What We Need to Learn From the Pirates in Arizona

Yo! Welcome to the North Shore Nine Podcast presented by FanDuel. This is NS9 Live. I'm your host, Anthony DiNardo. With me, we got Jim and we got, no, not Tyler tonight.

We got Alex with us. Yeah. How's it going, Alex? Pretty good. Welcome to Arizona. Yeah, we brought the ring. All right, so how many songs did we think of today during the rain delay that was about rain? There were quite a few. I think we went from Toto. Yes. To, we talked about Hilary Duff a little bit. We had Missy. We had Milli Vanilli. Yeah. We didn't even bring up the Weather Girls, did we? No. First time that's

It's been mentioned all day. Yeah. So, we come all the way. So, Alex, I know you had an adventurous trip on the way here, but you and I are up very early this morning, like 4.30 in the morning to travel all this way to Arizona.

We did it to see a rain delay and then the game called. So, that was fun. That was great. Great time. Some are calling it the Rosati curse. All of them are. You know what? I want to set the record straight. This trip started out perfectly.

I made an insanely tight connection in the Denver airport. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Let me finish. I was not going to make this connecting flight. Somehow, via a miracle, I made it. All right?

Then, what happened right around 10.45 a.m. this morning? You showed up. You showed up, right? And then what was the first thing that happened? There was a glass of water sitting right there on that table that you immediately just broke.

It's the glass shattered. It's omens. The glass shattered. It's Arizona. No. The glass shattered everywhere. It's like the only cup in this entire Airbnb. The only one. And you broke it. As soon as you walked in, now we have to get aluminum cups.

Because we had one glass in this Airbnb. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. That was the potious part. Yeah.

The immediate anger. Immediately. Immediately, the glass breaks. And then everything was shit from that point forward.

To be fair, I want to say this. That was a clean break. There was barely any shores of glass. like, I split that in two. I want to challenge anyone. No one can break a glass better than me.

Don't do this. That's how I look at it. Don't do this.

But it was right off. Like, you walked in. You broke the glass. Not even five minutes.

Like, you broke the glass as soon as you walked in. Yeah.. But again, Alex, tell us about your travels here.

So, I posed this question earlier. We can get this on the record now.

I had the aisle seat. And the person in the middle seat next to me was air drumming and dancing.

The entire four and a half hour flight that took off at 7.20 in the morning, Eastern Time.

And make sure everyone knows. Like, this isn't just hyperbole. This isn't. You're not just making this up or exaggerating, all right?

No. Like, pretty much the entire time. He danced. It was shaking. I can sleep on planes. I don't have a lot of superpowers. I can sleep on planes.

I can't do it whenever I'm getting elbowed 20 times. How many times can someone elbow you on a plane and say sorry and get away with it?

I said three. Like, three times. Then after that, like, that's too many.

I think three is a good over-under.

I think that's a good line.

Four and a half hours. Like, every hour and 20-ish minutes, maybe, like, you get bumped.

You're stretching or whatever.

Yeah.

Stuff happens. It happened, like, 20 times.

And I always apologize. And after a while, it's like, man, you're not sorry. Just stop.

And again, we're talking about, like, a 530 flight.

It was 720, yeah.

A 720, yeah, I guess.

Yeah, it was ridiculous. He was ready to go.

I.

Yeah.

It's Arizona. You almost missed your flight.

So after.

I'm getting an airdrum.

He's got freaking.

But I made it.

I've got Phil Collins next to me.

I made it. But as soon as we get here, right, it's, we go to the game.

The game wasn't necessarily all that riveting, I guess, is a nice way of putting it.

Pretty sloppy defense.

Not a lot going on.

And then in the sixth inning, there's a lightning strike.

And they delay the game.

Then about 20 minutes later, there's another lightning strike.

And they call the game at this point.

So the first day we're here in Arizona, we saw five and a half innings of a pretty bad baseball game.

And then we went home.

It was also, again, not like this was bad.

Yeah, that was it.

There's no defense.

It was terrible.

The shortstop was terrible.

again, I point out to you.

The center fielder literally dropped the ball.

And I was technically a catch.

But like NFL rules, absolutely not a catch.

the center fielder is running.

And like the ball's in his glove and then just comes out of his glove.

That's the type of defense we're talking about.

The shortstop, he couldn't catch.

If he did catch, he couldn't throw.

And if he could throw, well, the first baseman's not really a first baseman.

So he couldn't catch it either.

We'll get there.

There were multiple pickups in the last inning.

Oh, God.

Yes.

Yes.

It was just a bad display of baseball until there was no more baseball because we had lightning and rain.

And apparently north of Phoenix, baseball-sized hail because we arrived in Arizona.

Thanks, Jim.

Rosati curse.

Tornado watch, too, for the first time in 16 years.

16 years.

Yeah.

So, yeah, pretty impressive stuff.

So that's day one.

Not even day one.

Like, it's like halfway over on day one.

Things could still happen, guys.

All right.

So Dune Sandworm?

Was that Dune Sandworm?

Yes.

Yes.

