Braves Split Two Games With Giants As Deadline Looms

00:00:20
Speaker 1: Welcome on and all to the Hemmer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. It's a pleasure to be with you as always, wherever you are and wherever you are listening. Hope that you were having a great week. And it is the latest edition of the Coleman and Coleman Law Firm, the favorite combination among Braves country. I don't know if that's actually true, but hey, for the sake of the show, we're going to act as it is. And always, Scott, I can't remember the last time we did back to back podcast together, but good talking with you, sir. Hope that you're having a great week as well.

00:00:49
Speaker 2: Hey Sean, good to see you, buddy. And hey, our co hosts man like Steven is out in the middle of the ocean somewhere on a cruise ship, presumably not following the Braves. Good on him, good timing there, Stephen, Brad is always traveling. Brad never has two days at home without being on the go again. So yeah, Coleman and Coleman show kind of weird last forty eight hours for the Braves. They had a big win on Monday and then they got their butts whooped on Tuesday, and we're also like a week away from the trade deadline, so there's plenty of things happening, even if maybe it's not the standing situation that we're we were hoping for.

00:01:24
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and of course we can't thank you enough for joining us once again, those of you who are consistently listening to the show. Hammer Territory part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. But let's get into that. We'll get into there were some you know, rumblings, I guess you could say some you know, basically rehashing of kind of known information, but this time from pretty knowledgeable sources. We'll get into that in just a moment when it comes to trade talks. But I do think that it's important to hit on the game real quickly. Of course, as we're recording, we are recording during the game, the Braves are losing nine to nothing. But this is kind of being what you should expect in the second half of the season. Scott a litle bit later on the show, we're going to talk about some things to look forward to, but it's more the inconsistency. It's good to see the offense doing better, but the pitching. Now the lack of pitching depth. The injuries are really starting to catch up, so you're gonna see some high scoring games, but unfortunately, it's still gonna lead to a lot of Braves' losses. Eight to three last night, nine to nothing tonight. That's probably gonna be the theme for the second half of the season.

00:02:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it is a good thing that the offense has woken up a bit. Now. We say that as if they're not in the process of being shut out, or at least the last time I looked at the scoreboard, they were being shut out. But for the most part, over the last two weeks or so, really, since Jerks and Profar came back, the offense has been better. I believe the Braves lead the National League and home runs in the month of July, and they were top ten on the whole coming into today. So better. They're still not great, no one, We're not gonna, you know, lie to ourselves and say that all is fixed with this team offensively, but they have been better than they were earlier in the year. But as we all kind of feared when they lost Sale, when they lost Schwallenbach, they lost Smith Shaver, they lose Lopez I mean they're running Davis Daniel, Joey Wentz, Bryce Elder as sixty percent of their rotation right now, and even Grant Holmes has maybe started to slow down a little bit as he really hits a high high level of innings pitched for his standard. So it would be very on brand for this offense to figure things out in the second half, just as half of the pitching staff is on the injured list. But I think you have to take the many victories where you can, and if it means the Braves are going to score a few more runs and maybe play more of these higher scoring games, even if they're probably not going to win a ton, you take it and hopefully it's something.

00:03:44
Speaker 1: To build on, absolutely because we all want to see the offense going again. Number one, it just makes the game more fun. Number two gives you more error room for error to work with. And number three, that's just kind of how we won games when this team is at its best, it's got its offense as is as its identity. But just because you know there's not much to talk about in terms of potential winning this season, that doesn't mean that there's not stuff to talk about. And some pretty prominent names. We're talking about the Braves today, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic as well as Buster Only of ESPN. The gist of what they said is kind of what we've heard due to the fact that the Braves really have kind of put out there that they're not going to really discuss anybody in trade outside of rentals. I know that we talked in depth about a lot of different options on the Trade Deadline show, make sure you check it out, but the Braves have kind of been adamant that they're really not going to talk about anybody other than rentals, and that led Ken Rosenthal Scott to basically say it probably gonna be a quiet deadline for the Braves. You're going to maybe see them sell off two or three pieces. You know, as we discussed, the return on those pieces probably is not going to be anything world changing. But Buster one also went a bit further to say, throw some cold water on some speculation. Sean Murphy is not available. Basically, Sean Murphy is not one that is being discussed. It looks as if the Braves are definitely they're kind of putting the same message with him that they did with Chris Sale. He's not going anywhere. What are your thoughts when you hear that. I get it, and we can discuss a little bit more, but also just don't want to completely shut the door if somebody really comes after Sean Murphy.

