SPEAKER_01 0:12

Welcome to another episode of Talking Cards with Grand Salami and the Juice. I am the Juice, and I am here with no Grand Salami, but I do have Max Arterburn returning. How's it going, Max? Good going good. All right. Yeah, so this is part two of our three-part American League preview for 2026 Bowman. Our last episode, we discussed the AL East. And this time we will turn our focus to the AL Central, much smaller checklist. So this should be a quick one, but there's definitely some interesting players here. And with that, let's just get right into it. We will start with the Chicago White Sox. We got three players here. First one, Adrian Gill or Gill or Heel.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Heel. I always go heel with that last name until they tell us otherwise. All right.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Well, I got it right in the last try, so, or at least we can assume for now. He is Otto Wong from Venezuela. And I see him listed as a first baseman and catcher right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yeah, he's uh he's not a catcher. He's a first baseman. He's only six feet tall. He hasn't had success for a few years. He is essentially the guy you don't want to pull. He's the number one guy you don't want to pull. Um his swing is built for contact, but he has a very low contact rate right now. He's he's really a non-prospect. I'd be surprised if he is still in the system at the beginning of next year.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

He'll be a bullpen catcher. Yeah. Still see it in that games. All right. Well, let's not spend any more time on him. Let's move on to Kobe Shelton. And I believe he is base only. He was originally drafted by the Nationals in the 20th round and a shortstop.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yeah, I I think that that was he was originally drafted by the Nationals, but I think he went back into the draft. That is definitely possible. Yeah, he was a sixth round pick last year. Okay. So he he's actually had a fantastic start to his career. And a little bit of the backstory with him is that his junior year, he showed a lot of power. I'm sorry, his sophomore year, he was draft eligible that year. He showed a lot of power, but he lost a lot of contactability. So he bet on himself and went back for his for the junior year, because there was still leverage for him in the draft, with it only being his junior year. And he just completely flipped the script. He lost a ton of power, but showed a lot of contactability. And and then so it's like, what's he gonna be in the majors? What's he gonna be in the pros? And so the the White Sox took the shot of him in the sixth round, and it's been fantastic. He's hitting over 400 right now. Um uh and and is with power. So it could just be that that he's hot, or he could have found this balance between his two selves. It it we'll have to wait and get a bigger sample to see which one it's gonna be. Um, but he's an exciting player right now for the White Sox. He is only a second baseman um long term, so that's that knocks him down a little bit. But you know, if he's gonna be like like he is now, then it doesn't matter. I I'm still gonna wait and see what he does because he's not gonna keep any 400, but we'll see how good he can be over the next hundred, I bats.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Okay. Last guy for the White Sox, another base-only guy, Matthias Lacombe, or it's it's probably something like Matthias Lacombe, because he is French French.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

He is he is from uh Le Bon, Le Bon, France. He went to a um he went to a baseball academy in Toulouse. So he is he is like from wine country, France. He's not from like some metropolitan area, he is from he is from out there.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Uh also he's another one of those big uh wine country France prospects that we're always hearing about, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Yeah, he he went to a JUCO. He went to he went to a JUCO in Arizona. He didn't come directly from France. That's probably the most interesting thing about him, though. Uh he is he is currently hurt, he's got some high K potential, but he's probably a reliever. Uh, and he's also kind of old. We're we're still he's 23 already, and we're still years away from knowing what he could be in the upper mind. There's high K potential, but but we just don't know yet.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

All right. Well, there are three prospects for the White Sox to take a look at. Remember, just one of them is auto-only, the other two are base. So just be aware when you're doing some team breaks or even player breaks, just something to think about. Um, so who's the number one guy to keep your eye on? Shelton.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

It's because it's got to be Shelton because there's just by default. By default, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

All right. Next, we will move to the Cleveland Guardians. And for whatever reason, I'm always such a sucker for Guardians prospects. So let's see if you can sucker me in with one of these three guys that we have. Uh, the first one is Dory Fernandez. He's not all right, $215,000 out of Venezuela. I just saw that he's an infielder. All right, what can you tell me? He is the one.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah, we don't we don't know if he's gonna be a shortstop or uh third baseman or a second baseman just yet. His frame is very thin right now. He's he's shorter, but but even though his frame is thin, it's still a little bit projectable. And he needs that to come favorably to fruition to make who he wants to be playable. And who he wants to be is a player who hits for power, and that's what we want. Um it's it's not big power, but we can hope it can get to above average. We don't, it's not there right now. It's not good raw power right now. He's not developed yet. It's gonna take a few years to know where it's gonna be. He's good at elevating. How's his speed? How's his speed? It's it's okay. I I you got me on that one.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I'm looking at my I'm not trying to give you any brain busters, I'm just curious because if he's short, and I I don't have a note on his speed in my my quick notes. Then it's probably not noteworthy, I'd assume.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