You might.

Maybe.

Maybe.

If it's not, stuck in the mud.

All right.

So let's talk about what brought us here in the first place, right?

The power of friendship.

Yes.

That, too.

But there are eight Pittsburgh Pirates here at the Arizona Fall League, five pitchers, three hitters.

The hitters haven't necessarily gotten off to an outstanding start.

The pitchers, Brian Mena.

Brian Mena has, I think, five scoreless innings so far.

Michael Walsh, probably the next best pitcher after him.

But Mena's the only one with an ERA under five right now.

There are two Pirates pitchers with ERAs over 20 currently.

So, yeah, it's a tough environment down here.

I will say that.

But ERAs over 20 is a little bit crazy.

But what I want to talk about today is, we're here for three days.

We're here to see these Pirates.

Well, three games.

Three games.

Two and a half games now.

What is, like, the one thing that you're most looking at?

Like, something that you really want to see during this trip, to take home with you and say, all right, I was able to come away with this while we were down there.

So, yeah.

What are those things?

DiNardo, let's start off with you.

Start with me.

Well, I'll say, I guess I'll put it this way.

I know you two are talking about pitchers.

So, I wanted to do something a little different, talk about hitter.

And honestly, coming in here, it was the hitting that I was more intrigued on.

you look at the guys that are here and you look at the prospect list.

It's the hitters that are above most of the other guys, right?

So, the ones that you're probably more focused on, especially nationally, like, they're the hitters, right?

Early on in the season, I was always joking.

I'm Wyatt Pilled.

Wyatt Sanford, he got drafted.

It was the glove guy.

Can't hit.

And then he started the season.

And boy, he's hitting.

And hitting for power.

And it was like, okay, I'm interested.

So, then he got injured.

He didn't have the whole season.

But there's still a lot of interest in Wyatt Sanford.

So, like, I was interested in Wyatt Sanford, of course.

And the thing about the Arizona Fall League.

for one, you're also getting limited plate appearances.

And with the limited plate appearances, we're seeing a limited time.

Like you said, we're here for three games.

He didn't play today.

Hopefully, he plays in two of them.

We're going to see two games.

So, I guess my thing, too, is, like, if I'm only seeing two games of him, like, what do I want to see in Arizona?

Like, it's not like production.

And I guess the one thing with him is I think what we all want to see is almost like the Ezmerlin talk last year and, like, the year before.

like, you see the production.

Yeah, maybe there's a lot of Greensboro connected to it.

But that strikeout rate is borderline.

Like, is this going to be something that's going to be able to translate in the future or not?

But Esmerlyn Valdez, we saw it.

It dropped time and time again.

So, like, in the Arizona Fall League, that's something I want to see.

But I guess the reason I'm going about this long way is two games really something that's like, if I'm watching these two games, is that my biggest takeaway?

Is that going to sell me on Wyatt Sanford in the Arizona Fall League because of two games?

he has 10 strikeouts, five walks, and, like, 43 plate appearances, I think, something like that, 44-ish.

So, like, it's fine right now.

The bat's a little over 200, batting average.

His OPS is, like, the 600.

It's not great right now.

He has the home run.

But I guess the way I'm going to put it here is I want to see the athleticism.

Like, if I'm going to have two games, let's see him be athletic.

Like, let's see him out there and see what he can do.

We know the defense is good, right?

It's advertised that way.

Let's see maybe not the poor defense we saw today at Shorstuff on the other end.

Let's see him come in there and maybe make some really good plays.

Let's see him look athletic at the plate.

Let's see him look athletic maybe on the base pass.

I guess that's where I'm at right now.

If I'm going to see two games of Wyatt Sanford, let's see the athleticism come out because this developmental process, this, system has in place.

Like, they've actually been productive offensively.

We've seen that, again, Esmerlyn Valdez's, like, the poster boy of this.

So, this probably, with the help of them, maybe it can translate.

But let's just see Wyatt Sanford.

Let's let him go all out, balls to the wall, see the athleticism on display, and see, like, the type of dude that, he could potentially be.

Yeah, I'm with you.

When it comes to just, like, a two-game subset, I saw Wyatt Sanford for two games earlier this year.

I was lucky enough to see some stolen bases and a home run.

Like, there was production there.

But I think to just piggyback what you're saying is, if you're looking at these guys for just, like, a couple of games, the production, yeah, it's cool if you can see them accomplish something neat, right, on the baseball field.

But I think you're really looking to just, like, let me see the tools, right?

Like, let me see the stuff that makes you intriguing as a prospect.

Because that's something that you can take with and say, next time you're talking about Wyatt Sanford, you can say, hey, I saw him make a really nice play at shortstop that showed off his speed and his athleticism and his glove and his arm.

Yeah, exactly.

It's like, let me see what the ceiling could be.

Yeah.

Agreed.

I'm with you also.

And if I could just steal that and transition to my point here.

No.

No.

No.

No, but I agree with you that this is a better indicator of some of the upper level, upper level hitters in this farm system.