00:05:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, over the last what three or four weeks, it's been basically the same message from every reporter around the Braves locally and nationally with the trade deadline, and yes, there are some kind of side pieces that they could sell and recoup some money, and maybe a lottery ticket prospector too, But I mean, if you read between the lines, nobody thinks that Sean Murphy is getting moved. And that's pretty significant because you can make a real case that Murphy might be a top three bat that was even presumably available at the trade deadline. Here as seventy five percent of the league finds itself in playoff contention. So if folks missed it, Only said pretty definitively, the Braves do not intend to sell Sean Murphy. Now, maybe they revisit that discussion in the off season. They might have to in order to address some of the other needs. But as Only pointed out, I think, as all of our listeners know, the Braves for years have really valued having two good, reliable catchers. Catchers are so hard to find. We saw firsthand, you know, they let go of William Contreras and Shay Langeliers and the good young catchers just don't grow on trees, and lo and behold, the Braves have stumbled into another really good one with Baldwin. So yeah, I'm anticipating the next ten days as we approach the deadline, are going to be relatively quiet. There might be a little bit of a surprise out there, but frankly, the good players are not available and the rental players are just not going to command a ton in return.

00:06:47
Speaker 1: So I'm kind of split on this. And the reason that I say that is because I get every reason as to why the Braves want to keep Sean Murphy it through this trade deadline. Want to see if this catcher dh combination thing can work, and if it can, it's an ideal situation. So many teams I'm sure would love to try it. That makes sense. It makes sense also to keep Sean Murphy around just to make sure and we're gonna talk about Drake Baldwin in a little bit, just to make sure Drake Baldwin is the real deal. You know, Drake Baldwin, maybe he falls off or something like that in the second half of the season. You don't know, So keeping Sean Murphy around makes perfect sense. And lastly, it also makes sense to wait till the off season because as Steven and yourself have mentioned, it's really hard to implement a successful catching setup in the middle of the season. But also for the Braves, you get more trade partners in the off season and that can only drive Sean Murphy's value up. So there are reasons to keep him. But Scott, you also mentioned this, and I think it is such a huge point, is that if you're gonna keep Sean Murphy, that is perfectly fine. But you've also got to figure out if you're gonna keep Sean Murphy lose mar Solo Zuna and you're gonna be okay with the DHB and Drake Baldwin. At Murphy's level of offense, you've got to upgrade elsewhere. That's got to be a key, and Sean Murphy may be your best option to do that.

