Atlanta At Center of MLB Universe During All-Star Break

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hemmer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you are having a great start to your week. And you know what, hey, if you're a member of Braves Country, it may just be the fact that we finally get a little bit of a break from watching the Braves play baseball that could make your week worthwhile. But hey, Atlanta is the center of the baseball world right now with the All Star Game currently going on. As we record, we'll have plunged to discuss when it comes to All Star Weekend, but also the majority of the show we'll be talking about the newest talents that are entering the Atlanta organization from the twenty twenty five MLB draft. And as always, I am joined by one of the best in the when it comes to covering the Braves and baseball, Steven Tobart. Steven could talk with you know as always, sir, I hope you had a great weekend.

00:01:08
Speaker 2: What's up, buddy, it's been a minute. I think the last time we did a show was the team was still out in Sacramento, So it's nice to be back a lot's happened we're gonna talk about. Obviously, the home runs derby happened last night as we're recording. The Ulstar Game is happening tonight as we're recording. Acuna has already been taken out of the game, which is why we're recording. And obviously the big thing is the MLB Draft, which happened over the weekend into Monday. A lot of stuff to get to there. So yeah, a lot of stuff has happened. Obviously, the team is gonna kick off their second half on Friday at home against the Yankees, so you know, we'll have a couple of shows this week, kind of getting back into things, getting you know, back into season mode, and we're gonna have a lot of stuff to get to once the season starts back up again with a trade deadline right around the corner. But yeah, some stuff to get to tonight. And always good to always good to be with you man.

00:02:02
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, definitely was you know, over the weekend, I was able to enjoy, you know, some Braves baseball in person. When it came to them playing against Saint Louis, they looked like the Braves of old, So it was a lot of fun to see them doing well. But you know, let's get into the All Star break. Brad and Scott did a great job breaking down the weekend, talking about the trade deadline a bit, but of course All Star weekend is occurring in Atlanta. Seemed like it's been a great weekend overall, great start to the week as well, and of course the week started on Monday Stephen with the home run Derby and Matt Olsen of the Braves in the home run Derby in general, he had a minute of awesome performance. That's what I was hoping from just for the Atlanta fans, he would at least have some type of bossible performance. Didn't make it out of the first round, but have that stretch. But overall, I felt like the setup for this home run Derby was a bit more fan friendly and just the participants I think were a good mix of players who were being introduced to the scene for many in the baseball world. For instance, you've got your first, you know, real opportunity to see Onell Cruz who maybe hit the ball, he may hit the baseball harder than anyone in the game. You got introduced to Junior Kamanaro, who I think is probably gonna have one of those careers where he's one of the more underrated stars in the game, like a Jose Ramirez. And of course taking center stage was cal Raley, who's come out of nowhere to really become one of the true offensive power sources in the game. Just a swing that's perfect for the home Run Derby. Winning the home Run Derby in the year where he's on the record pace for catchers for home runs, it was a really fun time in addition to Matt Allison, and that's what the Home Run Derby should be.