Whatever you have, Wyatt, whatever you have Easton Carmichael, whatever you have this ever, like you get a good sample here.

This is not the A team for their pitching prospect.

Oh, right.

I don't think this is the B team either.

Like, this is pretty, no disrespect.

This is like that third tier of relief pitchers where you're looking, or pitching prospects, excuse me, where you're looking at maybe this guy could be a major league relief pitcher.

Maybe he could contribute some way.

So, honestly, I just want to see one pitch.

I want to see one guy have something that I can take from Arizona and just hold it close over the winter.

I'm being like, okay, I haven't seen Brandon Kane pitch, live.

He's pumping upper 90s.

I get there are a lot of question marks in his game.

he hasn't been a pitcher for that particularly long.

he still has to get the feel.

He still has to develop stuff.

But, like, I want to see how 99 plays.

I want to see what he could do there.

Xander Muth has been overshadowed, maybe in some cases, lapped by some other young pitching prospects in the system.

But there was a lot of hype about that breaking ball.

I would like to see it in person.

I want to see if it still has that movement that, we saw a year or two ago.

I want to see – I'll admit, I wasn't really familiar with Pena's game before, coming in the Arizona Fall League.

I want to see if there's something foundational there to build off of.

These are guys who aren't on a top 30 prospect list.

They're not considered to be, at this time, like, oh, they're definitely going to be a starting pitcher in Pittsburgh.

I want to just have something to build from because any time there's been a pitching prospect that I have really been excited about, they have always had that one elevator pitch offering right there.

Like, whenever I got really excited about Braxton Ashcraft, it's because I went to Altoona and I saw the breaking ball.

I'm like, this guy is a big league pitcher.

Now, Paul Skenes, you see him, really early on and you see that fastball.

It's like, oh, that's why he's the top pitching prospect in the game.

So, not saying these guys will turn into all-stars, but, like, have something to build from, especially going into this winter.

Yeah, and, like, let me ask you this because, jokingly, I'm going to say, oh, sure, you picked Braxton Ashcraft and Paul Skenes.

Like, well, that's easy to find something that would be good.

So, like, in these guys that are, you said that's on the top 30, maybe trading more towards, like, a reliever or something.

Like, what in their game are you looking for specifically that's going to translate to MLB?

I want to be able to, if I have a casual conversation with you, I could be like, hey, Walsh, this fastball, the way that he's able to locate it, the way it's able to play up in the zone, I think there might be something there.

That's what I'm really looking for here.

Like, to not use, Braxton Ashcraft or Paul Skenes as an example.

Like, Isaac Mattson.

Yeah.

It was like, the way he throws that fastball with that angle, with that location, it doesn't matter that it's 93.

That's a major league pitch right there.

So, I'm looking for that type of thing to hold on because I view these guys as more probably one-trick ponies, at least at this point in their career.

I want to see the one-trick.

Okay.

Love it.

Yeah, me too.

And along the same lines on the pitching side of things, what I'm looking for is, and this is going to lead into our next topic, too, but if you look at the last two seasons with the Arizona Fall League, two guys have gone into it without like a ton of prospect hype or lore or anything like that.

Two years ago, there was an Australian reliever who went to the Arizona Fall League by the name of Brandon Bidwa.

He ended the season in Arizona with an ERA right around nine.

So, again, like the results in the Arizona Fall League weren't necessarily what you wanted to see, but like the fact that he was here and he was facing upper-level hitters and like just got more pitching to extend his season.

What he ended up doing with that Arizona Fall League is carry that into the next year.

He really had a breakout season in 2025, won the Pirates minor league reliever of the year that year, put himself on everybody's radar.

He earned a 40-man roster spot.

He got a call-up early in the year.

Ultimately, it didn't really go that well for him in the majors.

He was used as trade bait to send to Miami in the Lake Bachar trade, but like going to the Arizona Fall League, led to that breakout the following year with Brandon Bidwa.

Fast forward to last year, Derek Diamond goes to the Arizona Fall League.

Again, results not that great.

ERA like over seven.

But you look to see what he did this year, coming off of that.

Another minor league reliever of the year award.

Really good results in Altoona.

Reached AAA Indianapolis.

Certainly a candidate to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason as he's role five eligible.

We don't know if there's going to be a role five draft or not, but he is eligible.

And he's made a name for himself as, hey, this is someone who may be interesting enough to now add to the roster.

So, back-to-back years, you had unheralded relievers come to the Fall League.

Not necessarily like shine here, but they used it to leap into that upper echelon of minor league relief prospects the next season.

So, what I'm looking for is this year's Brandon Bidwa.

This year's Derek Diamond.

Who's that going to be?

I think Michael Walsh has the best chance of being that guy.

He fits the same mold as those two.

A little bit older.

He's been around the system for a long time.

He's already reached AAA, so he's close already.

But that's – I want to see one of these relievers use this experience that you get in the fall to propel themselves, learn something from it.

Derek Diamond talked to us today on a Zoom call.

He talked about just like how much his mindset shifted this year.

Like, use this Fall League to propel yourself next year so that you can be one of those guys who wasn't on the radar before, but now you're on the radar.