00:08:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's fascinating because as we go to the off season, if you take a quick stock of this lineup. Let's just talk lineup only. We'll set pitching aside, but catcher is set. Regardless of what they do. The Braves are going to be in good shape at catcher, first base, locked in, third base, locked in the outfield, I think is locked in now. If you want to argue that they're not married to Profar, sure, if you want to say they might be able to sell low, like really low on Michael Harris, I personally wouldn't bother. But it is what it is. Acunya. Obviously you're not treating Acunya. But that leaves effectively three positions, three of your nine spots in the lineup that you could presumably upgrade or need to upgrade this offseason. Second base, shortstop in DH. And if you're gonna run with Murphy and Baldwin as your catcher DH, I think that's fine. I think those two would hit enough because, like scher like, part of why Sean Murphy's really valuable is because he catches, and he's an elite defensive catcher, just offensively pure offense. Murphy is a good hitter, but he's not a Kyle Schwarber or a Marcelo ZOONA last year level type of hitter. But I think it would be fine a Baldwin Murphy rotation. It prevents an or it covers you in case of an injury. There's reasons the Braves want to carry these two catchers, and I think it would be fine as a catcher DH. The challenge is that then you have to upgrade your middle infield, and that's a lot easier said than done. I'm on the camp short of Ozzy Albay's just going nuts these final two months. I think you have to move on from Ozzy. He just hasn't shown us anything in a year plus to show that he is good enough. I know he has the cheap option on his contract, but he might be a total zero next season and this lineup can for that. And then shortstop has basically been a black hole offensively since Danzy Swanson left, and we know how hard it can be to find a shortstop. So this is a real decision the Braves are going to have to make. Can they upgrade the middle of the infield without giving out a ludicrous contract and free agent or could they do it without trading Sean Murphy, who is by far and away their biggest trade chip right now I don't know, Sean, it is a I would love to have five minutes with Alexanthopolis and really just have a true heart to heart of where he feels like this organization is at. Because I mean, that was a long winded way of saying they have some really big decisions ahead of them in the next few months.

00:10:39
Speaker 1: And the thing that scares me a bit when you were talking about the Sean Murphy Drake Baldwin combination at ketcher and DH, I imagined that there are many teams Scott out there that would love to implement that strategy. But you said that they may be able to hit enough, and I think that's accurate. I think that that makes sense. But this Braves team needs as many potential lie the sources of offenses it can get, especially if Austin Riley, Michael Harris and Assy Albi's are not what they once were. You hope that's not the case, but this year certainly is not offering any indication that that's not the case. The point that I'm getting at is is that if you go with Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin as your DH catcher, they may hit well for catchers, but it's not the same level as a DH, and then if you don't upgrade the middle infield, you're really back to square one once again. And that Scott's changed, you cannot afford to keep the potential of this offense at the same level as it has been the past two years.

00:11:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just full stop. You can't run it back. Can't do it. I mean, that's that feels foolish to me. I don't think the Braves are going to do it. If they want to run it back with Michael Harris and hope that maybe with a full offseason they can do some deep dive on what's wrong with his swinging and his approach, maybe they can figure out Michael Harris. And if they have a good enough hitting DH, and let's say they go get a good enough, a better second baseman, I think you can with a no hitting Gold Glove level shortstop with Nick Allen. But that's again assuming you can find a good hitting second basement and those are not just readily available by any means.

00:12:10
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I think Nick Allen himself is an asset for this team, but he is a winning asset, or he is a main asset for a winning team that has the luxury of having a very good glove. This team basically cannot just put their hopes on internal improvement while also letting Marcelos in a walk this offseason. As to the solution for this offense, they're probably going to have to go outside the box. They're probably going to have to get creative, and Sean Murphy is a pretty obvious choice if they decide to do that. But the biggest reason why we're talking even talking about Sean Murby with the year that he's having being potentially expendable, is because how absolutely incredible Drake Baldwin has been. And the good thing about it, there are indicators that this just could be the beginning. It's not a flash in the fan. He could well be on his way to being one of the best in the game at the catcher's position. More on that in just the moment.

00:12:59
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00:14:00
Speaker 1: So, scott As, we are tak as. We have now shifted to the second half of the season, and we're now going to talk a little bit about what is there to look forward to. What positive should we focus on because I know that there's not a lot with the big League club. But there's that doesn't mean that you still can't find reason to tune in, keep up and really enjoy the product that's your season. And first and foremost, you've got Ronald A Cooonda junior, who's Ronald A Counya junior. But perhaps the second biggest reason why is one Drake Baldwin. Now we've talked Drake Baldwin plenty on this podcast, but I really wanted to dive into after his incredible game, one of the best games we've seen from the bravest Rooky ever on Monday night. Wanted to talk about just how impressive Baldwin has been and also some indicators that it could stay like it could be maintained beyond this year. Scott will start though, with you, Drake Baldwin. We figured that he had a good chance of being pretty good this year. I don't think anybody thought he'd be at this level.

