Boo! Prospects and Peanut Butter Cups

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bryce Harper and welcome to the Billy Show. Hey, everybody, Rubin Tomorrow Junior, Jim Salisbury, Todd Z a Lucky are here. Brought to you by the foul Territory Network. It is Thursday, October thirty first, twenty twenty four.

00:00:19
Speaker 2: It's Halloween, Halloween.

00:00:22
Speaker 1: How are you guys doing? You guys doing good?

00:00:25
Speaker 2: Hell? Are you doing?

00:00:27
Speaker 3: Are doing good?

00:00:29
Speaker 2: We had Presston.

00:00:29
Speaker 1: We talked with Preston Maddingly on Tuesday and that a lot of fun and we really could have kept going there. There was a bunch of other guys that we didn't even ask about, like Eberson Castiano, who is their Paul Own's Award Winners Minor League.

00:00:42
Speaker 4: Pitcher of the Year. Didn't ask about it.

00:00:44
Speaker 1: There's a couple of guys, other guys we didn't really dig into, but.

00:00:48
Speaker 4: Learned a lot.

00:00:49
Speaker 1: It was fun talking to Preston. What when you think back about that interview, Jim, like, you know what jumps out? What jumped out at you about any any impressions and any of the guys he talked about about this aid the system anything like that.

00:01:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean a lot jumped out of me. Something you and I talked about in planning for that interview. They just there's just more guys to talk about nowadays, more guys to talk about than there were, you know, four or five, six years ago. So they've brought more quality material ingredients into their system and then you hand them over to the play development people, and that's what Preston the department. Preston heads up. I thought he was really good talking about guys. I mean, some of these guys I am really excited about. I think we all know about Andrew Painter in what he's doing. You know, Aiden Miller, another number one pick of the state of Florida, shortstop third baseman, really interesting guy, all around player, mega prospect. It was fun hearing about him, and kind of one thing that jumped out to me that you know, Preston thinks he could play second base as well, so shortstop base, second base. They really have options, positional options with this kid, depending on where there might be a need as things evolve in Philadelphia and he gets closer to coming to Philadelphia. So I thought that was very interesting. His stance on starting pitching was very interesting. I know that was something kind of music to Ruben's ears, and you know, with Justin Crawford. I've covered this team for a long time and it just hasn't been that steady center fielder that you can count on year after year after year. It's kind of been a sinkhole out there running guys through all the time. And you know, this is the guy that might have the staying power to fill that role, and maybe maybe sooner than we think. I'm not saying April of twenty twenty five, but you know, he keeps, you know, getting closer to Philadelphia. It might not be all that far away with a guy like Justin Crawford. So really interesting interview. I would anybody who missed it, I would encourage him to go back and check it out. What jumped out at you, Reuben.

00:03:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll stay macro on this thing. And when I say macro, I will talk a lot about, you know, more philosophy than anything else because that's what I'm sort of interested in, and how that they're developing the players. And it just seemed like on a couple of different levels. You mentioned the one thing about starting pitching, I think he was. I liked his answer about him talking about I hope they don't change, like the rules of the starting pitching stuff. But I totally agree with that, and it just seems like they're trying to develop guys for more length. And I think that that is something that's that's an important element of the game that has been basically tossed aside. And I think it's a detriment to the game that guys are not getting stretched out to the point where they're able to pitch six, seven, eight innings instead of you know, four or five. And you see it in the World Series, you see it. You know. It just it's too much pressure, I think on a team to cover the innings that are necessary. And I think if you look at our big league team, you know, look at the three or four guys at the top of their rotation, and I mean they expect those guys to go six or seven innings every time out. And I'm hopeful that that philosophy sort of works its way down and it sounds like it is with Preston. I'm also really impressed by Pressting just overall, just listening to you know, the overall development, like people want to just throw guys at the big leagues and just move them up as quickly as possible. And I think they will be aggressive, but there's also you have to sort of let the player dictate. The player will dictate your your overall plan. Not everybody is moved in the same way. Not everybody can handle different levels and different in the same way. And I think every and and the fact that they're taking everybody on an individual basis and making sure that they have certain markers and challenging them in a certain way. I think that was also really impressive as well.