Yeah.

That's a good point.

So, last year we were here for the first year.

We saw them, Derek Diamond.

And so, I guess this year and your second year, you're looking, once again, the Diamond and the Rock.

There you go.

Like it.

And just to build off one thing you brought up a couple times there, these are spring training results.

Like as great Esmerlyn Valdez's, Fall League was last year.

Oh, don't you slander Esmerlyn Valdez.

Oh, I'm not slander.

No, there'll be no slander on this table.

But that was like a – that wasn't really the coming out party.

That was just him becoming more known on a national scale right there.

Like his work was done well beforehand here.

This is just a small sample size.

If a guy has a high ERA, that doesn't mean he's a bomb.

It's just baseball.

Yeah.

And they're also pitching way deeper into a season than they ever have before.

Yeah.

And that's good perspective.

That's why I say like when I talk about like Wyatt and the guys and everything here.

It's like the results – again, we talk about Greensboro as a launch pad.

minor leagues this year was a launch pad for everyone.

And we saw how the production went up, home runs and such.

Greensboro is a whole other level.

And it's like, well, now we're in Arizona.

It's not like it's much different than high altitude.

Like the offense is here.

The pitching is a little lesser quality.

So, right.

With all those combined, like you mentioned, like higher ERAs aren't like the worst thing in the world.

Again, you don't really qualify ERAs for relievers anyways and such in that sense.

But, yeah, it's like those numbers don't really matter too much.

Like, right, Esmerlyn Valdez had like a 1,400 OPS, I think, last year or no in Arizona fall.

Like, ridiculous, right?

Now, again, it wasn't like that was the reason.

He did his whole work beforehand.

But, yeah, that's why I said like the production-wise isn't so much what it's about.

It's the other thing that you see, like you said, like the one pitch you're looking for, like you.

so, yeah, good stuff.

Who out of everyone here do you think can like propel them?

Like similar to Valdez last year, right?

Like you mentioned, like Valdez had a really nice season last year.

That's what put him on the map, right?

But coming here made like everyone else notice it.

Who's the one guy that the Pirates have out here where it's like he's got the best opportunity where everyone else can notice him?

Is it Severino?

we saw him steal a base today, hit a ball 109 miles per hour.

Like there's four or five tools in there.

Yeah.

And even if it's just like a quick sample of all of them, like, well, no, I'm high on him.

Like I think he can be an impact player in the major leagues.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's fine.

I think we talked about this on Bucket Brew, and I'm going to steal my answer back.

That's what I said then, and I'll say it now too, just because the way this league is designed, again, we're in Arizona.

You're facing lesser pitching like he, Wyatt has that potential.

I think also, maybe not so much Easton in this league to take him to the next level.

But like, I think Severino, because Wyatt's already your, one of your top prospects.

Severino's that lesser, but he had this really cool season, but it's like, but let's disqualify because it's Greensboro.

there's all those things like, eh, do you really want to believe it?

And that's like, as Berlin, like found that trap a little bit too, in the years past, so much last year when he went to Altoona, but when he's in Bradenton, it's like, eh, is this for real?

When he goes to Greensboro, I was like, eh, it's better, but is it for real?

Altoona's like, okay, I'm paying, I'm noticing.

Then he goes to Arizona Fall League and blew up, right?

And like, I felt like with Severino, it was like, he was in Greensboro.

It's like, we're trying to disqualify him.

And because of the tools he has, like, he could pop off in the Arizona Fall League.

And it's like, oh, maybe I should maybe start paying attention to him because he's more in a national setting and everyone's here looking at him.

So, yeah, I like that a lot.

real fast with Severino also, I get what you're saying.

And it's Greensboro and everything, but on June 30th, he had an 832 OPS.

From July 1st to the end of the season, he had an 832 OPS.

Something to be said about being consistent right there.

Like, it's not just, he got hot home run merchant or whatever.

It's like, no, that was a full body of work he put together.

I'm more inclined to believe that.

Those are real numbers.

Look, you're pulling a little out of your ass.

Yeah.

I think as far as a person who can raise our stock, even though he's already got the highest stock, I still think it's Wyatt Sanford.

Just because, like, you look at the season that he had this year and the numbers that he put up in Greensboro.

And you want to believe it, but you also, like, you got to see it happen again because it is Greensboro.

It is the South Atlantic League.

Now you're in a league where, like, everybody's got your stat cast data.

We're using Major League Baseballs.

We're not using juiced minor league balls anymore.

So it's like, okay, was this real, right?

Like, can you hit and how good are you at it?

And I think if he's able to, again, that's the thing with Arizona Fall.

It's such a small sample size, right?

But if he's able to show signs that he's not the same guy that he was when people, were writing scouting reports when he was drafted saying, great glove, great speed, but don't know about the bat.

If he can show that while he's here, I think that will ease a lot of people's minds on who, really what player it can be.

Because I think right now you're still questioning what his ceiling is, but if he can come here and still show, man, I can hit the ball and I can do it in an impactful way.