00:14:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, Baldwin incredible. And it's not just that he's a catcher who calls a good game behind the plate and seemingly has the full trust of his pitching staff. It's not just the fact that he hits two eighty five and has an eight point fifty ops and a one thirty five WRC plus. But just everything around Baldwin screams, I'm a good player. And his approach at the plate for a player who has two hundred and fifty plate appearances at the major league level under his belt, his approach is so good and is at bats, he never gives away at bats, they're so complete. He works deep into the count, and he's a complete hitter. He can. He has some power, like like legitimate hit the ball ten fifteen rows, deep power, really good on base. He doesn't strike out a lot. He doesn't have a lot of swing and miss. Last time I looked, his strikeout rate is only fifteen or sixteen percent, which is elite, especially when you think about not only the stuff that he's seeing on a nightly basis, but also just the fact that Baldwin has really high EXI velocities and hard hit rates. He is just such an impressive young player only twenty four years old. I mean, he's the complete package. And I mean I was excited about Baldwin hearing what people around the organization were saying in the spring and even last year when he was just going crazy down in Gwinnett and in the minors. But Baldwin is so much better than I thought he was going to be as a rookie and man alive. I mean, the Braves seemingly have found yet another catcher that's going to be a core piece for a long time.

00:16:31
Speaker 1: So I can certainly get where people, you know, they see Drake Baldwin having the success that he's had in and you know, especially with kind of how several of current Braves who were thought to well be on their way to be in near the best in the league at their current positions, the way that they've kind of fallen off over the past eighteen months, I can see people being a bit skeptical is this a flash in the pan when it comes to Drake Baldwin. But there are plenty of indicators where that's not the case. I don't think that Chris Sayle personally spotlighting Drake Baldwin at the beginning of the season in spring training. I don't think Chris Seal takes the time to do that unless he sees something special. And I trust Chris Sell's opinion of seeing something special more than most. But Scott, there's also the underlying metrics that show he's doing what you would expect for him to do, and he does it, like you said, in all situations. He's got an eight to ninety six OPS against left handed pitching. He's got a nine to sixteen OPS with runners in scoring position. That's something you don't see catchers his age do usually you certainly don't see Braves doing it. But that's the big thing also that I'm really encouraged by when it comes to his inclusion on the Braves. He helps out in areas where we need it. Steven yourself, so many of us talked about extending the lineup this winter. We thought Drake Baldwin could eventually be that. He certainly has proven to be that much quicker than anticipated.

00:17:53
Speaker 2: And I'm really happy and excited that the Braves have made this shift with their lineup to get in the lineup basically every single game. En sure, he might sit every now and then because he needs a breather it's hot in middle of the summertime catching and dhing, but the Braves have clearly made a shift with their lineup to get Drake Baldwin in there every single night or close to it. We've talked about the importance of him winning the Rookie of the Year award because of the draft pick. Obviously, we know we want Baldwin to win Rookie of the Year because he's deserving and that would be a very cool achievement for him. But you talk about adding another first round pick and the money that comes with it. Frankly, the Braves need that if this is a lost season, let's make the most of this high draft pick. Next summer, get another pick, get more money to work with, and let's restock this farm system because lord knows, if this team is going to continue to win divisions and compete for division titles, they're gonna need reinforcements down in the minors. Free agency is only getting more and more expensive every year. They don't really have trade assets right now that they can comfortably give away to improve the big league team because the few prospects that are worth the dam in the system they're probably gonna want to help in twenty twenty six, in twenty twenty seven. So yeah, I'm glad that Baldwin's having such a good year, such an important player for this team, and hopefully health permitting, he can win Rookie of the Year and give the Braves kind of an added bonus off the field, another indication.