00:03:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Derby has become a little bit like the Dunk Contest, and it's more it's become more of a showcase for the kind of the younger players in the league versus like the you know, you're not really gonna see shohe Otani and Aaron Judge battle it out in a home Run Derby typically anymore, you're gonna see new guys, right, and guys that maybe aren't his mainstream that are extremely talented. You know, James Wood is another one who we got to see really put on a show. A lot of people watched O'Neill Cruz for the very first time. They had no idea this kid could hit a ball one hundred and twenty miles an hour, and now they know. So yeah, it's a fun event. You know, it's not I'm not The All Star break is not really my thing personally, but I understand it's general appeal. The home run Derby is, you know, iconic. I grew up watching the Derby. I remember, you know, I'm old enough to have watched the King Griffey Junior show he put on in Boston. Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, you know, all those guys used to do the Derby all the time. He still loved the Derby. You know, I've kind of grown out of it a little bit. But Matt put on a pretty decent show. Listen, he got off to a bad start. I saw people making the joke like, you know, he started kind of like the Braves started. He got off to that bad start. I think he had four homers when he took his time out with like a minute and a half left, and I was like, oh God, we're gonna have a Jazz Chisholm situation here. And as soon as he got back out of his time out, he hit I think eleven Homers just bank Bank, Bank Bank. The crowd was going nuts. He didn't get out of the first round. He that start he got off to really cost him. He needed I think he needed seventeen or eighteen to get out of the first and I think he ended up too short. So it was fun. Listen. It's probably nerve wracking as hell. He's an Atlanta kid. He probably had a million people there. He's the only member of the Atlanta Braves in the tournament. Obviously he replaced a Kunya, which is a whole other level of pressure, by the way, and you know, I'm sure he was nervous, so but he put up a respectful number. You know, he didn't get goose egged. He didn't put up like, you know, less than five where it's like embarrassing. Like he came out and he had that really fun moment and so he gave his brace fans something to year four. So that was cool. But yeah, cal Raley for him, you know, it's kind of he's kind of busted on the scene. Everybody kind of knows who he is now because he's got almost forty home runs at the All Star break, So good for him. That was cool. It's cool to see some of the young guys. I think James, as long as James James Wood continues to compete in them, James would will win one at some point because that dude is just a monster, just power for days. It's probably the same with O'Neill Cruz, you know, if I had to guess, but yeah, it was it was fun. You know, it's it's always a fun deal.

00:06:31
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And you know, a couple of things that I think play into it, you know, with the with with matt Olsen, his swing is more of a process and just a quick flick like some of those other competitors, which I quick flick approaches is in that home run saying that home run derby set up is more advantageous. And the other thing that stands out to me when it comes to uh, you know matt Olsen, is that, in typical matt Olsen fashion, he missed like three home run three more home runs by a combined five feet, like he kept hitting the top of the wall, which was which pretty frustrated. We're used to seeing that in games.

00:07:03
Speaker 2: Let me ask let me ask you this question. I was thinking about this because again I'm old enough to remember when it was the other way. Which which format do you prefer. Do you prefer the old school ten outs, anything that's not a homer is an out, or do you prefer the new school way where they have a timer and you just hit as many homers as you can.

00:07:22
Speaker 1: I prefer the old school way. I would make it fifteen outs, you know, just as kind of kind of a nice compromise. And those last three outs, like if you were to or maybe your last two outs, you get two pitches, and if you hit a home run in one of those two pitches, you then get a third. I think that that would be fun. I like the ability to put on a show. But the one aspect now that we don't get to enjoy that we got to enjoy in the past. You definitely don't get to enjoy the majesty of those long home runs like we did in the past that made the show, like Josh performance he put on.

00:07:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I was thinking, is like when Griffy, when maguire, even back when Josh Hamilton did it, like because it was it wasn't timed, it was just a number of outs. You got to enjoy every single home run. They showed every homer to its completion, all the way to wherever it landed, and then wherever it landed, people would just lose their mind because that ball just went four hundred and ninety feet. Never seen a ball land there in this ballpark before, And like it was just so much I just think it was so much better. And I would definitely go back to ten outs, and you can get creative with it. You can do fifteen outs, like you just said, you can. You know, if you hit a ball over four hundred and fifty eight, four hundred and fifty feet, you buy yourself another out. Like there's all there's ways you can do it, but where you get to enjoy each homer, Like when they're trying to hit as many as they can and a timer, you barely even you know, they're already throwing another pitch by the time the ball's you know, landing, and it's it just kind of takes away a little something for me go back to outs. It was just it was such a better format.

00:08:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think the other thing that sticks out about it is that we're we're I'm not going to sit here and reveal our age or anything, but we're older. We may maybe and you both Now we're we're gentlemen, we're dads, and you know, there's it's much more fun I think as a kid seeing those type of things. And when we were kids, we got to enjoy each home run versus now, and so that made it a bit more fun in my opinion. And the other thing, I saw something on Twitter. I forget who posted it, but it was so true. You know, we talk about in both me and you both are baseball nerds. We love hearing about you know, the exit velocity and the launch angle and all that different stuff. But also nothing beat Chris Berman announcing a home run derby. And I'm not trying to you know, be the old guy or anything like that in the room. You know, back in my day, that type of approach. It's just Chris Berman was awesome for a home run derby. So in general, the product last night was better than it had been in recent years, especially introducing some new talents to the center stage. But yes, I still think there are some tweaks you can do, maybe introduce some old elements of the home run derbys in the past that can make it better moving forward.