I think that really alters what type of player he can become.

Yeah, I like that too.

Like, I think it's funny because I think both like Severino and Wyatt are the correct reasons for like the same reasons, it's just like, I guess the way I'm at it is why it's already up there where Severino has more room to be pushed and elevated than Wyatt.

But yeah, both of them, they're absolutely, it's like the same thing, same exact reasons.

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And lie out there out to be smart.

But anyways, real quick, before we talked about the World Series, but this week, Minor League Awards being announced for the Pittsburgh Pirates, so it ties into what we're doing here in the Arizona Fall League.

But so far, they've announced six winners of their awards.

The rookie-level player of the year was Yohan De Los Santos, rookie-level pitcher of the year, Erwin Ramirez.

Murf Gray won the slugger of the year.

Derek Diamond, we talked about before, won the reliever of the year.

Jordani De Los Santos, Yohan's older brother, won the base runner of the year.

And Jesus Castillo won the defender of the year.

So I guess first off, just like, does anybody stand out there?

Any surprises at all?

Anybody where, you may be, they were under the radar because they won the award and made you think a little bit more about them.

But, like, what are your thoughts on just what's been announced so far?

it's, if I was to pick the six, it would probably look pretty darn similar to that.

Murf Gray, I think, is probably the big winner here, if anything, just to firmly establish that he is this system's premier power threat right now.

And it's stuff that I think can translate to the major leagues.

I don't know if, I'm not saying, pencil him in as your 2027 third baseman or anything like that, but I really like the swing.

I really like the approach.

I like the kid, I think, more than anything.

Like, I think he's got a really good head on his shoulders.

He's someone who wants to work, who's willing to be coached.

I'm high on him.

Glad to see him get some flowers for the year he had.

He deserves it.

Yeah, I like that.

Murf Gray put an outstanding season.

I think a lot of us liked him, getting drafted.

And him doing what he did just made you feel really good about that draft pick.

And it's like, where was everyone else at?

Skipping on him.

But with that being said, I want to go a little bit different route.

And it is Derek Diamond.

And for a lesser extent, he's the reliever of the year.

Yeah, he was in Arizona fall.

Like, we've talked about him to some extent here.

But I guess it's just that little more of, like, we talk about these, we talk about the pitching first off.

But then, like, this talk was always, like, what's that next tier?

you're talking about the, like, the Antoine Kellys and the Khristian Curtis's, like, that crop and stuff.

And, like, no one really ever talked about Derek Diamond.

And it's not that he's really there because there's still some stuff there that would present that they could probably still be a starter.

Where Derek Diamond, now, he says he wants to be.

And, like, I'll allow him to go ahead and get a path.

Like, go ahead and try.

Like, be a starter.

Like, have that mentality.

But you saw some stuff as a reliever.

And, well, we know this team needed last year a lot of individual relievers.

And it's like, hey, maybe Derek Diamond is in this team's plans, for, maybe next year or the year coming up.

And, if it is a reliever and such.

So, yeah, like, I say that Derek Diamond because I guess there's, like, a little bit of confirmation.

Like, yeah, he had a really good season.

And maybe not too many people are thinking or looking at him.

And it's like, hey, take a look at Derek Diamond.

He did some stuff this year.

Yeah, for me, it's the elder De Los Santos with Yordani.

I feel like he's someone that people just forgot about.

Not really forgot about, but just stopped talking about, right?

He got stateside really quick at a young age.

And then just, like, his development just stunted in Bradenton.

He was in Bradenton for, I think, three years, right?

And never made it past it.

And the numbers never really looked that great either.

But you I remember seeing Yordani De Los Santos in Bradenton three years ago.

I went to go see a Paul Skenes start in Bradenton.

It was, like, a second start of his pro career.

And Yordani was on that team.

And, like, the one thing that I've, and I've said this before on this show, but, like, the one thing that you can tell when you're watching lower-level minor leaguers is, like, you can just tell that some people are better than others.

Like, some people have it, and some people don't have it.

And Yordani, at 18 years old on that field, had it, right?

Even though the numbers didn't show it was just, like, he had it.

Like, you could just look at him and be like, that dude's a ball player.

But, like, back-to-back years, you look, last year he stole over 50 bags.

This year he stole 45 bases.

You saw the power come out a little bit more.

I think he hit 19 home runs this season, 17 home runs this season in Greensboro, two in Bradenton.

But, like, that combination of power and speed and the ability to play in the infield is something that is still pretty special.

And, like, it's not like this guy's that old.

He's still just 21 years old.

He took, yeah, it took him three years to get to Greensboro from Bradenton.

But not all prospects are Konnor Griffin, right?

Like, not everybody moves up three, four levels in one season.

Sometimes development is different on guys.

So, I think he's someone that, I think we just stopped talking about him for a while.

And we probably shouldn't have.

No, I think that's fair.

I remember the first spring breakout game going out of my way to, like, interview him because I really thought he was going to be, this breakout candidate.

And, like you said, it hadn't happened for a while.

Maybe this is a stepstone year.

