<![CDATA[Fringe Average]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!coqK!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F494fde9e-66ea-497b-b943-fd843bf092d6_1170x1170.jpegFringe Averagehttps://carloscollazo.substack.comSubstackSat, 05 Sep 2026 03:24:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reset]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/resethttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/resetSat, 29 Aug 2026 14:02:16 GMTIt’s been a while.

This summer was one of the most chaotic I’ve had in terms of significant life events, travel and general moving pieces. The newsletter was a victim of that. Since my last newsletter back in early June I have done the following:

  • Celebrated my wife Madi’s residency graduation.

  • A few days later packed up our apartment in Northern Virginia and moved to our new place in North Carolina in one exhausting day.

  • A few days after that drove back up to Northern Virginia for a wedding.

  • Right back to NC to watch Team USA’s college team in Cary.

  • Flew to Philly to cover the draft.

  • Flew back to NC to blearily watch Team USA’s 18U team in Cary.

  • A week after that flew to Alabama for the East Coast Pro.

  • Came home and then immediately flew to Portugal for another wedding, which then turned into a much-needed two-week vacation—plus my first international travel experience.

For whatever reason people don’t think to plan their lives around the draft and the summer circuit. No idea why.

Anyway, as I write this I’m actually in the airport again—this time headed up to Baltimore for the Baseball Factory Under Armour All-America Game—but the schedule has finally started to let up and things are settling down.

That should mean a return to my typical writing, podcasting and newsletter cadence.

I’ve got a few links from my own recent work below, but I’ll also share a roundup of our summer showcase coverage from the BA staff as a whole, in case you need to get caught up as we really sink our teeth into the 2027 draft class:

Hopefully you’ve all had a great summer, and thanks as always for following along.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced recently for Baseball America:

Writing

Podcasting/Video

]]><![CDATA[The 2026 Draft Preview Issue]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/the-2026-draft-preview-issuehttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/the-2026-draft-preview-issueFri, 05 Jun 2026 13:37:18 GMTLast night I finished the last few pieces of writing I was responsible for in our annual draft preview magazine.

Over the next few days we’ll proof and polish this issue, then send it to the printer. If you’re subscribed to this newsletter, I’m guessing you might have some interest in pre-ordering the issue so you can have it on hand on draft day. You can do that here.

We take a lot of pride in every issue of the physical magazine, but the draft preview obviously holds a special place for me. It’s a milestone deadline in each draft cycle, and the culmination of tons of time and energy.

If you decide to pre-order this year’s draft preview, you’ll get a double-issue of the magazine that includes:

  • In-depth scouting reports on the top 75 players in the class

  • A chart w/ the top 200 players and skinny reports

  • An overview of the themes to know of the draft and how teams are viewing it

  • A full first round mock draft

  • The draft’s best tools

  • A deep dive on the ways teams are evaluating and developing high school and college arms differently

  • And this slick cover:

I love the way this one turned out. There’s always something a bit cooler about holding a physical product in your hands when almost everything has gone fully digital. I hope you enjoy it.

June feels like peak baseball season where everything is happening all at once and it’s impossible to keep up.

In addition to draft prep, we’re in the midst of super regionals and transfer portal silly season. The prospect team is plugging along and recently updated our Top 100 list for June. The summer showcase season has officially kicked off, with 2027 eligible prep players and beyond playing high-level events.

All-Star balloting has just opened up which means the big league season is a lot closer to its midway point than feels possible. Trade deadline rumors and rumblings are starting to get going. And, least exciting of all, MLB and the MLBPA are currently waging their PR war ahead of this year’s CBA negotiation. Sadly, it feels like the owners have already won that one pretty handily. I enjoyed this piece from Ben Clemens on the initial proposals.

In addition to baseball and work, my wife and I will be moving from Northern Virginia back to the Triangle in North Carolina later this month. We’re both thrilled to get back to the state we grew up in—where both our families also call home.

There’s a ton going on in June and July, but with the draft preview tucked away and the BA 500 live on the site, I’m hoping to get this newsletter sent a bit more frequently. Dumping 15 podcasts links on you just feels a bit rude.

Thanks for reading, as always, and have a great weekend.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[Coastal Carolina]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/coastal-carolinahttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/coastal-carolinaFri, 01 May 2026 13:33:58 GMTIt was another big draft week over at Baseball America.

We expanded our draft board to the top 400 players in the class, while trying to monitor the up/down movement at the top of the board and throughout the first 10 rounds as well.

I’ve written a copious amount of words over the last two weeks—hopefully some of which are actually good—and also got a chance to head down to Conway, S.C., to see Cam Flukey make his return to the mound.

It was nice to see a potential top-10 pick in person, even if it was just a handful of innings and pitches. This was the first time I’ve seen Coastal Carolina’s ballpark in person, and man is it a great one.

It’s a bit strange that it’s taken me this long to see Springs Brooks Stadium. I guess I’ve been in Virginia for a while, and Flukey is the best Coastal prospect since I’ve been covering the draft—potentially the best prospect to ever come out of the program. He should become Coastal’s third ever first round pick (along with Eric Brown and Caden Bodine) and will have a chance to become the program’s first ever top-10 overall selection.

But the stadium is tremendous, and does a nice job capturing the “near-the-beach” vibe that Coastal has, while also offering great sightlines and an open, 360-degree concourse. I’m rarely in a press box these days, but this one is centered up behind the dish (which is becoming more rare than you might think) and low enough that you can easily take in a full game with plenty of detail. There are Adirondack chairs down both outfield lines, both bullpens are visible from the field and—most usefully for me—there was a ton of space behind home plate at a great height for filming pitchers.

I think this is one of my favorite college parks I’ve been to. I’m slapping an easy 70-grade on it, and if you ever get a chance to take in a game here I would highly recommend it.

We’re getting to the stretch run for draft coverage this year, which feels crazy. The season always flies by too fast, but at the same time the draft not happening until mid-July makes it feel like we also still have an eternity to go.

We’ll expand the draft board to the top 500 on our next update. We’re also going to be writing finalized draft reports, rolling out BA Grades and tool grades and putting together our annual draft preview magazine over the next few weeks.

Hope you’re all enjoying the season, whichever level you might be focused on.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting

]]><![CDATA[First Round Prospect Variance]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/first-round-prospect-variancehttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/first-round-prospect-varianceMon, 13 Apr 2026 14:25:54 GMTToday I took my second shot at projecting the first round of the 2026 draft.

Typically when we’re this far out, I’m trying to line players up in the right ranges as much as I’m trying to tie specific players to specific teams. There are always a few team/player connections that feel strong even this far out, but generally teams picking in the same range of the board are all scouting the same large collection of players.

What stood out to me in reporting for this mock was just how much variance there seemed to be in evaluations for likely first rounders.

In particular, this year’s college outfield class seems to be all over the map. Below are the six college outfielders we currently have ranked inside the top 30:

  • No. 10 — Sawyer Strosnider, OF, TCU

  • No. 12 — AJ Gracia, OF, Virginia

  • No. 13 — Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech

  • No. 20 — Derek Curiel, OF, LSU

  • No. 21 — Caden Sorrell, OF, Texas A&M

  • No. 22 — Aiden Robbins, OF, Texas

Each of these players has some clear strengths and weaknesses, and depending on how much teams prioritize them could lead to radical swings in value.

For instance, Gracia is a player who seems to have some real landing spots inside the first 10 picks, while other teams and scouts have him as a fringe first rounder overall—or would just take his teammate Eric Becker in front of him.

Curiel is a player who feels like a slam dunk top-20 prospect (and for me personally he belongs in the top-10), but we’ve heard from some scouts who don’t even think he’s the top outfielder on his own team.

Sorrell is following up a great 2025 season with a tremendous 2026 campaign. He’s already homered 17 times and is running a 1.321 OPS while playing center field in the SEC—yet his career 24.4% strikeout rate will be disqualifying in the first round for many teams. Those happier to take a chance on his tools and impact might view him as a no-doubt fixture in the teens.

Burress is the biggest fan favorite of the group. Guardians fans are already celebrating the fact that I mocked him 19th overall today, but his realistic range of landing spots might be wider than anyone. He could easily go inside the top five picks to a model-heavy team or fall behind Cleveland and get into the 20s.

After Roch Cholowsky, Grady Emerson, Vahn Lackey and Jackson Flora at the very top, this year’s class seems wide open, but hopefully understanding general team tendencies will help us navigate it.

The mock draft today is linked below, as well as everything else I’ve been working on recently—including a few big underclass college rankings.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting/Video

]]><![CDATA[Let The Catchers Call The Pitches, Please]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/let-the-catchers-call-the-pitcheshttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/let-the-catchers-call-the-pitchesWed, 25 Mar 2026 14:00:54 GMTHappy MLB opening day.

Does today count as opening day? We only have one game, Yankees at Giants, at 8:05 p.m. ET (streamed on Netflix by the way). It’s not until tomorrow that we get the full slate of big league games associated with actual opening day.