00:05:00
Speaker 1: So so Aiden Miller is you know, obviously in one of the top prospects in baseball. He's the Phillies' number one prospect. And Dave Dombrowski a couple weeks ago kind of like, I don't say through cold water on his ability to help the team next year, but he said, you know, he's he's a ways a way that Jim you you mentioned this a couple times. I was in high school a year and a half ago. What I'm wondering, do you think there's any chance that he this team next year?

00:05:28
Speaker 4: Ruben?

00:05:29
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this question as a GM, right, Dave. When Dave says something like that, is that one hundred percent like this guy's got no shot? Or is he just trying to temper expectations or is he trying to like, maybe you know, chill the player out a little bit so he's not running. You know, because on one hand, Dave will say, like, I'm not afraid to promote young players if they're ready. Preston said the same thing. Now it's a big difference between them from from Jersey Short to Redding. But if this guy go out and he starts in running great, and then he gets promoted to Lehigh Valley and he plays great, why you know, why stop him? You know, if there's a need at the big league level, where do you kind of where do you kind of feel that that situation could be at.

00:06:15
Speaker 2: Well, I think, more than anything else, is probably tempering expectation. But it's also but Dave's been around a long time. I mean, there's not a lot of players. It doesn't happen very often that these young players can move that quickly and be impactful at the major leagues. At the major league level, especially position players, unless it's a player's been playing a long time and you know, was playing since he was sixteen or seventeen years old in the system. You know, as an international player, it's different. It's different being a domestic player and being an international player, just because I think the reps are different. The amount of time on the field itself is different. But Dave Debrowski's not afraid to move guys. I mean, I've seen him do it with Andrew benin Tende. Ive seen him bring guys to the big leagues. He's not afraid to make that move. And I think, you know, they'll probably just allow the player to dictate his path. And my dad always said the same thing, and I think I believe that Dave Dombrowski has the same sort of philosophy as this Preston Maddingly, that the player will dictate how quickly you're the big when you're tired and where you're time to be in the big leagues is here, then you will be in the big leagues and you will be impact. I don't think that they want these players to necessarily feel like their saviors. But at the same time, if they feel that they're ready to be in the big leagues and there's a place for them to play in the big leagues consistently, I don't think that they're going to be afraid to move guys forward.

00:07:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with him, and I think I've been around gms that tamp down expectations just to protect the player a little bit. Players gung ho and players so focused on getting there. Maybe he doesn't, you know, focus on where his feet his feet are at the moment. I'm not saying that's the case with ad Miller. By all indications, he's a really mature, level headed gamer baseball player, but he like you know, we've always said, the player will tell you when he's ready, and if there's a whole, they'll put him in. I need they'll, they'll slot him in. I think. I think even if he even if he spends all next year in the minor leagues, all of twenty twenty five in the minor leagues and gets here in twenty six, I still think that's a rapid ascension, really rapid. Yeah. So very encouraged by what I see of him, when I read about him, when I see him on the stat sheets and some of the other metrics, and just to hear it from from the farm director's mouth, I mean, we used to call him farm directors. Have there's so much more to to.

00:08:47
Speaker 2: But best vice president of player development.

00:08:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, they and it's it is about development, and his his development is not done yet. You can still you know, gosh. I mean, like we said, he just was in high school a year and a half ago. Let him breathe a little bit, let him have a lot of ops, and let him learn from a few down times, and you'll get a good looking player in Philadelphia. And like I said earlier, it really intrigued me. They think he can play three positions. I mean, that adds a lot of value to a guy. And I want to do organization where you can slot him in where your biggest need might be.