00:19:22
Speaker 1: And put on this what you may, because I know it's a short sample size. I won't go into all the details, but look at put a few perspectives out there on Twitter of just how special Baldwin is being at his age and as a rookie. And since two thousand, the only players that have done or exceeded what Baldwin is doing in his rookie year or in a season where they were as young as Drake Baldwin are Brian mccannon, Alejandro Kirk, Mike Napoli, Will Smith, and a guy by the name of Joe Maller. Those are the only names that have exceeded what Drake Baldman is doing right now as a catcher, and that's really pressive work. I'm not even saying Drake Baldwin's going to be to the level of any of those guys. It just means that I think there's a good chance he's a good catcher. And I'll in with this little on Baldwin. If you go through the last thirty to thirty five years of Brave success, over the past thirty five years, the Braves have the second most productive catching situation in baseball. Only the Dodgers have been better. And I would guarantee you that if you look at our thirty best seasons, at least twenty five of those had a strong catching presence. We saw it with Hobby, we saw it with Brian mccannon, we see it. We've seen it with Combos as well. But Drake Baldwin when be in a bedrock of this organization, this team has had its beeths with a good catcher, and Drake Baldwin could be right up there with the names that I mentioned.

00:20:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, life, death taxes, Braves having good catching and that is something that we should not take for granted because there are organizations that have not had good, good catching situation and forever we're really spoiled. Just you listed off some of the terrific players. And even when the Braves don't have a you know, a fringe Hall of Famer like Brian mccannon, they got great production out of Travis Darnaut and Kurt Suzuki for a couple of years. There's really like a valuable kind of rotational catcher like they have done such a good job of signing, drafting, developing, and utilizing these catchers for years, of course, I mean they were in such a luxurious position. They traded away William Catreras, who's been one of the better catchers in the National League for years. And frankly, I think the Brewers deserve a lot of credit for that too, because Milwaukee is one of those teams that developed catchers well. But yeah, man, I mean the Braves they somehow no matter who it is, the names, the faces might change, but they always find a way to have good catching. And that is such an important thing for Major League Baseball teams. Front office execs will talk about the importance, players talk about it. People who are around the game talk about it. It is really one of those positions where if you don't have a good catcher, it can really bite you in the butt.

00:21:54
Speaker 1: Shout out Johnny Estrada, just random names like that. The Braves tournament all scars, that's how how good they are at it. But Drake Baldwin is not the only reason why you should continue to tuo nana not only to the Brakes, but the minor leagues as well. We'll discuss that in just a moment.

00:22:11
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00:23:09
Speaker 1: Slash promos so Scott the other news of the day is that it was anticipated that Austin Riley could potentially be coming back from his injury. Of course, for those who remember, it was right before the All Star Break, Austin Riley was in the midst of playing a game in Saint Louis. It was the first game the game I was at on that Friday, and Riley went out of the game with an abdominal injury, and you know, Luke Williams all of a sudden showed up at the plate and everybody's what's going on. We got an abdominal injury. He's not going to be back today. Still feel a little bit of discomfort, Probably back later this week. I don't think there's much to take away so much of this, especially with him coming back Friday, but I do think that it's important to note. It's noteworthy that when it comes to the Braves, who still have plenty of players who they're dealing with injury, especially on the pitching side, the rush to get them back, the desire to get them on the field, it's not necessarily going to be at the same level as if we were trying to get to playoffs and contend. I think that's going to be a bit of a change up from previous seasons.

00:24:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, be careful with Austin Riley. You don't need to rush him back. Give him an extra day, give him extra couple days. Seems like Friday is the day the Braves are targeting for Riley to be activated, which makes sense. They have a day game and early day game on Wednesday, and then they're off Thursday. So by not activating Riley today, they probably weren't going to have him go both a night game and then a day game. Give him extra seventy two hours to be good. But yeah, I mean, there's no rush. And Mark Bowman was talking today about the pitching situation. Now, Chris Saale, assuming he doesn't have any setbacks with the ribs, can return in the middle of August. Maybe Sale wants to go and make a couple of starts down the stretch just to kind of shake off the cobwebs and make sure he doesn't go too long without throwing competitive pitches. But like, you know, Sean, does it make sense to bring Spence Schwallenbach all the way back in the middle of September? You know, like, are you gonna have them make five rehab starts and just go from zero to one hundred to then make what two starts the last two weeks of the season for a Braves team that's gonna be out of it. Rinaldo Lopez might be able to come back at some point, but similarly, I don't really see a point Joejimenez might be able to come back. But again, you know, like there's a theme here of if the Braves are out of the race, and frankly they're playing for a draft pick at this point, Like that's not a small thing. God forbid, you rush one of these guys back, or not even rushing back, but just bring them back and then they suffer a serious injury that hurts them and delays their twenty twenty six I mean, that would be completely pointless and just not worth the risk in my opinion.