So, happy MLB opening night I guess.

Pitch calling has been on my mind recently. The Marlins started this trend a year ago and have been experimenting for a while with their minor league batteries, but it seems like more teams are will be implementing it this season.

I’m not a fan.

Generally I’m a pretty open-minded and progressive baseball fan. I love the pitch clock, I thought the change to the intentional walk was entirely fine, I’m pro universal DH and I’m thrilled about what is coming with the new ABS challenge system. My passion for writing about baseball in the first place was sparked as a teenager when I was learning about sabermetrics.

This feels like a bridge too far for me, though, even if I can entirely rationalize that for the pitching team this could be more useful and efficient.

Ben Lindbergh wrote an excellent piece about just this for The Ringer, and I wholeheartedly agree with basically everything he said.

I don’t want to overstate the case: Big leaguers are better than ever, and it’s tough to become one even if coaching is constant and coddling. (After all, you do still have to “execute.”) Plus, although some players’ personal scouting acumen was once key to their success, it’s not as if fans buy tickets or tune in to see who thinks the best. As Scott Stapp once sang, “a diving catch, a stolen base/a perfect game, a triple play.” We watch for physical prowess, and the prospect of seeing someone sock a few dingers. But study skills, smarts, and plain old intuition used to set some players apart. How much will those instincts still matter in a more paint-by-number brand of baseball?

Admittedly, as much as past players knew about baseball, they had a lot to learn. Pitchers tended to throw suboptimal pitch types in suboptimal locations; hitters—probably counterproductively—prioritized contact over patience and power; and both in the outfield and on the dirt, defenders stood in suboptimal spots. Pitchers have updated their arsenals based on front-office input, and it’s served them well: On the whole, they make better decisions about which pitches to throw, and where to throw them, than they used to. But it’s one thing to alter the overall frequency of a pitch’s usage and another to defer entirely to the team on a pitch-to-pitch basis. Catchers and pitchers, I implore you: Have some self-respect.

Maybe this won’t get universally adopted around the league and I’m complaining about nothing. Or maybe it will get implemented and I won’t even notice it—I watch plenty of college baseball games just fine after all—and I’m complaining about nothing.

But I do feel like something is lost in this and I’m generally hesitant about yet another change that seems like it’s only going to benefit pitchers and run prevention. The league has now hit under .250 for six consecutive seasons. Is that a good thing? Is calling pitchers from the dugout a good thing? For pitchers maybe. But for baseball? I don’t know.

Consider me a skeptic on this one.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

It’s a big day on the site. We’re rolling out our first in-season draft update of the season and expanding our draft ranking from 200 to 300 players. I think this is always the most challenging update. It’s the first where we have new information on basically everyone, but we also have to be careful about not overreacting to performances in small samples.

Fortunately, for the college players, we have more process-level data than we’ve ever had to try and correct for that. Additionally, we’re trying to collect as much feedback as possible from the scouting industry itself to drive the up/down movement.

It’s a step closer to draft day. Hopefully we can get these guys all figured out by then. Thanks for reading and have a greek week!

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting/Video

]]><![CDATA[Drinking From The Fire Hose]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/drinking-from-the-fire-hosehttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/drinking-from-the-fire-hoseFri, 13 Mar 2026 14:58:44 GMTThe last newsletter I sent came out a week before the college baseball season started. This one comes to you more than a full month after that. For that, I apologize.

It’s always an annoyance for me when this much time piles up between newsletters. A large reason for sending them is to keep you all updated with what I’m working on. The value of that diminishes if they are this infrequent, and I don’t think it’s especially helpful to drop a list of 25 or so links at the bottom of the newsletter.

I try to avoid that. This time I couldn’t.

When the college season gets rolling and draft season is actually underway, it feels like drinking from the fire hose. There’s just so much baseball to watch, so many players to keep tabs on, so much to write about and talk about. And I also want to keep up with spring training and the World Baseball Classic, too.

I have no complaints about this. It’s a blast to do for a living. But I do need to figure out a way to make sure the newsletters come with a bit more frequency despite all of that.

At the moment we’re deep in progress of our next draft board update. We’ll expand from the top 200 players in the class to the top 300 later this month. I think the first in-season update each year is the most challenging, because there are real player changes that need to be accounted for, but we’re also still within a small enough performance sample that we have to be careful about overreacting.

Threading the needle between overcorrecting and undercorrecting is always a tricky one, but it’s a fun challenge to shoot for each year.

Earlier this week I published our first mock draft of the year, which I know draftniks are always excited about. I typically do this one with a scout going back-and-forth making picks and find that exercise pretty instructive for this time of year.

Throughout the rankings process and mock draft process and just the daily analysis of the draft, I find myself continuing to love this draft class.

It was incredibly hyped coming into last summer and continued to be hyped as the regular season approached. I think the group has lived up to those expectations or exceeded them. There are so many talented players, and it feels like around the country more and more players are either coming into more velocity or making real strides as hitters.

I think it’s the best draft class I’ve covered in my time at Baseball America which, as of today, is officially nine years. That’s wild to think about.

Anyway, sorry for the inconsistency here and thanks for reading. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting/Video

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

]]><![CDATA[Fun & Games]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/fun-and-gameshttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/fun-and-gamesMon, 09 Feb 2026 15:38:23 GMTThe last three days have been a whirlwind of fun for me.

On Friday, J. Cole dropped the most anticipated album of my life (I’ve already listened to it like five times). On Saturday Seth Trimble and UNC did this to Duke. Then on Sunday I got to just hang around the house, eat more food than I should and watch a Super Bowl that I had zero investment in.

As many baseball fans have already noted on all the social media platforms, the conclusion of the Super Bowl basically serves as the unofficial start of baseball season.

Here in Northern Virginia I’m surrounded by snow. The weather has been below freezing for multiple weeks now. It doesn’t feel like baseball season around these parts, but we’re definitely overdue for some actual baseball games.

And if you’re plugged into the amateur side of things, we’ve got real games coming up this week. I can’t wait.

I’m heading to Texas later this week for the opening weekend of Division I baseball. I’ll be able to watch a ton of talented players and hopefully see some competitive games and catch up with some friends in the industry as well. It’ll be great to be writing about what is actually happening on the field after months of previewing and reviewing throughout the Winter.

This weekend was a nice reminder of how wonderfully distracting sports can be. Baseball is about to be just that for months and months for all of us seamheads. Only a few days before we get rolling in earnest.

Hang in there!

Subscribe now

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting/Video

]]><![CDATA[Why I'm The High Man On Marek Houston]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/why-im-the-high-man-on-marek-houstonhttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/why-im-the-high-man-on-marek-houstonThu, 22 Jan 2026 13:54:43 GMTWell, it’s been a while.

The last time I wrote to you in this newsletter I was in the midst of a hectic Prospect Handbook production cycle and looking forward to some downtime and the holidays. Now, more than a month later and in a new year, I’ve booked some early season college baseball travel and am eagerly anticipating some real, live, actual baseball.

Between this newsletter and the last a lot has happened:

  • We’ve rolled out the annual Top 100 Prospects list at Baseball America.

  • We lost good friend and co-draft writer Peter Flaherty to the Nationals as an area scout.

  • We’re in the process of hiring a new writer to fill Peter’s role.

  • We’ve redesigned and re-sized our magazine and produced an entire college preview issue.

  • And Andruw Jones was inducted to the Hall of Fame.

Those who have followed my work or online presence for a while know that I have long been a proponent of Andruw Jones being a Hall of Famer, and it’s nice to see him inducted. Congrats to him and Carlos Beltran, both of whom I view as clear and obvious entrants into the Hall.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Today I wanted to write about being the high man in the office on Twins shortstop Marek Houston.

When we begin the Top 100 process, each writer on our staff creates their own personal top 150 ranking. Those rankings are then turned into a composite list, which is then vetted, crosschecked, discussed and sent to the industry to solicit feedback.

Among the nine writers who submitted 150s, just four had Houston listed. Of that group, I was the only writer who viewed Houston as a Top 100 prospect right now. He checked in at No. 88 on my list in between shortstops Johnny Level (No. 87) and Arjun Nimmala (No. 102).

Houston ranked as a top-15 prospect in the 2025 draft class with the following tool grades:

  • Hit: 55

  • Power: 40

  • Run: 55

  • Field: 65

  • Arm: 60

After the PHB process his grades were tweaked slightly, but not significantly. We now have him as a 50-grade hitter and 70-grade defender.

If those grades are accurate, it’s hard for me to not see a case for him being a Top 100 prospect in the game. He’s an elite defensive shortstop, and my opinion of his defensive ability has only increased after seeing how he handled the pro game. I would struggle to list many shortstops who are better glovemen, and believe he has the upside to challenge for multiple Gold Glove awards.

No one really doubts Houston’s fielding ability. It’s obvious to whoever watches him field a baseball or talks with any coach or scout who has seen him. Where he becomes polarizing is where it really matters: in the box.