00:09:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, and like when guys would get on a roll and hit like five or six in a row. Like everyone they hit, which is the crowd would get louder and crazier, louder and crazy. I remember Maguire one year in Boston hit like thirteen in a row, and just every single one one after the other. It just got crazier and crazier. I mean, I yeah, I just think it's a better format. And listen, I understand why they went away from him because guys would literally get goosegged. Like there would be guys who who get ten outs before they hit a single homer, And it was probably kind of it. Yeah, there was no there was a number of I think Matt Holliday one year did it like.

00:10:33
Speaker 1: Chipper, I think did it, did two of them, and he didn't have much success.

00:10:36
Speaker 2: No, he had like two homers, and like so it's it's harder and so I imagine it's harder to get guys to do it under that format. Guys don't want to be embarrassed at the All Star break. So maybe that's why they changed. I don't know, but it was more fun when you could enjoy every single homer before you know the next pitch was thrown.

00:10:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and you know of course we don't want to go with that, Minshetine obviously, with the main event of All Star Weekend is the All Star Game itself going on right now, I felt that it was moments, you know, that's what I enjoyed watching the All Star Game before now, Steven his moments, you know, seeing the Braves hit. It was nice to see a coon you hit. Nice to see Freddie back in action as well. The Clayton Kershaw exit in the second inning was awesome to see. I know that they're you know during commercial breaks to you know, Acuna get gotten exit. Freddy got an exit as well. It's nice to see current and former Braves. But in general, I think that it was a pretty smooth All Star weekend. You know, the All Star Game itself right now is pretty low scoring like we've seen in recent years. But I think nothing just absolutely too spectacular, but a pretty solid All Star weekend in general.

00:11:40
Speaker 2: Yeah. My one hot take about the All Star Game is that it's lost a lot since interleague play became a daily thing. I mean, you know, watching schoolbul Face Acunya twenty years ago, when those two had never played, you know, never got to see each other, would have been you know that that's kind of what people live for, was seeing these American League guys and these National League guys face off for the first time and ever since any league play became you know, literally it happens every single day in baseball. There's there's a national team and American League tam playing each other somewhere. It's definitely lost something, and you know, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know if it's even a problem that you need to fix necessarily. I do wonder, like I've always thought, get rid of the game itself. Announce your All Stars at the end of the year, so that it's a full year award, because right now, let's be honest, it's a it's an April and May award. Like if you have a hot April and a hot May. Voting is in like halfway through June. So if you have a hot April and hot May, you're gonna be an All Star. Well that's not that's that's you know, one third of the season, so it's not really a great indication of who the best players are. You know, vote on All Stars at the end of the year. Forget about trying to play a game. Do it like the NBA or the NFL does, where it's just an all NBA or all NFL team and do it at the end of the year. And you know, I don't really know if a game is necessary anymore now that these guys see each other all the time. But you know, there there, I'm sure there's an audience for it. I'm sure there's people that still love it. It's just not my thing.

00:13:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like I say, to your point, you know, the game itself, I don't think it is where it was in the past, but the moments are still certainly there. And one thing that we can't go without mentioning is the tribute to Hank Aaron was absolutely amazing. They did that right. Baseball has consistently done right when it came to Hank Aaron, and of course this being you know, of course the legend passed away a few years ago. The fact that they just even took the time to honor him with the way in which they did was absolutely incredible. So that was a magical moment. And the more of those that you get during an All Star weekend, whether you're a kid, an adult, whomever, that's what makes All Star Weekend. But of course. The other thing that it has become a big part of All Star Weekend in recent years is the MLB draft, and many were focused when it's down here for the braves, what were they going to do when it comes to adding talent for the future. We'll discuss that and more and just a moment after a word from our partners.