00:09:28
Speaker 2: And again, I mean that's part of the development. I mean, you do not want to have this guy have, you know, seven or eight games at second base and then all of a sudden, I haven't played second base in the major leagues. That's just not the way to do it. I think you're putting a guy in a very very difficult position development I'd rather have. I know that there's development in the Major Lakes, but I'd like to have the guy closer to being an actual major league product when he hits the major leagus than what we have seen in the past. And some organizations that are basically just throwing guys to the big leagus and go get him. You know, O'Neil Cruz is one of those guys. There's a you know, Elie de la Cruz who's super talented. Maybe he was ready, But there's so many different guys that are being thrown to the Major League so quickly, and it's in some ways unfair to the player. Some guys, it's great. For some guys it's not. But it's not something that should be happening on a daily basis because I think that certain guys can handle it, other guys cannot.

00:10:26
Speaker 4: Rubin, Rubin, you're when you were running the show, you guys took a lot of heat for Ryan Howard's trajectory to the big leagues. Oh they kept him down too long. Even you could even make the case that you took some heat for Chase Sutley's trajectory to the big leagues. Oh he was behind guys. He didn't get here fast enough. They should have gotten those guys here fast enough. Really, all you ever hear on that matter is criticism, when if you look at it, at League came here and it was a good player right away. Ryan Howard came here and hits three hundred, like right out of the gate. There is an argument to be made that maybe the Phillies did it the right way, like they used to be five under the bats at every level and really mastered those are bats and and got a season at every level and then came to the big leagues ready to be a real contributor. So, you know, I get what you're saying, and I think we can't lose sight of that, just because prospects are so much more hyped these days and there's so much more video and social media and we're thirsty to see them, that it still takes time to develop a quality major league and no matter how talented that guy indeed is, And it's.

00:11:40
Speaker 2: Not just about developing a major league player, it's about developing a winning major league player, I mean, and that's part of it too. And and so there are some dots, there's some eyes that need to be dotted, and some teas they need to be crossed. I mean, Preston manningly said it to himself. There's a huge gap between Triple A and Major LEA baseball right now. There really is. And just because the guys you know, swinging the band, maybe even just as big from Double A to the major leagues. And so just because the guys having success at the Double A level does not necessarily mean you're going to be have be successsful player or ready to play in the major leagues. Sometimes it takes some time, and I think everybody's in an individual here, But I'd like to think that we did do the right for some of those guys. Maybe the players didn't feel that way because he probably thought they should be in the big leagues. But hey, again, they made their marks and they're and they've had great years.

00:12:34
Speaker 1: Well, I know Ryan Howard didn't, because I still I remember the time that Harold Reynolds went on Baseball Tonight and said that his brother sent a fax to the Phillies demanding a Ryan Howard trade. Remember that, Oh I remember, I know, I remember.

00:12:50
Speaker 4: This is so funny.

00:12:51
Speaker 5: His brother being Larry the age, Arry Reynolds, the agent, Larry rends the agent, Harold comes.

00:12:56
Speaker 2: Up, it was a great agent, and then was fired obviously, Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:13:00
Speaker 1: But I will remember this. I was driving home that day and my office called this is like, you know, just flip phones and whatever, and they go, yeah, you know, Harold Reynolds went on and said the Phillies that Larry Reynolds, Howard's agent faxed over a trade demand.

00:13:16
Speaker 2: Oh crap, all.

00:13:17
Speaker 1: Right, so I pull over on the side of the road. I pulled no parking. I call Ed Wade, who was the GM at the time, and I said, Hey, Ed, I'm calling about this report there Reynolds faxed over a trade demand. He's like, that is correct, And I said, uh, and what and what's your what's your I mean, what's your response to that? And it goes duly noted.

00:13:42
Speaker 4: In other words like this is not how trades work.

00:13:47
Speaker 2: In your hat.

00:13:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, I know, yeah, exactly, exactly, Like a guy with no big league service time, no matter how good he is, cannot demand a trade, and obviously they end up trading you know, uh, you know, Pad ends up trading Tony and Howard comes up and becomes MVP in two thousand and six.

00:14:07
Speaker 1: So one other guy that Preston talked about, which I think it's gonna be such a big important season for him, not that this season wasn't important, was the development of McK abel. He mentioned that he thinks hopefully that these struggles this year will help him in the long run. He is still only twenty two. You know, he played high school baseball in Oregon. He missed time because of COVID, you know, so he's you can make the argument that he's behind a lot of other guys in terms of his development. But this was a guy that we've talked a lot about that was supposed to do that should have been in position to be that number five starter this year and lockdown that number five starter spot instead of the parade that they had late in the season. You know, a big year for him too. You know, they if they if he could actually turn a corner now they're now, they're in now, they're in good shape with pain and abor kind of how they kind of how they envisioned it.