Those most skeptical seem to view him as a modest pure hitter at best with very little power to speak of and little reason to dream of more coming. I think he has the contact skills to be an above-average pure hitter, and I’m also encouraged with the strength gains he showed as a junior and the year-over-year improvement he managed offensively throughout college.

His pro debut was solid. He crushed Low-A in 12 games (.370/.424/.444) before slowing down after a promotion to High-A in 12 more games (.152/.220/.239). His contact skills and swing decisions were rock solid, which I would have expected, and his exit velocity data was more underwhelming—though his max EVs and aforementioned strength gains still give me some confidence in this area.

At the end of the day, Houston is just one of those players who does everything with such ease and has an ability to slow the game down in a way that I find both rare and telling.

I’m happy to bet on that profile now and be proven wrong later if the bat just doesn’t provide as much as I think it can.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting/Video

]]><![CDATA[The Best Baseball America Stories From 2025]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/the-best-baseball-america-storieshttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/the-best-baseball-america-storiesSun, 14 Dec 2025 15:06:47 GMTI’m writing this newsletter from deep within the Prospect Handbook production crunch.

Because of that I’ve got less time to expound upon all things baseball and prospects, but I still wanted to keep you guys up to date with what I’ve been working on and doing.

The typical links of mine are at the bottom.

But I also asked the Baseball America staff to tell me their favorite stories from this past year.

Consider this the “Best of BA” for 2025:

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting/Video

  • Draft Podcast: Analyzing The Top College Pitchers In The 2026 Class. Peter and I talk about Florida’s Liam Peterson, Coastal Carolina’s Cameron Flukey, UC Santa Barbara’s Jackson Flora and Georgia’s Joey Volchko.

  • Future Projection Episode 148: AL East Farm Systems. The Red Sox have become quite pitcher heavy all of the sudden and the Orioles remain impressively deep.

  • Future Projection Episode 149: AL Central Farm Systems. This is one of the better divisions in the game for high-quality farms.

  • We’ve also been converting a lot of our farm system overviews into YouTube videos so I would encourage you to check out the BA channel there if you prefer to watch your prospects content.

That’s it for today. Hope you’re all doing well. Thanks for reading and following along.

]]><![CDATA[A Thanksgiving Roundup]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/a-thanksgiving-rounduphttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/a-thanksgiving-roundupWed, 26 Nov 2025 14:40:26 GMTHello and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Today’s newsletter is going to be more of a quick roundup than a standalone piece that also has some links, so if you come to this newsletter for more than that... I apologize!

Over at BA, we’ve now published just over half the league’s updated Top 10 prospect lists. The senior circuit is in the books and this week we began rolling out updated lists for the American League East.

We’re officially in crunch time in terms of our prospect handbook production, and while yes it is a busy period—it’s always a lot of fun to put this thing together.

If you are interested in subscribing to BA, now is a great time to do so. We are running our biggest sale of the year through Cyber Monday. You can get 40% off any digital subscription. Many thanks to everyone who follows along here and also subscribes to BA. Without you, we could not do the work that we do.

Here are my 20-80 rankings of all the main Thanksgiving dishes:

  • 80: stuffing

  • 70: mashed potatoes, mac n cheese

  • 60: apple pie, sweet tea

  • 55: cranberry sauce, rolls (sister schubert’s in particular), pecan pie

  • 50: turkey, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie,

  • 45: gravy, ham

  • 40: sweet potato dishes, brussel sprouts,

  • 30: any corn dish

  • 20: N/A

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting/Video

  • Future Projection Episode 145: NL Central Farm Systems. Ben and I break down the systems and top prospects in the NL Central.

  • Future Projection Episode 146: NL West Farm Systems. Ben and I break down the systems and top prospects in the NL West.

  • Future Projection Episode 147: A Thanksgiving mailbag. We take listener questions on a variety of topics and put 20-80 grades on some of the most common Thanksgiving dishes.

  • Draft Pod: Revisiting Misses From The 2021 & 2022 Draft Classes. This year teams protected a significantly smaller percentage of first-time eligible first round picks ahead of the Rule 5 draft. Why is that? Peter and I discussed on the latest BA draft pod.

]]><![CDATA[An Update To BA Grades]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/an-update-to-ba-gradeshttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/an-update-to-ba-gradesTue, 11 Nov 2025 15:03:18 GMTLike last offseason, I’m writing up a pair of Top 30s for our annual prospect handbook this year: the Braves and the Guardians.

I’ve completed my top 10 of the Braves system and am now actively working on the top 10 for the Guardians. Once that’s taken care of, I’ll get to work sorting through the 11-30 for both of the systems while also tackling some fun offseason draft-oriented content.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

As we roll out our updated Top 10s this year, you’ll notice that we have updated and revamped the grades we use to rate prospects. Editor-in-Chief JJ Cooper wrote more about this update, but I wanted to provide the new scale with some thoughts on why it’s an improvement.

Updated BA Grade Scale

Grade — Position Player Role — Starter Role — Reliever Role1

  • 75-80 — Franchise Player — No. 1 — N/A

  • 65-70 — Perennial All-Star — No. 2 — N/A

  • 60 — Occasional All-Star — No. 3 — Game’s best reliever

  • 55 — First-division regular — No. 3/4 — Elite reliever

  • 50 — Solid-average regular — No. 4 — High-leverage reliever

  • 45 — Second division or platoon — No. 5 — middle reliever

  • 40 — Reserve — Fill-in starter — Low-leverage reliever

  • 30-35 — Org Player — Org Player — Up-and-down reliever

  • 20-25 — Non prospect — Non prospect — Non prospect

Updated Risk Penalties

  • Low (no penalty) — A player who is close to the majors, typically with little or no projection remaining and no pressing injury questions, with a high probability of having a major league career in some capacity.

  • Mild (-5) — Some work left to refine their skills, but a proven player who typically comes with upper minors performance.

  • Average (-10) — The most common or median risk level for players ranked among a team’s Top 30 prospects. The average prospect has significant risk or weaknesses in some areas of their game, typical of most prospects.

  • High (-15) — Players with injury questions, players who struggle with a key skill (especially control for pitchers or contact for hitters) and many teenagers in the low minors with significant projection remaining.

  • Extreme (-20) — Players who have well above-average durability issues, multiple skills/tools issues to resolve and inexperienced teenage prospects who are years from the majors.**

At BA we grade players by assigning an overall role grade (IE “60”) with an accompanying risk factor (IE “Average”, with a -10 penalty). The adjusted grade (IE, “50,” in this case) or is then used to help us tier out players and line them up within systems and across the league.

It’s a helpful system to use when comparing a very low risk, but also low-ceiling player who’s near the majors to a high-risk, but much toolsier player who’s years away from contributing but could potentially have far more impact if things pan out.

The tweaks in our grading update include expanding the BA scale below the “40-Reserve” line and re-evaluating our risk descriptions and penalties across the board.

In the Prospect Handbook, we generally won’t need to have grades lower than a 40, because most of the players worth writing up for any given team’s top 30 are generally at that level or above it. As we continue to expand our BA Grading system to the amateur levels, however, it becomes necessary to both describe and apply grades below that level to accurately describe a player’s talent.

JJ writes more on the way we’re describing risks on the new scale in his piece above, but put simply, we are trying to more accurately describe what “average risk” means in the context of prospects overall.

Below, you can see our old risks and penalties (on the left) alongside our update risks and penalties (on the right):

  • Low (no penalty) // Low (no penalty)

  • Medium (-5) // Mild (-5)

  • High (-10) // Average (-10)

  • Very High (-12.5) // High (-15)

  • Extreme (-15) // Extreme (-20)

The penalties are the same for the first three tiers of risk, but we’ve scrapped the “Very High” tier alongside its often problematic -12.5 penalty that created some wonky math situations and awkward tier breaks. While both scales have penalties called “Extreme,” the new “Extreme” risk comes with a greater penalty of -20; something we have not had before.

Ideally, players who appear in the prospect handbook will be clustered within the middle three risk tiers (mild, average, high), with low-risk and extreme-risk players both being quite rare.

I would anticipate greater usage of the new “Extreme/-20” risk tier on our draft rankings, where players are inherently more risky than more established pro prospects who are making it into a Top 30. For the last few years we’ve put grades on the top 200 players in the draft. Expanding the BA Scale to the full 20-80 spectrum with detailed roles and a more extreme risk tier will allow us to more accurately grade players beyond that—admittedly arbitrary—cutoff.

Overall, I’m really excited for this update.

It’s good to have a fully described BA Grade scale going from 20 to 80, and the new risks seem both more intuitive and will allow us a greater ability to differentiate and bucket players into appropriate tiers of talent—especially on the amateur side.

Hopefully this all leads to better reports, better clarity and an amateur and pro grading scale that has a lot more cohesion. If you have any questions about the new scale or how we use, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

*Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

  • 2025 Draft Report Cards For All 30 Clubs. The traffic our annual draft report cards series got this year was far better than the norm. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was because of the timing with a heavily-viewed world series, or perhaps it was a function of better SEO on our site. Either way, I’m happy it’s getting some attention. There’s roughly 21,000 words of information on the draft in this series.