00:14:15
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00:14:17
Speaker 1: I do crats.

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00:15:13
Speaker 1: Make sure to use our ur l so that they know we sent you. So, speaking of course of two thousand and twenty five MLB draft, it arrived and it went. It spelt like a minute, you know, with it be in two days now in twenty rounds. You know, that's the other thing that I missed, you know about the the MLB draft is that you know, you being able to sit there for three days and you know, I'm probably never going to hear these names again, but I'm going to be excited just seeing them and long behold. Stephen. The Braves you know, had their draft. You know, obviously what's gone on this year didn't impact her. They were picking this year, but I think more eyes were focused on it this year with the fact that we're more future focused right now. And I want to go on record as of saying this, I am really happy with the Braves draft. And there's a few reasons. Number one, Over the past couple of years, at least in the public eye, there has been much more of what in the world are the Braves doing instead of oh, the Braves just did that, like we become so accustomed to, you know, when they were winning the World Series in the early twenty twenties and all that. I bring that up because the thing that the Braves did that really really impressed me, and that they really needed to do, was they used simple common sense. They came into this draft and they needed to add position player talent. They also needed to in some way or form address the void that is the shortstop position for this organization. And not only did they do that in a common sense approach, they did it with a creative approach. Like I know, after the first round pick, many were thinking, well, if we went shortstop, why didn't we just pick the guy who won the Golden Spikes Award, the shortstop from Arkansas. Well, the reason why is because the Braves took the approach of adding multiple options that could increased their chances of long term addressing that shortstop position. And that's exactly what they did. And even if those guys don't stick at shortstop, they could play elsewhere. When it comes to using common sense, I think the Braves did a good job of finding talents that could improve the overall quality of their position players. They also found some answers potentially for their shortstop position, and they then leaned into their strength, which is developing pitching later rounds and Steven. Another aspect of things is they did all this they got two top fifty pick two top fifty players with their first two picks by going under slot. And that's another big aspect of this draft that really could pay dividends down the road.

00:17:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, so listen, the Braves drafted three shortstops. I think with their first three picks. Take south Asene was their first pick, which they did pick him under slot or they did sign him under slot. Carlos Colazo of Baseball America reported that today that the Braves did sign him to an underslot deal. Their second pick was Alex Lodis from Florida State. He's a shortstop three year starter or not three year starter. I think he transferred in at one point but played three years of college ball shortstop they drafted with their second pick, and then Cody Miller right was their third who was a prep shortstop. So listen, we have not seen the Braves do this. The Braves have gone so incredibly pitching heavy for the last five years, six years. I think they've gone. I think they've picked a pitcher in their first three picks, like five four or five years in a row or something like that. And listen, I'm not a huge draft guy. Everybody knows that by now, so I'm not even gonna pretend to tell you anything about these players. Most of these guys I didn't know existed on this planet until four days ago. Names I have literally never heard of in my life. I I can't tell you a thing about them. I can tell you what smart people think about them, which is much more valuable. And you know Lodize specifically, because he's older, he's already twenty one, he was in college three years. There is talk that this kid is probably already the best position player prospect in the system. Now, some of that is a product of the fact that the Braves don't have any position players prospects in the system, but also that this you know, the kid's got really good skills, Like you know. He college stats aren't worth much because these kids are obviously hitting with metal bats and all of them hit like nine fifty you know, have nine fifty ops's by the end of the year. But he destroyed the ball at Florida State. He's got a really good glove. So we'll see. No one knows, right, the Braves went underslot for those three picks, so they could potentially pay some other guys we'll talk about in a minute more money. But yeah, they went position player heavy early in the draft, and we have not seen that, and I think that was needed. You don't draft or needs specifically, but I do think you have to take stock of where your farm system is, and I think you have to. I do think it's important to be balanced, and quite honestly, the Braves have been out of balance the last few years and it was time to address that in a heavy way in the draft. And so again, I know nothing about the players. They might have picked three guys that suck. I don't know. They might pick three all stars. I don't know, and you don't know either. You know. One of Brad's favorite things to say, Brad does a lot of stuff with the draft, especially the NBA Draft, is that people are way too certain about these things. It's one of my favorite things Brad says, because he's one hundred percent right. There is so much uncertainty, and then you have a lot of people who are absolutely certain about their opinions and they don't know. You don't know, I don't know. They don't know. These kids. Some of these kids are eighteen years years old. Who knows what they're going to be in four years. You know, it's going to take a while to judge the draft. But just by process of let's address position players. I was happy with what they I was. I was pretty happy with seeing them be so aggressive on the position player side for the first first three picks.