00:14:57
Speaker 2: That would we create obviously a whole a little a different set of areas of depth for them. And that's no question about it. But everybody's different, man, everybody. Everybody has to go through ups and downs their their bodies and their minds have to be developed and uh and sometimes it just takes some more time than others for certain guys, and hopefully that's what happens. They have the ability. It's not about the stuff. It's not about the arm strength. It's not about any of that. It's really about whether their makeup allows them to get to the place where they can, you know, mechanically do what's necessary to be an effective Major leaguer.

00:15:34
Speaker 4: And on the current events side, we get into a little bit about selectivity at the plate for hitters and not chasing, and he said something I agree with. I mean, you know, you got to bring those guys into your system. You've gotta You're gotta draft them and acquire them, because those skills are often you know, in place on a get long before he gets to your system. You can tweak them, you can improve them, but the guy usually has that inate ability to control the strike zone or at least something he developed as a young player and he carried it forward. So it's tough to take a guy who's chased his whole career, his whole life and has a high chase rate and all of a sudden turning them into mister selectivity. So yeah, you got to be eyeball and those players and bring him in and then tweak them along the way. If you really want to kind of change the organizational or make it an organizational strength, I should say.

00:16:33
Speaker 2: I mean hitting is a very it's a skill. It's like a real God given skill eye hand coordination, being able to take your barrel of your bat to a ninety plus ninety seven mile an hour cutter or fastball or change up or breaking ball. That is an actual skill set that is God given. You can improve on it, you can get better. There's ways to get better. But it's like saying, you know this guy's instinctive, Well, he was born with that instinct. It was not he didn't develop the instinct. You can get better and become a smarter player, but that instinct that is innate and something that comes God given. And you know, that's what he was talking about. As far as just bringing him into the system. You got to bring those guys in who have that ability already. You know.

00:17:21
Speaker 1: You talk about chase rate and swing and miss and I've been watching the World Series and I have seen Aaron Judges struggles and it's all over TV, you know, and all over the internet and all over everything. He's swinging and missing a lot, He's chasing a lot of pitches. And man, I'm watching these World Series games, I'm going you really appreciate how good Bryce Harper is considering how this guy gets nothing in the strike zone to hit. I mean I went and I looked at the numbers today, and pitches in the strike on Bryce Harper like thirty eight point five percent in the last two year, last three postseasons, he ranks eighty first out of eighty three hitters that have seen like fifty or more pitches in the strike zone in terms of you know, pitches overall pitches in the strike zone. He gets nothing to hit, and this guy but still puts up major numbers, you know, ops over like one point one, you know, hit hitting almost like three thirty in the I think three twenty five in the postseason the last three years. Just that just really jumped out of me. As you see Aaron Judge struggle with it, and you go, he's actually seeing more strikes than Bryce Harper, does you know? I know it's it's kind of not exactly apples to apples, but you know that that that that that jumps out.

00:18:42
Speaker 4: There's there's so much there, you know, focus on Bryce. I mean, obviously he's a remarkable player. If you can put like when bald was productive of May June, you know, Harper was a player of the Month yeah, get that little bit of give that picture a little something to think about. With a protective bat behind him, makes me even better. And then the whole judge thing, like legacies and reputations can be built in the postseason, or at least enhanced. I mean, he's an MVP, he's a future Hall of Famer already, I would say, but you know they your resume, A great resume includes postseason success. I mean it's probably like you look at a guy like Shilling and I think he got a lot of Hall of Fame votes. Obviously, I'm not going to get into it. He's not in the Hall of Fame, but he had a lot of Hall of Fame supporters and a lot of people hung their support for him on what he did in the postseason. So postseason can really enhance the guy's reputation and his resume, whatever you want to call it. And he has struggles, and he is struggling in this one, and he's doing it in a market where they put so much emphasis on the postseason and so much glare on it. It'll follow him unless he turns it around and it has a great postseason, it wins the championship.