  • Braves Top 10 Prospects. I’m once again responsible for writing up the Braves system in our annual prospect handbook. And I’m once again writing up a lot of Braves pitching prospects.

  • Braves Prospects Chat. Regardless of the quality of Atlanta’s farm system in any given year, Braves fans are passionate about the team and love talking about the prospects. That makes for a fun prospect chat. We had 43 questions asked and answered in this one.

  • Jacob Lombard, Potential Top 10 Draft Pick, Commits To Miami. Some relatively minor news in the baseball world at large, but more significant if you are really plugged into the draft or college baseball—though the odds of Lombard getting to campus at Miami seem low.

Podcasting/Video

  • Future Projection Episode 144: NL East Farm Systems. Ben and I embark on the first series of our annual divisional farm system podcasts. We dive deep on each team in the NL East in conjunction with our Top 10 rollouts on the site.

  • Future Projection Episode 143: How Did Teams Miss On Trey Yesavage? More thoughts on Yesavage as a great pick in this podcast with Ben.

  • Draft Pod: Notable Players & Teams From Draft Report Cards. Peter and I talk about some of the notable names from our draft report card series on the latest BA draft pod.

1

Sorry, this would look much better if Substack had support for tables. I have no idea why that’s not something I can add to a newsletter in the year 2025.

]]><![CDATA[Trey Yesavage Goes From First Round Steal To World Series Game 1 Starter]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/trey-yesavage-goes-from-first-roundhttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/trey-yesavage-goes-from-first-roundSat, 25 Oct 2025 14:56:06 GMTAt Baseball America, we were all big fans of Trey Yesavage in the run up to the 2024 draft.

He ranked No. 11 in the class and in our draft report I ended the report by writing: “Yesavage is a high-floor starter and is the consensus No. 3 arm in the class behind (Chase) Burns and Arkansas lefty Hagen Smith”

When the draft actually happened, Yesavage wound up being the fourth pitcher selected. He slid all the way to 20th overall and was taken after switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje went 15th overall to the Mariners.

Ben Badler—also a big Yesavage proponent—wrote this in his instant analysis of the pick on draft night:

Instant Analysis: Getting Yesavage here at No. 20 overall is a steal for the Blue Jays. He could have easily fit in the top 10 overall picks, but instead the Blue Jays are getting one of the three premium college pitchers here toward the back of the first round. There’s an impressive mix of starter traits, high-end stuff, good control and a strong collegiate track record.

In the days before the draft itself, there were rumblings that Yesavage could slip a bit more than expected. I wrote about that possibility in the final mock draft, but still expected him to be picked inside the first 15 picks because his combination of performance, stuff and strikes was just so strong.

The slide sounded entirely related to medical concerns, and not medical concerns that had to do with a partially collapsed lung that hospitalized him near the end of the season. In every draft there are always a few players who start to become more volatile because of medical questions. But getting to the heart of those concerns is always tricky because teams and players and agents are (rightfully) very sensitive with this information. And different teams can have entirely different conclusions when looking at the same imaging of a pitcher’s throwing arm, for example.

Clearly something concerned at least 10 or so teams who decided to pass on Yesavage. As soon as Braden Montgomery came off the board at 12th overall to the Red sox, Yesavage was the best player available according to our board.

These players were all drafted in front of him despite ranking below on the BA board:

  • Christian Moore, 8th (Angels)

  • Seaver King, 10th (Nationals)

  • James Tibbs, 13th (Giants)

  • Cam Smith, 14th (Cubs)

  • Jurrangelo Cijntje, 15th (Mariners)

  • PJ Morlando, 16th (Marlins)

  • Braylon Payne, 17th (Brewers)

  • Theo Gillen, 18th (Rays)

  • Carson Benge, 19th (Mets)

Perhaps you would take a player or two over Yesavage today with the benefit of hindsight. I’m not sure I would take a single one. As Ben mentioned in real time, Yesavage appears to be a real steal from this class.

While his command was shaky and his overall line wasn’t spectacular (4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K), it was still fun to see him get the Game 1 nod and sit down three straight Hall of Famers to start the game in Toronto—less than two years after being drafted.

Kudos to the Blue Jays.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

  • Updated 2026 Draft 100. This is our post-summer showcase update to the 2026 draft board, which means there’s a ton of movement reflected. The class looks strong still, but the depth seems to be more of a standout than the players at the top—not counting Roch Cholowsky of course.

  • Risers, Fallers & New Additions to The Draft 100. If you want to get granular on all the movement you can see the risers and fallers here, with rationale and explanation for why players are moving up and down.

  • Scouting Liam Peterson: Can Florida’s Ace Cement His SP1 Draft Status? This is the third edition of my offseason scouting series, and my first deep dive into a pitcher for the 2026 class. Peterson has the stuff and size to go in the first 10 picks, but there’s still some room for him to improve next spring—particularly in the command department.

Podcasting/Video

]]><![CDATA[A Mid October Roundup]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/a-mid-october-rounduphttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/a-mid-october-roundupSat, 11 Oct 2025 14:02:44 GMTHey everyone, hope all is going well.

It’s been a while since my last newsletter so I figured I was overdue with an update on what I’ve been working on. The last month or so has been mostly about pivoting into Prospect Handbook mode on my end.1

I’m writing the Braves and Guardians chapters this year. I’ve got my Braves Top 10 largely figured out and written. Next I’ll need to move onto the Guardians and figure out a much more hitter-heavy system.

In the background I’ve also been working on the next update to our 2026 Draft Top 100 list, our annual draft report cards series and a few scouting pieces on some of the top players in the draft class.

Travel for me is entirely in the rearview mirror, so it’s going to be a lot of office days, writing days, reporting days and editing days in the coming weeks and months.

So far MLB’s postseason has delivered (format critiques not withstanding) a lot of compelling games. It has seemed like the overall defensive quality has been lacking across the board in every round, but as someone watching without a real rooting interest I’m mostly hoping to just see close games—and we’ve gotten plenty of those.2

Hopefully you guys have been able to take in a lot of the action.

That’s all I’ve got today beyond the regular links. Thanks for following. Take care.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting/Video

1

Speaking of the Prospect Handbook, the 2026 edition is now available for pre-order. So if you’re a big prospect fan or you’re looking for Holiday gift ideas for someone the book is now available for sale at the BA Store. The physical edition of the book comes out in March, but if you pre-order with us you also get access to the PDF far sooner. I think last year that was available before Christmas, even.

2

This newsletter was written before the epic extra-inning Game 5 between the Mariners and Tigers. Postseason keeps on giving.

]]><![CDATA[Will MLB's New Scouting Dead Period Help Players?]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/will-mlbs-new-scouting-dead-periodhttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/will-mlbs-new-scouting-dead-periodSat, 20 Sep 2025 14:02:51 GMTOn Thursday MLB sent all 30 clubs a memo announcing a new rule that creates a dead period for scouting high school and college draft-eligible players in the winter.

JJ Cooper has the full story here. I would encourage you all to read it in its entirety, as it shakes up the scouting world and the draft process in a pretty big way.

Specifically, teams won't be allowed to scout or evaluate domestic draft-eligible players in any capacity—including gathering data or video produced by players—within this new dead period window.

Some of the basics:

  • The expressed goal is to help ensure that pitchers have a period of downtime before the upcoming season.

  • The dead period for high school players is from Oct. 15-Jan. 15.

  • The dead period for college players is from Nov. 15-Jan. 15.

  • Within these periods teams are prohibited from attending or evaluating any video or data from games, showcases, tournaments, batting practice, infield/outfield drills, workouts or any other on-field drills. Any bat, ball or biomechanical data gathered in the dead period will not be allowed for teams to input.

My initial thoughts on this new rule are positive. I think there are clear issues in the amateur baseball space when it comes to year round play and the overuse injuries that come from that.

It makes sense to me that MLB—and college baseball, which has a quiet period for recruiting from Oct. 13-Feb. 28—can try to disincentivize this year-round system by simply saying to players and parents: "We aren't going to see you during this window of time. Don't bother if you're just playing to get scouted."

There will definitely be players who shut things down because of this who otherwise would not have. Maybe that helps them stay healthy and focus on getting stronger or working on their athleticism by playing another sport in the winter.

The initial feedback I’ve heard from scouts and agents has also been positive.

At the same time, I do think it's true that most of the elite high school players are already shutting things down in this period of time. Perfect Game's World Wood Bat Championship takes place in Jupiter, Fla., just before this dead period ends. It is typically the last big event on the calendar MLB scouts.

Many of the top players rostered for this event don't show up anyways, either because of school obligations, other sports or simply because they’re gassed after playing all summer at numerous events around the country.