00:25:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, any decisions that you make right now, not only again, I mean me and Stephen talked about this last week. Not only should everything that you do now be focused on twenty six and beyond, it's also should be how do we make things better for twenty six and beyond, And it's not doing things that don't make common sense. For instance, I think they're draft made perfect sense. They did the right thing to address clear areas of need in their minor league system. Just use some common sense. I think the Braves do that just fine, but in the public it's been a little bit more questionable here as of late. So, but we don't want to get into all that. Do you want to get your quick thoughts though on the player who has come up and replaced Austin Riley, and that's not Cho Alvarez. Now, Nacho Alvarez. I feel like that he he's for a few years now been talented, is one of the better hitting prospects, one of our top three hitting prospects in the organization. But I think what we're seeing Scott, I don't mean anythink negative towards Nacho Alvarez. I just think that it was more of, hey, he had good on base skills and that stood out in a minor league system that just didn't have a lot of other players that were worth noting. I don't think Nacho Alvarez really has a lot of potential long term in the majors because I just don't know how productive he is going to be against major league fastballs. He just does not seem productive with them, and if that doesn't change, I don't really see how he's going to be productive enough elsewhere to really stand out as being a future significant contributor for the Braves. Yeah.

00:27:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, if I had to just blindly predict, not even blindly, but just predict what Nacho Alvarez is, I think he's probably a utility player at the major league level, a bench guy. And of course with the DH the need for those utility types has gone away a little bit because you're not pinch hitting as much, you're not making as many defensive substitutions and moving pieces around. Yeah, you know, Nacho, he doesn't do anything exceedingly well, and that can be a challenge. Like he's a he's a pretty good athlete, but he's not a great one. He has some decent hand eye and batted ball skills, but not great. He doesn't have a lot of power, his bat speed is not great. You mentioned the fastballs up in the is somewhere that pitchers attack not show. I will say he has really not played very much in twenty twenty five because of the injuries. He was called up to replace Riley with basically no time to ramp up from I believe in oblique injury, so he's young enough that it's not totally gone. He does need to work on some things this offseason, but I tend to agree. I mean, I'm not sure that Nacho is anything more than a bench piece or someone you can rotate around the field. But you know, play him at third, play him at second, get him some reps in the outfield at some point in case he can stick as a fourth or fifth outfielder. I think that's probably Nacho's future, And frankly, it probably also makes sense to play him down the stretch if the Braves are fully out of it, and just get him some more reps at the major league level and see if he can do anything or show signs of improvement.

00:28:46
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and you would love for him to work out like he would I hope he does work out. I hope that there's at a level or an aspect to his performance that we've not seen as of yet. It's just so hard to find success if you can't hit those fastball but maybe more exposure at the major league level will unlock that as having some potential for his future. So I mentioned the matter leagues before we went to the break why the minor leagues.

00:29:10
Speaker 2: Well.