00:20:06
Speaker 2: Someday yeah, I mean to think about great players who struggling in the postseason. Barry Bonds, I mean, one of the best hitters, the best hitter I've ever seen, and he struggled in the postseason. Played in to have at as many reps I guess, but but didn't didn't have a ton of success either. Listen, it's a different ballgame. People don't think it's not a different ballgame in the postseason. You're wrong, especially when there's really high expectations. I think Aaron Judge is caught in between right now, probably you know, expecting a lot from himself and also you know, a nice job by the Dodgers of doing what they need to do to try to to tamper his production. So hey, this is part of the game. But hey, you feel for the guy because, I mean, he's a great ambassador of the game, I think, great professional and and hopefully for his sake, he can turn things around.

00:21:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, if not this postseason, you know, then you know future postseasons. I remember John Elway couldn't win the Big One until he won a bunch of them, you know, so you know you can you can get that turned around pretty quickly.

00:21:15
Speaker 4: I think, great, great players are so cognizant of that that how much postseason or playoff performance means. And then they press. And when you press, you're not yourself. You're not the guy who put up those big numbers all during the season. You're you're somebody else. And you can see it just the way he's chasing pitches. Put too much pressure on yourself. It's really hard to perform up to your up to your normal standard because that normal standard is is is just natural.

00:21:43
Speaker 1: So like going back to like that, that rate Harper this postseason seventy fifth out of seventy nine. Like players with like fifty or more pitches. Pitches in the zone below him are his Shoho Tani, Trey Turner, Chris Taylor last three postseasons only Corey Seeger and Showyotani. I've seen fewer pictures in the strike sunes, So again, what Price does is pretty remarkable. Yeah, guys, it is Halloween Thursday night, and I thought I would share something that you guys might Yeah, so I found this picture. You know, one of the kids in the neighborhood in my son's class went as Brandon Marsh a couple of weeks ago. They had a thing at the school and he ended up winning a prize for best costume in his in his grade. And I was like, Brandon marsh that's a good idea. And it reminds me of this. Take a look at this photo. This is me probably nineteen eighty two. Camera quality is not great. That is me in a Brewer's costume. You had the Really the picture quality.

00:22:49
Speaker 4: Is not great.

00:22:50
Speaker 1: That is a painted on handlebar mustache. That is me as Raleigh Fingers. For Halloween. I went, I went for I love that costume. So I went as Rally Fingers two years in a row, nine years ago in nineteen eighty years.

00:23:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know a Rally Fingers.

00:23:10
Speaker 2: He's a man, yeah he or whatever.

00:23:13
Speaker 1: So that was That was my Halloween costume when I was did my mom painted it on.

00:23:18
Speaker 4: I had a Brewers jersey.

00:23:19
Speaker 1: I had a Brewers baseball cap and uh, that was probably one of my more memorable costumes.

00:23:25
Speaker 4: When I guarantee you all three of us, that's how we learned through ROLLI Fringers, how we learned what a handlebar mustache is. The espression handlebar. And I can remember looking at that thing when he was pitching for the Oakland A's in the seventies staring asking my dad about it, he said, well, you have to wax it and curl it. I love the story. So the as all had facial hair, right, mustaches, mustaches, and I love the story about how they they all, you know, started growing mustaches. So Charlie Findley was the owner and Reggie Jackson was on the team, and I think he had like a facial hair policy that Charlie Finley like this guy's clean cot and clean shaven. But Reggie was his own guy, and he decided he was going to have a beard or a mustache or something. So Finley decided he was going to upstage Reggie, and he offered all the players three hundred bucks if they grew a mustache, so they would upstage Reggie so he wouldn't stand out. I just love I had one encounter with Roley Fingers. I man, I watched his whole career. He was great, ye and he'd give me those three inning saves.

00:24:32
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.

00:24:33
Speaker 4: Yeah. When I was a kid, he got traded to the Red Sox for one day. He actually put on a Red Sox uniform, and then the commissioner rescinded the trade and sent them back to Oakland.