It's his speed is is okay. It's okay. It could tick up, it could tick down. Again, not physically developed enough to know for sure. He's he's listed at 5'9, so that that's what I mean by he's shorter. Yeah, it but as far as making the non-physical adjustments, he's showing signs he can do it. He's he's played almost a full season in low A already. He's 19 years old. So as long as he keeps going as he is, you can see him getting hooked up to high A pretty quick here. Although he's probably gonna want to be slugging, you know, 420 instead of 380, which is what he's doing right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Next up we have Gabriel Rodriguez. He is from Venezuela, signed for 500. I was seeing shortstop and third base for him.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Uh, I got second base. I got a second base on him. He's he's pretty boring. He does not have any polish or a tool with loud projection. The best case scenario is that he's a utility player. Um and the sum of the parts could be could be okay for the hobby, but it it's more likely to be just boring. Um and he's not close to the majors. So if you're going for a player of that type, that's fine, but I'd prefer he's closer to the majors, and Rodriguez is not. So he's he's not a guy to target for me.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

All right. Last guy we have, Riley Nelson, fifth round first baseman. How are you feeling about him?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

He is he's a first baseman. He's he's hit over power. He does not try to drive the ball with power very much at all, but he has great barrel control and a good approach. And that makes his hit tool a little bit interesting because he can hit you know a bunch of doubles by doing that. That's his only tool. His hit tool might be the only one that's even fringe average because he's not a good defender at first. He's not a good power hitter. He's he's not good at anything else. It it's just that everything's gonna hang on that that hit tool, and he's gonna take a little bit to you know get that. He was just drafted, I think he was last year as well, right? I believe so.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yes. All right, so you would say for the Guardians, it's Dory Fernandez and then a couple other guys.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Yeah, he's from Vanny, though. So that's the other thing to consider. Vanny's got a very strong uh collecting base, so that they might also be going after him. All right, so that's it for the guards.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Next up, we have we had the Tigers with just one player, Jude Warwick. He was, I believe, a 12th rounder. I have some conflicting info here. Um, and a middle infielder.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Yeah. 2024 12th rounder hasn't made any impact at all um yet. Probably not ever. He's a speed first middle infield type. He's not developed physically yet, still, even though he's you know two years in now. Uh it's not, it's not great. If anything, carries him is gonna be his defense as a utility type. There's nothing with his hip tool power that says he should be anything worthy of the hobby. Sorry, Tigers. Tigers, yeah. This is a new release, guys.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah, so if you're getting a random team, Tigers for the prospect side of things is not the uh way that you want to end up. Okay, all right, and that will bring us right to the twins. Another short checklist is two guys for them. We have Marrick Houston, first rounder, shortstop.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Um, the the first round, the first round is noteworthy, and that's what's gonna really buoy his hobby appeal because he doesn't have the things we really like for for the hobby. He's he's not a zero in the power. 10 to 15 homer, and it's fair to project him to the majors because he has almost has that floor already. And we'll get to that. I'll get to that in a second. But 10 to 15 homer power, nothing that we like in that regard, but he was the number one collegiate defense defender, defensive shortstop. So that has him with a very high floor. He's going to make it to the majors. It's we're almost certain of that. He's coming around in high A. He's gonna get a promotion to double A in the next four to six weeks, but you know, he doesn't have a lot of power. He is he's very hit-centric as well at the plate. He's he's getting either hit in the two-hole or at the bottom of the lineup. There's not a lot to like for the hobby on his head, being a first-round pedigree and being a great defender. That's what he has going for. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

All right. So the other guy for the twins, we are looking at Desad Hill, left-handed pitcher.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

I I would take, I would take Hill over Houston. He's got, so we talked about last last episode, we talked about Jose Urbina. He's got a lot of the same things, but he's a lefty. Um, he doesn't have great command yet, uh, a lot of projectability, um, and a great season of low A. And but those command issues could just be solved by the maturity that he's still coming into. It's a really nice hobby ceiling for him. Could be mid-rotation, could be better than that. He's he's again, he's only in high A. He's only um what, 19? So it's it's uh he might be 20. But I like him a lot. I I went after him already in the break. All right, seems was it the one with uh Brett?