This is especially true of many of the top pitchers who are scouted—the demographic this dead period is intending to benefit most. Most of the top amateur pitching prospects in any given draft class are hyper aware of their usage, volume and pitching schedule throughout the year.1

A more skeptical view of this new rule is that it's just another way for MLB owners to continue cutting costs. I admit this wasn't where my mind went first, but my colleague and co-host Ben Badler laid out his thoughts along these lines in our most recent Future Projection Podcast.

It definitely made me wonder.

If teams aren't allowed to have their scouts actually go scout... is the next step to simply not pay them during this time of year? That would be a terrible decision, but one I don't think any of us would be surprised to see happen. We're coming off one of the worst off-seasons I can remember in scouting and cheap owners continue to cut their scouting staffs this year as well.2

There's plenty of work that scouts do in this dead period that is valuable to clubs. Work that will still be allowed under the new rule. Scouts can still do all kinds of off-the-field evaluating. In-home visits happen during the winter and will still take place. There's nothing stopping a scout from going to watch a multi-sport athlete play football or basketball to get a better understanding of their athleticism or competitiveness. I'm sure there's plenty of admin work to tie up after a long summer. There's also report-writing, video work or pro/international coverage.

Perhaps the biggest question of the new dead period policy is how does all of this get enforced?

From JJ's piece:

Policing the new dead period parameters will largely depend on teams certifying that they are following the policy, although violations can also be reported to MLB. If a club receives unsolicited data/video or anything else related to baseball activities from the prohibited time frame, they are to report the receipt immediately to MLB. Violations could result in fines, suspensions and placement on the MLB Ineligible List, as well as potential draft or international bonus pool system penalties.

So... enforcement is basically the honor policy? Gee, I can't see anything problematic coming from that.

I'm sure as I type this there are teams who are trying to figure out how they can get around this, how they can find loopholes or how they can just not get caught cheating the system to gain any sort of competitive advantage. These are baseball teams after all. Cheating is like breathing, and despite the actions of many of the owners, every single front office wants to win—badly.

Will the threat of being put on the ineligible list be enough to dissuade this? I’m not sure.

At this point I feel like I'm getting a bit long in the tooth in this newsletter. I'll close by just saying I hope this new policy produces some positive effects in the space. I think it could. I guess we'll have to just wait and see.

What do you think?

Comment or shoot me and email if you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

*Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

  • 11 Notable Players From The 2025 Under Armour Next All-America Game. Notes and video from one of the final showcases of the season. It was an offense-forward game with plenty of big, physical hitters showing impact. And my first visit to Camden Yards, which was one of the top parks to check off my list.

  • Team USA Wins Gold At 2025 18U WBSC World Cup. The Americans are now tied with Cuba's 18U national team with 11 championships—the most of any country. This roster looked good on paper and then played up to those expectations with lights out starting pitching and solid offensive contributions.

Podcasting/Video

  • Future Projection Episode 137: Dead Period For Scouts, The State of the Nationals & Draft Pick Struggles. Ben has been off for a few weeks thanks to the birth of his son (congrats!) but it was great to get back on the mic with him for this week's Future Projection pod. We discuss the new dead period at the beginning of the show. You can watch this segment on YouTube if you prefer as well.

  • 2026 MLB Draft Standouts At Under Armour All-America Game. JJ and I react to the Under Armour All-America game on the podcast. It's not common that I take in games with JJ, but it's always fun when it happens.

  • Reviewing 2025 Preseason Draft Teams. Myself, Peter Flaherty and Jacob Rudner get on the podcast and rehash our drafted teams before the 2025 draft cycle got started this spring. Who landed the most bonus pool money? Who had the most misses? Which players do we regret not taking? Always a fun exercise, and I'm glad we got a chance to evaluate ourselves here.

1

To the extent that USA Baseball has often struggled to land the top pitchers for their 18U national team because of when those national events take place on the calendar.

2

The editor's note on this story is just perfect, isn't it? It would be funny if it weren't so embarrassing.

]]><![CDATA[A Look At Pro Strikeout Rates For 2025 Draftees]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/a-look-at-pro-strikeout-rates-forhttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/a-look-at-pro-strikeout-rates-forSun, 31 Aug 2025 15:40:17 GMTOne of the numbers I feel most confident looking at when we're still in small sample territory is strikeout rate for hitters.

According to the folks at FanGraphs, hitter strikeout rate is one of the quickest stats to stabilize. They cite a 60 plate appearance threshold, which is by far the quickest of any stabilization rate for a pitcher or a hitter.

That's good to know when we want to check in on the debuts of 2025 draftees and see what's useful to look at. Most of those players don't have a large enough sample of playing time to read too much into.

As of Sunday morning, there are just six hitters who have more than 100 plate appearances. On the pitching side, only five pitchers have thrown 10 or more innings.

At Baseball America last week I checked in on some of the notable debut performances we have seen so far, but in this newsletter I wanted to specifically point out strikeout rate for hitters who have crossed that 60 PA threshold. Among hitters drafted in the first five rounds, here are the hitters who have 60 or more plate appearances, sorted in ascending order of strikeout rate:

  • Kane Kepley, Cubs (56) — 11.2%

  • Trevor Cohen, Giants (85) — 11.8%

  • Antonio Jimenez, Mets (102) — 11.8%

  • Kyle Lodise, White Sox (76) — 18.8%

  • Marek Houston, Twins (16) — 19.2%

  • Kaeden Kent, Yankees (103) — 19.5%

  • Luke Stevenson, Mariners (35) — 20%

  • Cam Cannarella, Marlins (43) — 20.3%

  • Kade Snell, Cubs (151) — 20.5%

  • Ethan Hedges, Rockies (77) — 20.6%

  • Nolan Sailors, Royals (128) — 21.7%

  • Ethan Frey, Astros (95) — 21.8%

  • Drew Faurot, Marlins (108) — 23%

  • Nick Monistere, Astros (126) — 23.3%

  • Cody Miller, Braves (96) — 24.1%

  • Aiva Arquette, Marlins (7) — 25.3%

  • Core Jackson, Yankees (164) — 25.3%

  • Gavin Turley, Athletics (110) — 25.7%

  • Ethan Petry, Nationals (49) — 25.7%

  • Mason White, Red Sox (118) — 26.2%

  • Mitch Voit, Mets (38) — 26.3%

  • Ryan Wideman, Padres (99) — 26.9%

  • Jack Gurevitch, Cardinals (89) — 27%

  • Andrew Fischer, Brewers (20) — 27%

  • Wehiwa Aloy, Orioles (31) — 27.3%

  • Devin Taylor, Athletics (48) — 30.7%

  • Brandon Compton, Marlins (46) — 32.6%

  • Mason Neville, Reds (114) — 32.8%

  • Alex Lodise, Braves (60) — 33.3%

  • Dixon Williams, Braves (136) — 33.3%

  • Max Belyeu, Rockies (74) — 34.8%

In some ways this list is perfectly intuitive.

The low strikeout rate hitters are all smaller, contact-oriented up-the-middle types who had a good track record of not striking out much in college. The high strikeout rate hitters are all bigger, power-oriented bats with longer levers and bigger frames.

Makes sense.

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There are a few hitters I want to point out on either extreme, however.

  • Trevor Cohen was one of two players taken in the first three rounds who we didn't have ranked on the BA 500. I'm always interested to follow the players we miss closely to see just how bad of a whiff we had. So far in Low-A he's hitting .329/.431/.376 with more walks (16) than strikeouts (12) with an opposite field heavy batted ball approach. This is all right in line with the hitter he was at Rutgers.

  • Max Belyeu was one of my favorite college hitters in this class. I would have probably taken him inside the top 30 (and definitely the top 40) if I was making picks. He's always been an aggressive hitter willing to expand the zone, but I felt like his contact ability was enough to make that work. He had a 25% career strikeout rate in three seasons with Texas, so the 34.8% strikeout rate he's running at High-A is a notable uptick in whiffs. Those strikeouts were fine in his first six games because they came with power—three home runs in his first six games and a 1.150 OPS—but in his last eight games that power has gone away and the strikeouts have remained—one home run, 12 strikeouts, .425 OPS.

  • Kane Kepley has been one of the most impressive debut hitters from this class. He's among the leaders in hits (26) and is slashing .325/.495/.488 through 21 games with a 197 wRC+ at Low-A Myrtle Beach. He's continuing to show a solid leadoff skillset that goes nicely with his excellent defense in center field and has also continued to make an impact on the bases with 14 steals in 17 tries (82.4%).

  • Luke Stevenson was the first Tar Heel drafted but, like Kepley, he lands on the positive side of this strikeout rate spectrum—if not at such an extreme level as Kepley. A 20% strikeout rate is massively encouraging for someone like Stevenson, who checked most of the boxes coming out of the draft except for contact rate. As a strong defender with a good arm, a great batting eye and raw power the swing-and-miss issues are the biggest question with Stevenson. He's hitting .278/.443/.389 with a 145 wRC+ with Low-A Modesto. In two years in the ACC, Stevenson had a 22.3% strikeout rate.