Development isn't always linear.

Like, maybe there is still more to come.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

So, those are the minor league awards.

There's still two more awards that are being announced tomorrow.

The minor league hitter of the year, or minor league player of the year, minor league pitcher of the year.

My guess is that the player of the year is going to be Murf Gray.

That would be my guess.

Same.

I think that's a good guess.

We were debating.

Yeah, we were debating on pitcher of the year, though, because it's like Seth.

Seth was impressive, obviously.

Alex wasn't debating.

They were debating.

I was debating.

So, Seth was super impressive.

But, like, you look at the full season.

Seth got hurt.

Connor Wietgrefe is a guy who just, like, was really good all year.

So, we'll see.

I'm actually interested to see who the pitcher of the year is.

I think it's probably ultimately going to be Seth.

It's the biggest name.

He was just dominant.

But, I feel like if you gave it to Connor Wietgrefe, it'd be like, all right, yeah, that's cool.

Right.

no disrespect to Connor.

Like, he had a really good year.

I think he's on a major league trajectory.

But, like, did you see what Seth Hernandez was doing to those poor souls in Bradenton?

yeah, it was not fair.

It was not fair.

Right.

It was as dominant as we've seen any prospect, in Bradenton.

But he missed two months.

So, it's like.

And that's what I'm going to say.

Like, he was dominant.

You see front-line starter stopping him.

I absolutely get it.

But he did miss it.

And it's like, if that's the hands-down, like, no brain, that's who you give it to, right?

But, like, you want to make an argument.

You want to look around.

I think Connor Wietgrefe did a lot this year, though.

And I think with him, too, like, it's cool because he's a name that you're not really thinking about either.

Like, everyone's thinking about this next group of, pitchers.

And I don't really talk about maybe towards the end of the year, people were noticing.

But he had a really good season.

And he did pitch a lot of innings.

Like, he was there the full season where Seth Hernandez wasn't the whole time.

So, again, I look at it more as it's an argument.

I would still hand it to Seth.

Seth was outstanding.

And it's unfortunate he was cut short because of the injury.

But let's not take away what Connor Wietgrefe did this year.

The Coen brothers can make a 90-minute masterpiece movie.

Like, a movie that's two hours long isn't necessarily better by comparison.

Well, I think there's, like, there's no question Seth Hernandez is the best minor league pitcher in the organization.

But I think you could argue, like, who had the best season.

I guess that's where it, like, is the award who's the best pitcher or who had the best season?

Seth Hernandez just produced Fargo 1996.

All right.

World Series time.

Let's end with just our thoughts there real quick.

FanDuel has the Tampa Bay Rays as the underdog at plus 148.

The Milwaukee Brewers are favored at minus 172.

So, pretty heavy favorites, Milwaukee.

Jacob Misiorowski starting game one on Friday.

Tampa Bay hasn't announced their game one starter.

But I would assume they got to go Rasmussen.

Like, he's just, he was, I think he was going to go game seven if there was one.

He's been their best pitcher in the postseason.

But this is going to be a pretty fun series, I think.

Like, I haven't really enjoyed the way the Milwaukee Brewers have been playing baseball up to this point.

I hate, absolutely hate the constant use of relief pitchers.

Milwaukee, fun fact.

Maybe not so fun fact.

But they haven't had a single starting pitcher qualify for a win yet this postseason.

Not one.

Their starting pitchers get pulled after three or four innings every time.

quote unquote, the Miz who's getting, MLB Twitter accounts tweeting out eight times a game.

Oh my God, he's throwing 104.

Well, guess what?

He's only getting 10 outs, right?

So, the Rays, on the other hand, way more ethical baseball being played.

Their starting pitchers are going deep into games.

They're playing baseball the right way, in my opinion.

And, yeah, I know you picked the Brewers to win in seven.

I'm picking the Rays to win in seven.

And I think, I don't think you can sustain the level of bullpen play that the Brewers have been doing for three full series.

Someone's going to, they're going to break down.

They're going to break down and it's going to bite them.

Aaron Ashby is going to suck in game five because it's his fourth game pitching in six days.

Give me the Rays.

Give me the Rays and the pitchers and the hitters and just the whole team.

Give me the Rays.

Maybe if you cried a little more about unethical baseball.

Yeah, no, I, this bullpen for the Brewers has just been unbelievable.

You can say that it's unethical, but I think it's just given your team's best strength, the ball, as many opportunities as possible.

And like, we haven't even seen Chad Patrick, who I, it was such a big part of the NLDS last year for them and why they were able to beat the Cubs.

He hasn't really been a player in this postseason yet.

I wouldn't be surprised if that changes in the World Series.

There's just two, Ashby, McGill, Abner, like, Uribe, it's, there's too many guys who can go multiple winnings that can attack you different ways.

Whenever Jojo Romero is, throwing like five and a third scoreless, like it, that's whenever you, there is no heat check to be had here.

This is a bullpen that is having one of the best runs we have ever seen in the postseason.

And I think it's just too much to overcome.

I think the race have better starting pitcher starting pitching.