00:24:42
Speaker 2: But really so when I.

00:24:44
Speaker 4: Think it was the Subway Series in two thousand, Mets Yankees, like I camped out at the LaGuardia Mariotte for like two weeks, and I was in there on the treadmill one day, you know, one day, and Alli Fingers was on the next treadmill over. He was in at the World Series doing some promotional work and he still had the handlebar. He looked great, and talked a little baseball with him. I tried not to, you know, get under his skin, but it was. It was really cool. And I said, I know this guy in Milwaukee who you know, wore a costume of you.

00:25:20
Speaker 6: I don't kid, Jim, did you ever wear a costume of a player when you were I think I may have gone with at the time that you know, the Flyers are big seventy four or seventy five, So when I was about seven or eight years old, no, eight or nine years old during that time, nine or ten, I probably went with.

00:25:39
Speaker 2: Like a Rick c Rick McLeish or Bobby Clark or something. I'm sure I and he didn't go as Bobby, maybe even maybe even Bernie Parant. Did you ever go as Bobby or or anybody like that there.

00:25:50
Speaker 4: I think I actually wore my hockey my hockey year to school one day as Bobby Orr for like a class Halloween party. But nice, I was just usually a home year one year. I was you yourself. I'm dating myself here. But do you remember the show The Gong Show.

00:26:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course.

00:26:10
Speaker 4: So they used to have this guy who used to come out called the Unknown Comic, and he's he wore a jacket a time, he put a bag over his head. Yeah, one year, Unknown Comic and then yeah, that was fun.

00:26:23
Speaker 1: That is great.

00:26:24
Speaker 3: That is great.

00:26:25
Speaker 1: Well, I'm looking forward to Halloween tonight.

00:26:26
Speaker 4: About your favorite candy.

00:26:28
Speaker 1: My favorite candy for sure is Reese's peanut butter cups. In fact, twenty twenty two, when the Phillies were in the World Series, they were in Houston, I think they were in Houston on Halloween, and I told my son, I said, do me a favor, and Gret anytime you can grab a peanut butter cup, grab a peanut butter cup. And God bless him, he loves me. He showed me as they took. My wife sent me a picture of his his all of his goods. Afterward, he put everything on the living room floor and there was a ton of peanut butter cups. Yeah, so that made me feel good about myself.

00:26:58
Speaker 2: What about you, Jim, what are your top I candy?

00:27:01
Speaker 4: I like them all. I love reces, I love uh, I love peanut butter twigs, though they're hard to find now, baby ruts I've always been, you know, you know, partial of the baby roots. They're they're good ones.

00:27:16
Speaker 2: How about your go So I'm Reese's peanut butter cups got to be number one. Yeah, the chocolate peanut butter combo platter. You know, it's just tremendous. But I also go with but I also am really big on Snickers and also really big on almond Joys. You know, I'm a joy has nuts.

00:27:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, Mom, don't.

00:27:37
Speaker 2: That's what they say.

00:27:39
Speaker 4: That's what they say. Oh my gosh.

00:27:42
Speaker 1: We we actually bought our our Halloween candy a couple of weeks ago, and we've slowly, I've slowly eaten all the peanut butter cups. So we have to go out restock before you got to regroup, Yeah, yeah, before tonight.

00:27:52
Speaker 3: So uh, Anyway, I thought you guys would get a kick out a rally fingers photo and well, yeah, we'll be back. Off season is gonna be officially underway to see what the Phillies have up their sleeves over the next few weeks, and we'll be coming at least twice every week, so keep.

00:28:09
Speaker 1: Keep following us all off season.

00:28:11
Speaker 2: Let's go, I'll talk again Halloween.

00:28:14
Speaker 4: Smell you later, boys later.

00:28:17
Speaker 1: The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Phillies Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. If you like us, give us a review, Follow us on Instagram, TikTok x, Facebook, and threads. Find Rubens analysis before, during, and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Find Jim at all phl y dot com. Find me at MLB dot com, the Phillies Beat newsletter, and MLB Network