  • Devin Taylor is another hitter who I would have taken before his actual draft selection. His consistent offensive production in three years with Indiana (plus summers in the Cape and with Team USA) gave me a lot of confidence in his bat. That's why his 30.7% strikeout rate is a bit concerning to me. Unlike Belyeu, Taylor's going to drive basically all of his value from what he does in the batter's box, so there's less margin for error on the hit/power projections with Taylor. He was never a huge strikeout hitter in college. Taylor owns a career 14.3% strikeout rate and his single-season high was 18.9% as a freshman in 2023. If he's going to strike out more frequently in pro ball that's going to need to come with tons of on-base ability and power. To his credit Taylor has managed a solid 16.8% walk rate and his four home runs are tied with Belyeu for the most among draftees.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter.

Writing

Podcasting/Video

]]><![CDATA[The Joys Of East Coast Pro & Area Code Games]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/the-joys-of-east-coast-pro-and-areahttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/the-joys-of-east-coast-pro-and-areaWed, 20 Aug 2025 13:03:20 GMTMy biggest slate of travel each year always comes in early August.

After the draft is over, I turn my attention fully to the summer showcase circuit and start bearing down on the draft class for the next cycle. Most of the scouting industry does the same.

The two biggest events on the calendar for me are the East Coast Pro Showcase and the Area Code Games. The former—as you probably have guessed—is a showcase that features some of the top players from the Eastern Half of the country. The latter is a showcase that brings together players from the entire country.

East Coast Pro takes place at the Hoover Met Complex in Hoover, Ala., which is nice for me since I'm located in Virginia and it's a quick trip, but also a bit terrifying because you never know what the Southern weather is going to look like in the middle of August.

The heat isn't too terrible, but rainouts and lightning delays are always a pain for events like this that are scheduled to go from 8-9 a.m. until 6-8 p.m. Fortunately this year we had just one bad luck day of weather and everything was smooth sailing after. The final day of ECP was actually some of the best weather I've ever experienced at the event: cloudy and overcast the entire day and in the afternoon it was downright breezy and comfortable—extremely rare for Hoover in August.

My POV from this year’s East Coast Pro Showcase.

Area Code Games is more of a national showcase and takes place in Southern California—though the location has shifted a bit because of Covid. In my first few years the event took place at Blair Field, the home field for Long Beach State. From 2021-2023 the event was held at Fowler Park the home for the University of San Diego.

I missed last year's Area Code Games1 which was the first year back at Blair Field.

While this seems to be a hot take within the scouting community, I vastly prefer the San Diego location. It's always nice to have an excuse to go to San Diego—objectively one of the coolest cities in the country—and I significantly prefer Fowler Park to Blair Field. I like the seating better, the facilities blow Blair Field out of the water and it's also a more fun environment to watch hitters because the ball wants to get out of the park a lot more frequently.

Ballpark nitpicking aside, the ECP/ACG run was a blast once again this year.

It's always fun to move on from a draft class and start to take in a new group of players with fresh eyes. The discovery phase of each draft process is exciting. And given how many office and computer days I have in the leadup to the draft itself, it feels like a reward to be back out at the field watching high-level baseball.

It's also great to catchup with scouts and folks in the industry who I haven't seen for months or years. Chatting with guys about how their draft went and just catching up with people in general really energizes me.

I also had the bonus this year of going to ACG with Josh Norris, who took on all the video responsibilities for that event—which allowed me to just sit back and really focus on taking notes of the players. It was also nice to have a regular burrito buddy2 for meals each day and have someone to pester about JID’s new album that dropped mid-Area Code Games.

In the remote working era of Baseball America I don't get to catch up with my coworkers quite as often, so it's always nice when that happens.

My ECP notebooks have already been published and I'm in the process of completing my ACG notebooks for the end of this week. August has felt like a bit of a light writing month for me so far because of travel but it was nice to do a few remote Future Projection podcasts on the road to keep that cadence up.

I've also noticed that some email replies to this newsletter are going to my spam folder, so I am trying to figure out why that is the case and prevent that from happening in the future.

OK, that'll do it for me today. Hope you’re all doing well. Thanks for reading and following along!

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter:

Writing

Podcasting/Video

1

The first time I've missed the event since starting at BA—if we're not counting the Covid year. And who counts the Covid year for anything?

2

Why is it that the tortillas on the West Coast are always so much better than the tortillas we have out here in the East? Can we please get on this? But also: Cook Out > In-N-Out and I will die on this hill.

]]><![CDATA[Why We Need More Players In Person At The Draft]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/why-we-need-more-players-in-personhttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/why-we-need-more-players-in-personWed, 30 Jul 2025 15:03:17 GMTWe don’t.

This headline was entirely click bait. Sorry about that.

Just a few days after the conclusion of this year’s draft, the lack of players in attendance became a storyline. ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez wrote this piece explaining why there were no players in Atlanta for the 2025 draft. I also started getting asked about it after the piece came out—not before—in a few post-draft interviews.

This feels like one of the biggest non-stories imaginable.

Did anyone watching the draft even notice there weren’t players in attendance this year? Is anyone’s biggest critique with the draft as a TV product the lack of more in-person player interviews? I sincerely doubt it.

My running theory is that no one other than the people in charge of the broadcasts really cares too much about this.

We’re entirely capable of “marketing” the players who are drafted without those players showing up in person to take an awkward picture with the commissioner, throw on a jersey and then have an even more awkward in-person interview about what it was like to just be drafted.

As Gonzalez points out in his piece, there are reasons why players and their agents are incentivized to not show up to the MLB draft:

Representatives from each of the three agencies denied possessing a hard-and-fast rule preventing players from attending the draft, stating that those decisions ultimately rest with their clients. But those agencies, as well as other agents throughout the industry, did identify two key reasons why some of their clients ultimately don't attend.

One is that amateurs, particularly those who just graduated high school, don't want to subject themselves to the public shame of potentially seeing their names fall in the draft, preferring instead to host draft parties surrounded by friends and family members from home. Another, more prominent reason is that the MLB draft's economic landscape disincentivizes it.

Each selection within the first 10 rounds comes with an assigned value, but teams are free to divide their total draft bonus pools however they would like. Signing bonuses, then, are subject to negotiations. And those talks often take place minutes before players are selected, potentially influencing whether teams take them at certain spots. After that, deals still need to be finalized. Scott Boras, baseball's most influential agent, believes attending a draft can hinder leverage.

Baseball’s draft is different from the drafts of the NBA and the NFL. We don’t always need to try and copy those leagues. We can embrace what’s unique and different about our draft and still provide compelling reasons to watch the broadcast even if players don’t show up.

I thought one of the more touching moments of the draft was watching Tyler Bremner celebrate with his entire family after the Angels made him the second overall pick. Are we really going to make the case that that’s worse TV than him sitting by himself (or with a handful of family members) and then walking up on a stage at the actual draft? I’m not.

Players can still participate in the draft—and regularly do—without actually being there in person.

It’s the best of both worlds: The players can be with their families and friends in a controlled environment during a stressful time. There’s no worry about losing any sort of leverage in signing a deal. We can do remote interviews with players after they are selected just fine. And the draft itself actually moves at a quicker pace because we’re not slowing things down when an in-person player is selected.

If players really want to show up to the draft and take part in the live experience—that’s perfectly fine. I’m all for it. I just think this is a non-issue.

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With the signing deadline now behind us we can begin to fully put the bow on the 2025 class and get started on 2026.

I’m quite happy with our 2025 draft coverage and how draft day itself went.

There were two surprises in the first three rounds. We didn’t have Giants third rounder Trevor Cohen or Braves third rounder Cody Miller ranked on the BA 500. Both players stood out for their impressive contact skills and had great performance this spring with Rutgers and Middle Tennessee State, respectively.

Each year our goal is to know about every single player who goes on the first day of the draft. Adding a third round to the first night makes that more challenging, but we’re going to shoot for it again next year.

Inside the first 10 rounds, we had reports on 250 of the 315 players selected—a 79.4% hit rate. In 2024 we had reports on 248/315 (78.7%). In 2023 we had reports on 244/314 (77.7%).

If we maintain this rate of improvement, just give us 23 drafts and we’ll finally have a 100% hit rate on the top 10 round guys before they are picked.

Fingers crossed.

I’ve spent the last two weeks tracking down signing bonuses and taking things a bit slower while trying to kick what I assume was a case of this new “Nimbus” covid variant.1

Tomorrow I start a two week trip that will include two of the best high school showcase events on the calendar: East Coast Pro in Hoover, Ala. and the Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif.

It’ll be my first real exposure of any depth to the 2026 class and I can’t wait to get started. This class sounds like it has a chance to be pretty special.

I’m also hoping to get back on a consistent newsletter and podcasting cadence once I get back in mid-August.

That’s all for today. Thanks for reading and following along.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter:

Writing

Podcasting/Video

  • Future Projection Episode 133: 2025 Draft Reviews For All 30 Teams. If you prefer to get your post-draft analysis via audio, this is a good place to point you to.