I think if this was a full season where they played one 62, I think the race would probably win 82, but it's seven and it's arrested Brewers staff after a quick sweep.

I really think they're in a better position here.

Yeah, so Jim, the race might be making more effort to play better ethical baseball, but I'm sure the Brewers fans are very content of watching their team sweep the Dodgers playing over the hell they want to play.

You know what they're not content about is redeeming evergreen tickets.

That's shady.

How about that story?

Yeah.

Imagine that in Pittsburgh.

I was just going to say that the NS nine of Milwaukee's that they are talking about that right now.

Yeah.

The, I thought offbeat was the NS nine of Milwaukee.

Have you talked about it, Alex?

We got your topic tonight.

no, the Willy Wonka.

It's the Michael Scott.

It's the Willy Wonka.

It's the Willy Wonka and Scott's tots.

Like the Brewers did Scott's tots and now they can't pay him.

Yeah.

That's late.

I think they're going to have to do it, but no, you mentioned a bunch of names.

Right.

Jojo Romero being one of them.

And all I have to say is Jojo Romero's due for a conquer.

Like if Jojo Romero has thrown five scoreless innings, let me face Jojo Romero again, because he's not given a sixth.

Okay.

Well, so I'm going to go both sides to narrow on this.

Okay.

Now the reason I'm going to say this, because here's my worries.

I'm picking Milwaukee.

I think they're built for the postseason right now.

I think they have just great, tremendous vibes.

I love Pat Murphy.

The people that hate him.

it is working.

He knows how to connect with his people.

So whether you like his antics or whatever, they respect them.

He knows how to connect.

If I'm not going to talk and let my people give me a high five or, talk to me before the game, it works.

It works.

That's what matters is it works.

And so far, all the strings he's pulling is working.

But with that said, I do worry.

You talked about the quick sweep.

Does that go against them?

Is it too long of a layoff?

Does that go against them?

Right?

What Jim said, they do go to the bullpen a lot.

Is one guy going to be off of his game and it hurts them?

It's funny because Milwaukee, like you mentioned, right?

No one's qualified for a win.

And it's like Tampa Bay, the one that's analytical and forefront and doing all this stuff, is the one that's like, no, go out there and pitch.

You're a starter pitcher.

They're doing it.

I go back.

I go back.

Is Milwaukee going to Blake Snell, Misiorowski?

Misiorowski hasn't gotten 14 outs.

We all remember Tampa Bay.

We all remember Blake Snell and what he was doing.

And they went to the analytics, right?

And they pulled him out.

I just wonder, is now the roles that seem ironically reversed, are we going to have a Miz-Blake Snell moment?

With the benefit of hindsight, Blake Snell moment was the right thing because Blake Snell is the most overrated pitcher in baseball.

And he was going to blow it anyway.

Why don't you cry about Blake Snell some more?

Play unethical baseball and win.

That's my takeaway from it.

Screw the ethics.

Hoist a banner.

And that's ultimately a compliment.

I don't care.

as a viewer, as a fan, you want to watch certain things.

But, like, as the Milwaukee fans, if this was the Pirates, like, if Skenes is going three and a half or whatever, or three and one-third, and they're winning ballgames, like, it is what it is.

You know what?

DK was a mastermind out there.

He's pulling all the right strings, right?

Look, they're doing the banners.

That matters the most.

So if they're out there winning, playing this baseball, I don't really care.

But there are some worries about this type of baseball.

But ultimately, again, as I'm going by, I think they're built better in this postseason, in this World Series.

I'm still picking Milwaukee.

But ultimately, I'm just putting on my MLB hat.

And I'm just saying I hope both teams have a great time.

Because I'm just going to – this is an interesting series.

This is a very interesting series.

Milwaukee, Tampa, World Series.

Let's just sit back and enjoy it.

Whether you want Milwaukee as a Pirates fan to win, the Rays, whatever.

I know there's some controversy there.

But I think it's going to be a fun, interesting series for different reasons.

Yeah, both teams are going for their first World Series title.

So, that's cool, right?

Yeah, I'm with you.

It should be a fun series.

Two teams that – one team I enjoy watching, one team I hate.

So I'm rooting for the Rays.

And the Rays are going to win in seven.

And, yeah.

Rays it.

Junior Caminero is going to be the MVP.

Jacob Misiorowski will not pitch deep enough into a game to qualify for a win, but will pitch game one, five, and seven and win World Series MVP.

Oh, that'll – oh, my God.

I would – I'm going to lose my mind if that happens.

Lose my mind.

Oh.

An O and O starting pitcher.

Let's do it, Alex.

I'm all – Jim's going to lose his mind.

I want that.

Starting pitcher MVP with no wins.

Whatever.

We just – yes.

Where had your country gone?

Bring back the pitcher win.

That's all I'm saying.

All right.

MVP, though.

So Caminero, you're saying Miz?

Miz.

MVP.

You put me on a spot here now.

I did.

I don't know.

Gosh.

Pick a Brewer, any Brewer, I guess.

Name a Brewer.