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Or one? All right. I skipped that one because he's 20. I wanted to I wanted to do this first. Um make sure I had all the inside information. So yeah, so for the twins, two guys, but pretty solid guys, it sounds like. You know, not a bad couple players to get in a you know, not a bad team for a team break, because even though it's just two guys, if you hit an auto, you're gonna be, it sounds like happy with either player hand.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah, I I would say so.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

All right. And lastly, we will get to the Royals. So, first up, I have David Shields, second round pick, left-handed pitcher.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Yeah, I've been waiting for him to be in products since he was drafted in the second round, and they skipped over him for three straight releases. I've always thought he is a great, great rejectability guy, and he went out and proved that last year, not necessarily with the rejectability side, but with the performance side. He showed fantastic command. It was like a 5% walk rate in a lot of innings. He's he's a lefty. He only throws in the low 90s for now. He's he's got a little more in the tank coming. Again, he's only 20, and he's also in high A. Um, I I like him more than say Dayson Hill. I think everybody probably should. He's just got so much deception in his delivery. Um, he's got a great, a great sweeper that that gets hitters out, gets a lot of swing and miss. And and though when his fastball ticks up to the mid-90s, you know, 93, 94, um, that's gonna help all of his other offerings generate a lot more swing and miss. That that K percentage could tick up into the 30s, and then we're looking at, you know, a top 25-ish prospect. He's not even in the top 100 yet, but that's his that's where he could be a year and a half from now. He's he's a great, he's a great prospect. His ceiling is probably the same as the Jose Urbina uh line, but he's his mix is a little bit more developed than those guys. So I that's why I'm taking him over that.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

And then our last guy for the Royals and for the AL Central, we have Kendri Churillo out of Venezuela, right-handed pitcher.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Yeah, there's uh a lot of hobby juice with him right now because he is 18 years old. And he made it to eight years, he he was a 2025 international free agent pitcher who made it to low A as a 17. I think he was 18 by the time he made it to Low A, but you know, first year in the pros as a as a side as an international free agent, made it to low A. That's gonna get you a lot of juice by itself. The fact that he only walked six hitters in 50 innings is the other one with with a K rate that is way higher than anybody else of his age. It's only it was 28%, which is, you know, it's above average, but for being 18, that's that's incredible. Other than that, it's just there's nothing really developed yet, but it's clear swing and miss stuff. It's a great fastball. Um, it he does not have a limit to his ceiling. He could be DNA's, he could also fall down as he develops. He could mean TJ at age 20 in two years, but we just don't we don't know yet. There's just a lot of there's still a lot of outcomes, there's still a lot of risk, but it's all positive right now.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

All right. So Kansas City, if you want those, if you want some high potential pitchers, that's the route to go. I don't necessarily recommend rebbing those guys uh royals in a team break if that's what you really want, because you're gonna be playing that, you're gonna be paying for Jack Kegs, the premium there. And that's really gonna inflate the price. I think for pitchers, you're better off doing a player break for them. Um but we'll see how it plays out once the breaker numbers start coming out of what they're selling these spots for. All right, so out of these AL Central guys, who do you think is the guy?

SPEAKER_00 14:41

The whole division, I would probably, as I lean back here and look, I personally I'm going for David Shields. It's Shields or Trio. I would go, I would personally go Shields because I don't like risk in my pitchers. And he's the the lower risk of the two.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Okay. Yeah, that those guys, based on what you said, they really intrigue me. I can definitely see me targeting those guys.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Yeah, and that's and I mean certainly some people are gonna say Dory Fernandez because he's got, you know, he's people like that. He he already can elevate the ball, he's already knows what he's trying to do, and he's got a uh he's good contact ability within within what he wants to do, but he's just not he's just not there physically yet. Uh and people can project that physicality becoming more and more as he gets older, but I I don't want to project it that much because it's just not quite there.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

All right. So before we move on to the next episode, I was wondering, I'm sure other people wonder, how exactly do you do your evaluations? Is it based off of tape? Is it based off of just pure stats and analytics? Is it a mix? Like, like where do you where do you get all this from?

SPEAKER_00 15:49

It's a mix. I like to I like to look at video. That's what I like to look at, you know, as my my primary tool. Then I um then I go to the stats and see what lines up with if that lines up with how I think his pitch mix looks or how his how what kind of a hitter he is, um, you know, what he's doing at the plate. If it if it matches up, then then it's easier to write about. If it doesn't match up, then I'm kind of trying to to figure out how to find a good angle to write about the player. You know, it's it's like it might not be a mature, you know, because these are prospects they're they're developing. It might not be who he's gonna be at maturity. And I'm trying to communicate that while still, you know, being positive about the player. I try not to be completely negative about anybody unless there's truly nothing. Like, like that, the guy, like Adrian Hill, he was not, there's there's nothing there.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, like all these guys were obviously talented enough to be drafted or signed by these teams. So, you know, there's no we're not trying to throw shade when we say, no, these guys are just stuck.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

No, I'm trying to write pieces that, you know, if the player's family reads it, they can say he likes him a little bit, but oh yeah, he does need to improve on that aspect as well. So I'm I'm trying, I'm trying to write pieces that you know the player's family isn't gonna be mad at me about. Not that I care, but I'm trying to be somewhat positive.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

All right. Well, thank you so much for returning for this episode. We got one more with you. We will discuss the ALS bit of a bit of a longer checklist than this one. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. This was the Talking Cards Podcast with the Juice, and I'm here with Max Arterburn. You can follow him on Twitter and find his articles on Prospect Live for a bigger deep dive on all this.