1

I’m not going to miss a covid booster again, because this thing was pretty hellish. The “razor blade throat” descriptor is accurate. I could barely talk for two and a half days, and would highly recommend avoiding this one if you can.

]]><![CDATA[Draft Day]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/draft-dayhttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/draft-daySun, 13 Jul 2025 15:57:06 GMTFirst of all, happy draft day!

Second of all, I apologize for my writing in this space being infrequent over the past month or so. It has been a case of me needing to spend basically all my time focused on getting Baseball America in the best position possible for our draft coverage of the 2025 class.

It’s a little before noon as I’m writing this and we’re only a few hours away from the Nationals making the first overall pick.

The last few days and weeks have been a flurry as we’ve tried our best to project what’s going to happen in the first 43 picks, put the finishing touches on our BA 500 draft board and put out all sorts of supplemental coverage and analysis on the site, on the podcast feeds and on the YouTube channel.

MLB Network has been kind enough to have me back on their day one broadcast of the draft, so if you’re watching tonight you can find me breaking down players alongside Jim Callis, Lance Brozdowski and the rest of the MLBNetwork crew. It feels crazy to say this is my eighth year doing the draft on TV.

Despite all those years, the pre-game jitters never seem to leave me entirely. I’m always wondering if there’s some player out there I’m missing or some player that I need to be more brushed up on than I am. Typically that anxiety fades away as we get into the draft itself, but it is a similar feeling to what it was like to lace them up in high school years and years ago.

Either way, thank you all for supporting me by reading this newsletter, reading BA, listening to the podcasts, watching the shows on YouTube or subscribing to all of the above. This is one of the biggest nights of the year for us, and we hope to give you the best coverage we possibly can.

Below are some of the tentpoles items we have on the site for draft day that I think are most worth your time:

  • Mock Draft V 7.0 — This will be our final mock this year. I am leaning Kade Anderson over Ethan Holliday, but they both seem like the favorites.

  • The BA 500 — This is the best place to get informed on the players picked. It’s my resource when talking through players on the draft show. It’s the culmination of multiple years of effort from the entire team here at BA.

  • Top 100 Senior Sign Targets — This will be a great resource once the senior signs start coming off the board. Between the BA 500 and this list, we’ve got nearly a full draft’s worth of names and reports.

  • What We’re Hearing Before The Draft — Some last-minute buzz from yesterday that could contextualize what happens on draft day if some players start to slide around.

  • The Ultimate Draft Preview — Ben, Peter and myself talked through the entire first round on a nearly three hour podcast. You still have time to listen to the full thing if you’re crazy enough.

  • Why The Orioles Are One Of The Draft’s Most Interesting Teams — Bonus pool and extra pick shenanigans.

  • 12 Prospects Who Could Reach The Majors Quickly — Geoff Pontes highlights some fast-moving targets to know.

  • The 2025 MLB Draft Guide — Your resource for basic FAQ’s, things to know, how to watch, the draft order and more.

  • The Draft Database — This houses the entire history of the draft and will be updated in real time as the draft takes place. You’ll be able to sort by team and players will be populated with their scouting reports as well.

As the draft is happening we’ll have pick-by-pick analysis on the site, we’ll have a best available board and plenty more to get you ready for day two.

Thanks again everyone—hope you enjoy the big day.

]]><![CDATA[Revisiting Draft Reports For Boston's Big Three]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/revisiting-draft-reports-for-bostonshttps://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/revisiting-draft-reports-for-bostonsSun, 15 Jun 2025 16:25:44 GMTLast Monday the Red Sox finally promoted Roman Anthony and gave us this beauty of a lineup:

  1. Jarren Duran, LF

  2. Rafael Devers, DH

  3. Abraham Toro, 1B

  4. Trevor Story, SS

  5. Roman Anthony, RF

  6. Kristian Campbell, 2B

  7. Marcelo Mayer, 3B

  8. Ceddanne Rafaela, CF

  9. Connor Wong, C

We’ve been waiting to see Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell in the same major league lineup for what seems like forever now. While I still would love to see Mayer slide over to shortstop and see Campbell play somewhere not in the infield, it was a fun culmination of one of the more dynamic prospect trios from a single team we’ve seen in years.

All three players are still settling in and figuring things out,1 but should form the core of a strong young Red Sox lineup for a long time. Now that they’re all in the majors, I thought it would be fun to look back at their draft rankings and reports.

We’ll go in order of draft stock (which also happens to be chronological):

Marcelo Mayer, SS, Eastlake High, Chula Vista, Calif.
Rank: 2
Drafted: 2021 1st round, 4th overall ($6,664,000)

Mayer is the next big prospect to come out of a powerhouse Eastlake (Calif.) High program that produced Adrian Gonzalez, 2019 first-round pick Keoni Cavaco and 2020 second-rounder Casey Schmitt (by way of San Diego State). Mayer started getting attention from scouts at Eastlake as a freshman, where he showed a smooth lefthanded swing and advanced defensive actions up the middle. He capped his four-year varsity career by hitting .410 with 13 home runs in the regular season this spring while playing excellent high school competition in San Diego County’s top division. Mayer is arguably the top defensive shortstop in a class that is deep at the position. He glides around the infield with silky smooth actions and has the hands, footwork and arm strength to stick at shortstop long term. He slows the game down and has no problem throwing from multiple angles with an accurate arm. Though he is a below-average runner, he moves fluidly around the dirt and should be at least an above-average defender. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Mayer also has upside offensively. He’s a plus hitter with excellent barrel control and extension in his swing and drives balls hard in the air from gap-to-gap. He can turn on good fastballs and drive them off the right-field fence or let pitches on the outer half travel deep and line them hard up the middle or the opposite way. He has fringe-average power now, but could tap into above-average power in the future as he fills out his projectable frame. He controls the strike zone and has a calm, steady presence in the batter’s box. Mayer is committed to Southern California, but as a surefire top-five pick, it’s unlikely he ever steps foot on campus. He has a chance to be taken with the top pick and join Gonzalez, who was selected first overall in 2000, in making Eastlake the only high school to ever have two players drafted No. 1 overall.

I think this report holds up pretty well. The player Mayer was billed to be as a standout high school shortstop in Southern California is largely the player he remains today. As we continued covering Mayer throughout his minor league career, his skills on the field and toolset reflected our expectations for him as an amateur.

The one tool he lacks is speed, and that was always the case. I’d still like to see him get a chance to prove his defensive chops at shortstop in the majors, because I think his instincts, glovework and athleticism are all good fits for the position.

On draft day in 2021, we had no strong feeling as to who would be the first overall pick. It was a muddled group and Mayer had as strong a case as anyone. He ranked second on our board behind only Jordan Lawlar. Each of the top five prospects in that class had a compelling case to go first overall: Lawlar, Mayer, Jack Leiter, Henry Davis and Kumar Rocker.

In hindsight Mayer would be the clear pick to go first overall of that group, though Jackson Jobe (who we ranked 8th and went second overall) would have a strong case as well if we wanted to expand the player pool.

Roman Anthony, OF, Stoneman Douglass High, Parkland, Fla.
Rank: 72
Drafted: 2022 2nd round, 79th overall ($2,500,000)

Hailing from the same Southern Florida powerhouse that also produced Anthony Rizzo, Jesus Luzardo and, more recently, Coby Mayo, Anthony is the latest top prospect to come out of the program and he brings a powerful lefthanded bat with him. Listed at 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, Anthony looks the part of a developing young slugger with wide shoulders and present strength that shows up in the form of massive, 400-plus foot home runs. His raw power is easily plus, and when he catches a pitch on the barrel, there are few players in the class who can send a baseball as far as he can. However, Anthony struggled with swing-and-miss issues over the showcase circuit, which raised questions about his pure hitting ability. He made more contact this spring as the three-hole hitter for one of the best high school teams in the country, and he led all hitters with seven hits at USA Baseball’s National High School Invitational. A center fielder now, Anthony likely moves to a corner outfield position in the future, but he moves well underway and is a savvy and aggressive baserunner currently. He is committed to Mississippi.

The first time I saw Roman Anthony play was at the 2021 high school all-star game in Coors Field. He struck out in each of his first three plate appearances and looked reasonably lost at the plate. Then in his fourth at-bat he went down in the zone and yanked a ball 450 feet to the pull side.2 It remains one of the most impressive home runs I’ve seen from a high school hitter.

Still, I left that game thinking Anthony was a boom-or-bust hitter with a ton of raw power but less pure hitting ability. He continued to struggle with miss tendencies throughout the summer circuit.

In the spring scouts talked about how he’d done a nice job improving his contact skills. I even saw these improved contact skills on display at USA Baseball’s National High School Invitational in 2022, when he led all batters in hits. I also remember being less impressed with that showing because I felt like a lot of his balls were off the cap, weakly hit or flared into the outfield.

In hindsight all of his improvement was a sign of things to come, and almost immediately after entering pro ball, Anthony’s contact skills seemed to stick—and come with that same easy power that has always been on display. While it seems like we had him ranked reasonably appropriately on draft day, this is probably a good reminder of not getting too anchored into an initial view of a player. And be open-minded to shifting your idea of a hitter’s skill, especially when that hitter is an athlete like Anthony.