Miz is such an easy choice, though.

And, like, especially – like, that's what's going to happen.

If it goes seven games, he's pitching absolutely in three of them.

And he's going to be a big reason to buy four outs or something.

And so, you know what?

If I'm going to Fandor right now, I've got to put on Misiorowski.

Who are you most looking forward to watching?

So, not the MVP.

Who are you most looking forward to watching on that big of a stage?

Caminero.

Like, I think he – it's wild.

Like, he has the potential, I think, to hit 763.

Like, he has the potential.

That's a take.

That is a take.

I don't think it's a horrible take.

You're hitting 40 homers in your age 22 season again?

Like, he has that type of potential if he has the longevity.

This is like whenever LeBron went to his first finals, the way I view it.

Like, he ended up losing it.

I like that.

It's like here's a chance for him to establish himself immediately.

So, like, I want to see how he responds.

Get a hell of a homer to get him into the spot.

Donato, who are you most looking forward to just watching on the national stage?

You know what?

Screw it.

This one's a little personal because today's a salty day for me because we've talked about this before.

And you all know that we are in a Strat League.

And my Strat Marlins team was in the NLCS for the second time of the year.

Last year, they advanced to the World Series and lost with the best record in the league.

This year, they had the best record lead again.

And I just lost in Game 7.

One of the members on my team is Captain Christian Yellich.

And I didn't even have a bounce back.

He didn't have a great of a season.

So, I want to see the captain of the Brewers just, you know what?

I'm going to remember me.

Remember me from the Marlins back in the day in the Strat League, Donato Marlins.

Let's go, Captain.

I am most looking forward to watching Pirates legend Ryan Vallade.

Yes.

Yes.

I can't.

The Rays cleanup hitter versus left-handed pitching.

Ryan Vallade.

I told this off to my dude.

But, like, he was begging his locker mate, like, do you have any advice for how to elevate my hard contact?

He was talking to Ke'Bryan Hayes, the Patriots saint of hitting the absolute hell out of a ground ball.

It was like, oh, dude, anyone else?

Well, he's in the right organization now.

But the whole year, the Pirates have been, what, terrible against left-handed pitching?

They had Ryan Vallade.

They had him.

126 weighted runs created plus this year versus lefties.

The one that got away.

Run 10,000 simulations.

He never pans out in Pittsburgh.

No, I'm with you, though.

I think Cam Manero.

Like, Cam Manero was electric during the World Baseball Classic.

So, like, replicating that environment, I think, in the World Series is going to be a lot of fun.

Him and Churio, just like those two going at each other, that's going to be fun for me.

Yanni's been fun, too.

Yep.

He's been my white whale for a Pirate for a long time.

Well, he's like Ke'Bryan Hayes, but can hit.

He's not like Ke'Bryan Hayes.

He also can't play the field.

Well, yeah.

No, that's true.

That's true.

I guess when we had Ke'Bryan Hayes, I would look at the two players' stack cast pages.

And they were always, like, somewhat pretty similar.

And I was like, can't Ke'Bryan Hayes just start hitting, like, Yanni Diaz?

And the answer was no.

He couldn't.

I'm drawing a blank now.

What's the Seinfeld reference?

The opposites of them?

It was when they saw...

When George would do the opposite of what he did.

No.

Oh, Bizarro.

Bizarro.

He's Bizarro Key, Ke'Bryan Hayes.

That's what it is.

He's Bizarro Key.

Yeah.

Yanni Diaz and Brandon Eisert are basically the same player.

Basically.

On that note.

Are we done?

I think we're done.

Yeah.

Well, this is a fun first day.

For us, it's not over.

It's only 6.46.

We're going to head out and get some food because I am starving.

I had a hot dog today.

That was it.

Great hot dog.

It was pretty good.

Yeah.

It was, like, hot, too.

It was a hot dog.

It was fresh.

I think, yeah.

It was one of the hottest dogs I've ever had.

It wasn't grilled, though.

That's...

Dirty water hot dog at a ballpark isn't right.

But it was hot.

Yeah.

So, let's go get some good food.

With that said, we are out of here.

We didn't really have a wrap-up today because there was not much to really wrap-up today with the Arizona Fall League.

But, again, there's two more games.

So, they'll be playing tomorrow.

Of course, the anticipation is we'll have a wrap-up for that tomorrow.

And then they are off on Friday.

They return to play on Saturday.

So, we'll have a wrap-up.

We'll have content throughout as well.

So, tune in.

Again, we're on the Arizona Fall League.

We're here through Saturday's game.

Most of us leave on Sunday.

So, guess what I said.

We appreciate you guys watching.

Tag along.

Follow along.

If you're not subscribed, watch Alex's Offbeat.

We don't know what we're talking about.

What did we talk about, Alex?

Do you have any idea yet?

Boy.

It's going to be a great episode.

It's going to be a really good show.

Hey, if that's not a promo right there.

It's going to be a great one.

Also, the computer is flashing low battery.

So, let's, yeah.

Bye-bye.

We're out.

We'll see you later.

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All right.

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Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.