00:21:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a sensible approach. And again I know that that is not going to get people as excited, you know, as it is the names that are going to be there. But you know, when we talk about the shortstops that they picked, those three names are certainly going to be followed. But two other names were the reason why those first three picks were under slot, and that of course is Briggs McKenzie as well as Connor Essenberg. Those were the two names of Believe, the fourth and the sixth round pick for the Braves. That were really the reason why the Braves went underslot. Two high schoolers thought of pretty highly, those type of high school names that right now may not be in the first round conversation, but easily could be in time. It feels as if the Braves are likely going to be able to sign up Steve and I know you have some more information on that in just a moment, but that's kind of been the Braves way, is that they go under slot in the first you know, in the top part of the draft, so that they can get some quality later on. And that has been a fruitful approach in getting some guys in our system, especially arms, who have continued their development and are some of the more intriguing Brace prospects. This time around, though they went yes with another pitcher but also a potential two way player in Essenberg. It was good to see them and invest in some high school talents with high upside that we'll hopefully become some of the better prospects in Atlanta and no time.

00:22:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, So just to give you the numbers for people that want the numbers, so for their first round pick south Asene, they signed him for two point six million dollars and the slot value of the twenty second pick was three point nine million, almost four million dollars, so they saved one point three million dollars against the slot on the south the scene pick for Alex lodiz Uh, they signed him at one point twenty nine million. His slot was one point five million, so it was about two hundred and twenty five k in savings. And then all total, you know, everything the Braves with all they signed their first, second, third, they also signed their eighth, ninth, and tenth round picks today and all of those guys combined, they saved about two point seven million against the slot uh when they signed all of those guys under slot. So that what that says is the two point seven million will be used to sign the two guys that you just mentioned, which is Briggs mackenzie and then the outfielder that you mentioned. And so those guys were considered guys that were gonna be tough to sign because they wanted more than what their slot was going to give them. And so the Braves used, you know, the the mccannic of the draft and This isn't common. A lot of teams do this is you know, you sign underslot so you can spend overslot later. And so the Braves are trying to get two pretty high upside kind of first day talent guys in their fourth round pick and their sixth round pick by you know, by using the slot system. So we'll see if it works. Those guys have not signed yet the fourth and sixth round picks, so we'll see if it works. And even if they do sign again, they might suck. This might be the last time we ever talked about any of these players. You may never hear those names ever. Again, that's the draft. So but again by process, focusing on position players early, using the bonus system to potentially get more value with your later picks is something I'm a fan of. More, you know, just more shots at it. The the MLB draft is such a crap shoot. Kind of the best approach, in my opinion, is just as many bites at the apple as possible. And I kind of like what they did, you know, by process, in terms of specific players. You know, ask me in five years.

00:25:06
Speaker 1: And the thing that I'll say is that the setup of the MLB draft where the money that you have to work with is more important in the MLB draft than it is in other drafts. That's going to become even more significant when it comes to the twenty twenty six draft after the disappointing year that the Braves had. We'll discuss that a bit more in just a moment, after another word from our partners.