Kristian Campbell, 2B/OF, Georgia Tech
Rank: 255
Drafted: 2023 4th round, 132nd overall ($492,700)

After not playing during his true freshman season at Georgia Tech, Campbell tore up the Northwoods League in 2022. He hit .356 with 10 doubles, three triples, two home runs, 45 RBIs and 31 stolen bases across 58 games. While the 6-foot-3 infielder missed some time at the beginning of this season, he hit at a high level through 45 games and slashed .376/.484/.549 with four home runs, 16 doubles and a strong 13.4% walk rate to 7.8% strikeout rate. Campbell’s calling card is his elite contact rate. He posted a 90% overall contact rate this spring with a tremendous in-zone contact rate of 94%. Campbell crowds the plate and hits against a slightly closed off front side. He has plus hand speed that allows him to turn on pitches that sometimes look like they might hit him, and sprays the ball all over the yard. He is a plus runner and while it is yet to be seen where he fits best defensively, whether that be on the dirt or in the outfield, his profile is a bit similar to Georgia Tech’s 2022 slash-and-dash specialist Chandler Simpson. Campbell isn’t quite the runner Simpson is, and his power ceiling is certainly higher given his wiry frame, but he has some of the same defensive questions as Simpson did. Regardless, Campbell’s speed will help him succeed in an outfield spot if that is where an organization decides to use him. While Simpson went late in day one in 2022, Campbell should hear his name called somewhere in the middle of day two in 2023.

Whoof.

I think we’d all like this one back. Campbell did go on day two in the draft, but it was closer to the early part of day two than the middle, and it was also 100 spots better than our ranking. The draft board isn’t meant to line up 1:1 with draft selection just given the dynamics of how players are picked and paid, but still—far too low.

I guess no one could have predicted his transformation in 2024, when he was the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year after not ranking on Boston’s preseason Top 30. His rise as a prospect is one of the most significant we’ve seen since the Prospect Handbook started in 2001.

The foundation to build on was there in college. His contact skills were obvious, and we also highlighted hand speed and some physical projection that could have hinted at more power upside in the future. His actual jump in raw power is multiple grades better than what I would have expected in just two years.

I’m guessing a lot of lean, contact-oriented hitters are going to get the Campbell “what if” comparison moving forward, but not every college contact merchant will be able to make the changes he did so easily.

—

Boston’s scouting and player development (and the players themselves) deserve a lot of credit here. That’s a heck of a three-year run. Maybe Brandon Clarke will be their 2024 steal.

Let me know if anything jumps out to you when looking at these reports.

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter:

Writing

  • 2025 MLB Mock Draft 4.0. It’s always surprising how well the mock drafts do with traffic and general interest. Consider this: Ben Badler knows for a fact where all the top international prospects are signing before signing day. The lack of uncertainty there seems to take all of the hype out of the exercise. People love drama, I suppose. I will not complain.

  • Which Top MLB Draft Prospects Improved Their Stock The Most This Season? This is the eighth edition of our “to-do list” series. It’s become a staple of my draft coverage each year and it’s always fun to look back and see who accomplished what or who moved up or down because of something entirely separate from what I chose to ID at the beginning of the season.

  • MLB Draft Chat With Carlos Collazo (6/11/25). I know we’re getting closer to draft day because we had more than 50 really good questions in this draft chat.

Podcasting/Video

  • Future Projection Episode 128: The 2025 International Prospects You Need To Know. Ben gives you all the names you need to know about as we’re starting to see some early returns from the 2025 IFA class.

  • Future Projection Episode 129: Scouting The 2026 + 2027 HS Class, MLB Promotions & Pitching Timelines. I thought our conversation about the pitching timelines for elite high school arms was instructive.

  • Draft Pod: The 2025 Super Regionals Are Loaded With Draft Prospects. Yeah, this one does seem a bit dated right now. But we did have a loaded field in the supers!

  • Draft Pod: Mock Draft 4.0: Uncertainty, Helium Names & Pool vs. Pick Capital. Peter picks my brain on the mock draft, plus we got sucked into a really interesting conversation about pick capital vs. pool capital. I’m still going back and forth on what my preference would be here.

  • Hot Sheet: Brody Hopkins joins, Mock Draft 4.0, Roman Anthony promoted. I had a semi-regular appearance on this week’s hot sheet show.

  • Destination: The Show. Episode 81: 2025 MLB Draft Preview With Carlos Collazo. I also was a guest on the Destination: The Show podcast, and these guys always do a great job coming prepped on the draft with insightful questions on a ton of players. We also had a rapid fire round where I had to pick one of two players and give a 10-second rationale.

1

Roman Anthony through 5 games: .063/.167/.125, -21 wRC+, 22.2 K%, 11.1 BB%
Kristian Campbell through 63 games: .227/.324/.355, 90 wRC+, 26.9 K%, 11.1 BB%
Marcelo Mayer through 17 games: .229/.283/.479, 103 wRC+, 30.2 K%, 7.5 BB%

2

Fun fact, if you check out this video you can see JJ Cooper and myself watching this game in the first row behind the plate.

]]><![CDATA[At Last, The BA 500]]>https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/at-last-the-ba-500https://carloscollazo.substack.com/p/at-last-the-ba-500Fri, 30 May 2025 15:29:48 GMTHello and happy first day of regionals for all who celebrate college baseball.

It’s an incredibly busy time of year, so I’m going to follow the sage words of John Manuel and not “let the perfect be the enemy of the good” with a quick newsletter that will mostly just keep you up to date with what I’ve been doing.

The big item here is the release of this year’s BA 500.

That’s a list of the top 500 draft prospects in the 2025 draft class. It annually represents the foundation of our draft coverage at Baseball America. It’s a behemoth to put together and the culmination of more than a year’s work on the class. This is only V 1.0 of the big board though. We’re still tinkering at tweaking the list as necessary (there’s still more college baseball to be played after all) and we’re now in the process of getting every player an updated and finalized report. We’ll also update and expand BA Grades and tool grades for the top players in the class in addition to plenty more beyond the rankings themselves.

We’ve had so much more on the site beyond just draft stuff recently.

May has been a great month at BA, and it’s thanks to all of you guys for supporting us and allowing us to flood the zone with content at every level of the game. Here are five pieces from others on the staff this week that I wanted to flag for you all and recommend:

Here’s a quick ranking of my top five energy drinks to get me through the draft this year:

  1. Ghost Redberry — This could be a daily driver but sadly it is being discontinued. Get it while you can.

  2. C4 Strawberry — It’s a dangerous game when you start to crave the beta alanine tingles.

  3. Monster Zero Ultra — A go-to for us all. A classic. Old reliable.

  4. Reign White Gummy Bear — This is a pinch hitter that’s only used in specific situations. 300 mg of caffeine for when you know it’s going to be one of those long days.

  5. Ghost Welch’s Grape — I’m not typically a grape-flavored sort of person, but this one is shockingly good with the flavor (like most of the Ghost drinks).

These are all zero sugar energy drinks. Therefore they are quite healthy. That’s how that works, right?

Right?

Thanks for reading Fringe Average! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Below is the work I’ve produced for Baseball America since my last newsletter:

Writing

  • The 2025 BA 500. As mentioned above.

  • MLB Draft Chat With Carlos Collazo (5/28/25). Another of a recurring series of draft chats in the lead up to July 13. Lots here on specific players, draft strategy and of course a lot of people wondering who their favorite team might be taking. I wish I knew!

  • MLB Draft Prospects With The Best College Power, Contact & Chase Rates For 2025. In this piece I revisited a preseason exercise where we took at look at batted ball data for college hitters. I think this is the third year we’ve done this exercise. It’s nice to have more information on amateur players. 2017 me would have had his mind blown.

  • 20 Sleeper MLB Draft Prospects To Watch For 2025. Since I know not everyone is going to read through all 500 scouting reports, it was fun to put together quick notes on 20 different sleepers who are outside of the top-200 range. This one was organized by five power bats, five contact bats, five pitchers with big fastballs and five pitchers with control.

Podcasting/Video

  • Future Projection Episode 126: Jacob Misiorowski, Blue Jays & Rays Prospects. Talk about one of the filthiest pitchers in the sport and names that include Arjun Nimmala, Trey Yesavage, Xavier Isaac, Theo Gillen, Carson Williams and more.

  • Future Projection Episode 127: New Draft Rankings & Who Should Be The 101. Ben grills me on all things draft and we both take a shot at explaining who we would take with the first overall pick and why.

  • Draft Pod: The Best Tools In The 2025 Draft Class. Peter and I tackle a fun listener question about the top tools in the draft, and discuss how tough our Golden Spikes voting was this year.

  • Draft Pod: Draft Prospects Who Could Elevate Their Stock In Postseason Play. Plenty of names to know as you are tuning in for college baseball action this weekend and in future weeks.

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