we were just talking about Javi Baez before. I mean, Lindor is having the same start to his season, but also, this is new for Lindor. It's not new for Baez. He's been doing it for three years. But I gotta hope Lindor gets back to form. But otherwise, I mean, Kodai Senga has been starting bullpen. JD Martinez is expected to finally join the team, I think, next week, or I think the next time they come back to Queens. Cause they're going on the road now. So, I mean, once they get JD Martinez in the lineup every day and they get Kodai Senga back, I think they can actually be contenders. I mean, there are a lot of good teams right now in the National League, in the west, like the Padres and the Diamondbacks are quite good. So it's gonna be a really good wild card race in both leagues this year. So good. It's going to be hard to contend, but, I mean, and it is still early, but I do think the Mets have a decent chance. It'll be interesting to see. But I do really like how they've picked up and the end of the first, we're coming up on one, almost a month of baseball already, so definitely like what I'm seeing out of them.
[00:41:36] Speaker A: Yeah. And, I mean, what are they, ten and eight now? Yeah, I mean, I think they'll be fine. They'll make the playoffs. I'm not worried about the Mets for these last few minutes. We're just going to talk a little recap around the league.
[00:41:53] Speaker B: I wanted to say one thing, talking about recap in the league, Shota Emanaga has allowed one earned run. He's been shot down in MLB. And I just think it's crazy, all the talk about Yamamoto in the offseason and just let him Inaga slip under the radar. I mean, Imanaga was very good in Japan, I think, as well, and people just kind of swept that under the rug when the Cubs signed him because of how good Yamamoto was and the race to sign Yamamoto. But, I mean, the Cubs made out quite well there. I mean, Yamamoto isn't pitching particularly bad, but he's nowhere near what he was expected. And Imanaga has been unreal. I mean, absolutely insane work by him. And the Cubs are just doing really well. They just beat the Diamondbacks in a series, I think. I mean, they're playing really good baseball over there too. So shout out to the Cubs.
[00:42:45] Speaker A: Yeah, Cubs have been good. Nationals just won a series against the Dodgers.
Braves sweep the Astros in Houston. Thank you, guys.
[00:42:55] Speaker C: Marcel Ozuna from the Braves.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: Yeah, Ozuna has been incredible. Incredible.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: Unbelievable.
[00:43:02] Speaker C: Seriously, in RBI's and homelanders.
[00:43:05] Speaker B: When's the last time two MVP's back to back have come from the same team that hasn't been the same player?
I wonder like two teammates winning the MVP back to back because right now it would be Ozuna if the season, I mean it's only been a month.
[00:43:18] Speaker A: Guys want to hear funny stat, which is pretty predictable, honestly. I, Trout shared, shares the lead league in the, in homers with eight. Six of them are solo homers.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: Oh my goodness. Really?
[00:43:31] Speaker A: Six of them?
[00:43:32] Speaker B: That's so funny.
[00:43:33] Speaker A: It's like the most angels thing ever.
[00:43:36] Speaker B: But they're not bad. They're good right now. They're, they're winning right now. Question mark.
[00:43:40] Speaker A: They're eight and nine. They're down there. They're up three two on the Rays. I would like them to win that game because obviously I don't like the Rays. The Rangers are a team that I.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: They'Re interesting right now.
[00:43:52] Speaker A: They are interesting. A lot, a lot, a lot of guys on the IR for them.
[00:43:57] Speaker C: The last time somebody to go back to back MVP awards on the same team that weren't on, that weren't the same person was 2011 Justin Verlander 2012 Miguel Cabrera on the Tigers.
[00:44:09] Speaker B: So it's been over ten years. I could definitely see it being this year with how things are playing out.
[00:44:14] Speaker C: The MLB has not posted anything about Marcelo at all.
He's from the Braves.
[00:44:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:24] Speaker A: Like what if, like let's just use like someone who's, like Domingo Herman, like someone who's, I mean, he's thrown a perfect game. He's, he was honored for that. But that was kind of before one.
[00:44:36] Speaker B: Of the incidents that he had, well, speaking in controversial. Trevor Bauer just posted something.
[00:44:41] Speaker A: Let's use Trevor Bauer as a, as a, as an example for this hypothetical.
[00:44:45] Speaker B: Question, who's now also been proven once again fully innocent.
[00:44:48] Speaker A: Right. He deserves a shot. We'll get one. But Trevor Bauer, let's say hypothetically, he signs with a random team and goes out and has an unbelievable year. Cy Young, like definitely without a doubt he should win the Cy Young. Do they give it to him because MLB is not like, yeah, that's what I'm saying, like, but if the MLB hasn't said a thing about Ozuna, we're 20 games of the year, he's having an incredible hot start, and they haven't posted a home run video. What are we doing?
[00:45:22] Speaker B: We'll see what happens when it gets towards the end of the season. I mean, last year the mvp race was so uncompetitive. It was just Acuna. If Osuna runs away with it like Acuna did, I mean, they have, there's no way they don't.
[00:45:34] Speaker C: He would have to hit 45, 50 home runs, minimum, get 115. He would have to have a Matt Olson season with a higher average.
[00:45:44] Speaker B: But I think if you can, somebody.
[00:45:45] Speaker A: Else on the Dodgers would have to not.
[00:45:47] Speaker B: But that's what he bets. I was going to say, dude, he's ridiculous. I was going to say, like, if you compare, if Ozuna had the season he's having right now last year with Mookie bets, you could argue they would give it a Mookie bets. Cause they don't like Ozuna. I mean, Acuna's season last year was just so good, and Ozuna season this year is looking to be so good as well. But I mean, Mookie bets is Mookie bets, and he's very likable. So it's gonna be hard to tell.
[00:46:11] Speaker C: What do you mean?
[00:46:11] Speaker B: But, I mean, we'll see.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: All right, well, that's gonna do it here for us on 90.7, the capstone. We will be back next week with.
[00:46:20] Speaker B: For the last, yeah.
[00:46:21] Speaker A: It will be the last show of the semester.
We'll make, we'll make some predictions. What? We can change our predictions because we're gonna be gone for a while.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: Do.
[00:46:30] Speaker C: We'll be back after the all star.
[00:46:31] Speaker A: And we will be back after the all star.
[00:46:33] Speaker B: Make some all star roster predictions.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. We'll have some fun stuff in store for next week, but until then, it's been Luke Tory, Tyler Harrison, and Luke Anderson. And we will see you next week.