00:25:28
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00:26:57
Speaker 1: So Stephen, you know, of course now with the Brain was having the season that they're having. You know, one thing I know that people you know talk about, you know, you know, looking at you know, potential draft lottery and all that stuff. That was just recently introduced, you know, when it came to Major League Baseball. But you know in previous years you had NBA fans, NFL fans who were you know, watching Tankathon for instance, and other sources seeing where they might get those draft picks. Well, that's going to become something that I think Braves Country is going and maybe have it odd to focus on something like that, but it's going to be carrying more significance as time goes on, but especially without the Major League Baseball Draft is set up. Carlos and Brad talked about this on the Preview show last week. They talked about how the top three picks all had nine point five million or more attached to that slot, whereas the last pick in the first round had three million. That's a huge difference in the slotting system that's in Major League Baseball. But an additional thing that I think Brace fans are going to be watching is that Drake Baldwin who currently is clearly in the mix for the National League Rookie of the Year race, and hopefully we'll get the playing time that he needs to win that award. If he does, the Braves get another significant pick in next year's draft. So Steven. As our attention turns to twenty twenty six, Here's the question that I bring to you. If the Braves land a top ten pick, which I think is very likely, is your focus going to be on? Hey, the twenty twenty six draft seems to be pretty loaded at the top with singular talents. Are you looking at potentially adding a real difference make your singular talent or are you looking for the Braves to do the most that they can with that additional money that they're going to have to work with, which is a lot more than they're used to from recent years.

00:28:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean without knowing names and being able to read what you know scouts believe about specific players and where the Braves specifically on the draft. I'm always in favor of trying to spread your money out, get as many shots out as possible. It's kind of like trading back in the NBA draft or the NFL draft, where you just accumulate more picks. You know, you just give yourself more shots at it. You know, It's kind of like winning a World Series. You know, the playoffs are random, So the best way to win a World series just to be in the playoffs every year. And give yourself more and more shots at it. It's kind of the same logic. That's just how I kind of aro I would approach it if I was the Braves. But you might be in a singular situation where you're in a spot. You know, the Rockies picked fourth in this draft, and Ethan Holliday, who everybody at one point thought was going one to one, was just sitting there at four, you know, and so they took it. And obviously Matt Holliday played for the Rocky so that's a whole different thing. But like sometimes you're just in a spot where the best player, a guy you think is the best players in your lap, and you're like, well, we were gonna do this whole you know, underslot spread it around, but the best player just happened to fall on our lap, so we took them. So again, it's very specific to situation and pick and player, but in general, if you ask me, I would always say, underslot, spread your money around, give yourself four or five shots at getting a really good player, because, let's be honest, like thirty percent. I don't know what the numbers are. You know, the hit rate on MLB draft picks is tiny, so just give yourself as many shots at as possible. We'll see what they do. They're gonna have a high pick, I believe less they just get crazy hot in the second half, which you know, it's been a couple of days, so people might have forgotten the Braves have like three good pitchers, where we really have like two and a half good pitchers at the moment. So I don't exactly see a you know, a fifteen game winning streak coming in any point. But you know, barring something like that, the Braves are going to have a pretty good pick in next year's draft. So you know, this is gonna be the twenty twenty six draft will be as you know, for Braves fans, it will be the draft they focus on as much, if not more, you know, than any sense the rebuilt. Yeah.

00:30:57
Speaker 1: The other thing, of course, you know, the the future, you know, seeing what the Braves can do potentially to continue to add to their minor league system through trades coming up, the Braves likely will be sellers. That of course, is what many have been reporting. And the thing that I'll say is this is that I don't really think that there's a big connection between what a team does in the draft and what they look for when it comes to if they're sellers at getting prospects back, you know, in trades. But with the fact that there's so few defined sellers, I think the Braves that could be if they clearly are committed to selling, I think that could help out with their return. But when you look at this, Stephen, when you look what the Braves did in the draft, does that in any way, shape or form change your outlook at the trade deadline? What you're looking for, like is you know, I think that we would certainly welcome a top rank shortstop in the right trade if it made sense, But I think it's a bit less of a need now, you know, since we were able to land on some guys that we liked. I also think that, you know, with the way that the draft went, you're probably less likely to see like an unexpected significant trade like a Sean Murphy trade or something. Those lines, do you connect what a team does in the draft when they're sellers versus what they could do at the deadline or you it doesn't really make sense to be that focus just at as much overall talent as you can, especially with the needs for the future that the Braves.

00:32:13
Speaker 2: Have, Yeah, definitely more of the second one. For one, you know, every guy who got every basically every position player that got picked in the first round was listed as a shortstop. Half those guys won't actually play shortstop at the big league level. You know. It's like your little league team, the best athlete played shortstop or center field. It's the same thing in high school ball. You know, if you're the best athlete in the field, you're gonna play shortstop. You have the best arm, you're gonna play, you know, center field. If you're the fastest guy. That doesn't mean these guys are all gonna be short Like the Braves took three shortstops for the first first three picks. I have no idea if any of them will play shortstop. There's a chance you could draft five shortstops and not a single one actually is a major league Cali shortstop. So that's why I don't spend a lot of time, you know, breaking down positional needs, because once you get drafted. I think Chipper Jones was drafted as a shortstop. I think Justin Upton was drafted as a shortstop. Like that's what I'm talking about, Like it happens all the time, and you know it doesn't mean anything, so I don't expect it to change anything the Braves do. Anything the Braves go after in terms of prospects and trades, what I would say to the Braves or any other organization or any fan is just the best prospect you can get, regardless of position. Just try to get as much talent to your organization as possible and figure it out later. So yeah, I don't think anything they did this weekend should change any strategy they have with the next two weeks, and I don't think it will. Uh there's you know another thing. These kids are eighteen, I mean half of them. You may never hear from half of them again, So you know it's not it's probably not why to plan around them. You know, even though I know you spend a high Drave pick on them, still doesn't mean much.

00:34:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And that's the thing again, the Braves should be in a mindset to just basically get his quality and assortment of young talent as they can. The front of the farm system has plenty of needs, but I again think it got off to a really good start over the past couple of days and we will have further coverage on the twenty twenty five MLB Draft a guess or two in the coming weeks. It will help break down, you know, the Braves overall haul will have that to look forward to. We'll also have a trade deadline special like we did last year, really breaking down many of the trade candidates. Who makes sense potentially to trade, what could the Braves go actor in potential trades. All that coming up in the next few days. Listen. I know that the content on the field hasn't been that captivating this season, but we're always going to be consistent with our coverage, whether it's on the field, off the field, no matter what is going on. That's what sets Hammer Territorial apart, and that's why we feel we all enjoy it. We can't thank you enough for your support, especially when the Braves haven't been that good this season. But of course, Steven, do you have anything else as we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Terrictory Podcast.

00:35:10
Speaker 2: Nope, just make sure you subscribe. We're gonna have a lot of content obviously, you know, we're gonna we're still gonna have draft stuff. We're gonna have people on that know more than we do talk about the class, especially more in depth. You know, it's a twenty round draft, so there's a lot of names, and then we're gonna go full heavy trade deadline. We're probably gonna do a trade deadline show sometime this week, just kind of a primer because it's a big deal and it's you know, even if the Braves aren't buying, that doesn't mean they're not gonna be active and they might buy. I mean, it's not a crazy thing that they might buy a piece for next year. So I don't think they'll be buying any rentals, but they could still buy. So there's a lot to talk about. So we're gonna have a lot of content one way or the other. Make sure you subscribe. Like Sean said, we are forever grateful for the amount of support we get. It's actually an insane amount of support that we get on the show, so we appreciate it as always.

00:35:58
Speaker 1: Absolutely. You could Stephen at b Underscore Outliers on Twitter slash x. My name is Sean Coleman. You can find me at stats Sac on Twitter, slash x, Hammer Terarrrier to Hammer Territory across all forms of social media. Part of the foul Territory family. Of podcasts, woof tongue tied there, but again, can't thank you enough for the support. A few more days until the season gets back going. Whether or not you think that is exciting or a bit of a curse, we'll we'll wait and see, but we'll always have you covered. Plenty of great content, even this week coming down the pipe for you. Until next time, go braves, we'll talk to you again. Sent here on the Hammer