00:29:10
Speaker 1: One name that I think bravesmen's are familiar with his former first round pick Owen Murphy. He made his twenty twenty five debut, as a matter of fact, his first debut in fourteen months, coming off Tommy John surgery in the Florida Coast League. Today looked pretty good. So you've got Owen Murphy back. Jr. Richie is pitching to an all star level. He represented the Braves in the Futures Game. Cam Keminiddi is starting to show signs on why many consider him the braves top prospect. Hayden Harris, John Carloslora did hear for win Tes. I'm going on and on this Braves team. One really really positive factor that can come out of this season is not only their young pitching being healthy, but potentially their young pitching ending on good notes and showing why many hold them in high regard. If that can happen, you got two things working in your favor going into the Austin more potential assets to use in trades to go to field clear needs to help you get back to contender status. But also for a pitching staff that just unfortunately cannot stay healthy, more trusted reinforcements. If there's one big thing besides Drake Baldwin to hope for for the future, it's that are pitching really shows out in the second half of the year to give a status, an asset or something to dive into to help address other needs in the offseason and beyond.

00:30:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, there are definitely some names in the farm system who I think are gaining some real traction as potential pieces down the road for the Braves. And you mentioned Owen Murphy was throwing the ball exceptionally well last year before having Tommy John. He's a kid who has a lot of potential, high pedigree. You know, we've seen flashes I guess from like Diddy or Funtes who might factor in. I mean, frankly, the Braves are going to need people to make starts over the final two months, so maybe we see Flintes. I think j R. Ritchie, if he continues to pitch well after a recent promotion, I think we could see Yer Richie make his Brave's debut in the second half of the year. So yes, there's some real talent here. Of course, young pitchers, they'll break your heart. You think they're going to be great and they just don't work out. And then sometimes out of the frickin' blue you get a Spencer Swallenbach who just sets the world on fire as unknown prospect, but not someone who was a top top top prospect on those lists. So yeah, there's some talent in the system. I agree with what you said earlier. I really liked the process of the Braves draft this year. I'll let you know in eight years if it was a good draft or not, but until then, I like the way they kind of did some underslot deals at the top to add or more high school talent, steal them away from the college ranks, and you see what happens because the draft is just such a crapshoot, and you hope that you strike gold on one or two of these kids, you're coming out ahead.

00:31:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, and for a farm system that regularly is near the bottom of rankings. Twenty eighteen we had Rookie of the Year, twenty two had the first and second winners in Rookie of the Year. Twenty twenty four we had a top five I believe winner and Rookie of the Year. He was at least in the conversation second best rookie pitcher and Schwellenbach.

00:32:10
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, if it was not a history, you had schemes, you had Jackson Merrill, you had Cheerio in Milwaukee. I mean it was a loaded rookie class last year. Some years Schwellenbach would have won.

00:32:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then of course you got Drake Baldoman this year. You make the point, Scott, you brought it up for a farm system that does not appear to it. It always appears to be at the bottom of the list.

00:32:31
Speaker 2: They always turn out man. I mean that, Yeah, it's weird because I think objectively both things can be true. You look at the Braves farm system. You look at how the Braves farm system is ranked across the board. It's not just one Baseball America, Baseball perspectives, fan Grafts, ESPN. Nobody thinks the Braves farm system is anything special or that it's been anything special the last couple of years. And I think that's a fair assessment. But they also are just so good at player too, and they turn out Schwellenbach and Baldwin and a couple of years before that, Michael Harris was like a fringe top seventy five prospect. Win's Rookie of the Year. Spencer Strider was a fourth round injured college draft pick. In two years later, he's lighting up big league gradar guns at ninety nine. I mean, the Bridge do deserve a lot of credit, even if the system is not necessarily viewed in the eyes of Baseball America, for example, as one of the better ones. There is something to be said for turning out really good Major leaguers like Drake Baldwin this year, even if they didn't. I mean, if if Baldwin was a top ten prospect coming into the season, which is probably what he should have been rated, maybe top twenty, does it have a different feeling when he sets the world on fire? Probably, I mean, it would have helped in the rankings, for whatever those are worth.

00:33:50
Speaker 1: Bryce Elder was an All Star his rookie year. Was it his rookie year? I think that was his rookie year. Maybe I'm long may have been a second year, but hey, yeah, yeah, it may have been a second Okay, that wasn't the best thing to end our conversation on tonight, But the point is is that when it comes to the Braves, things may look bleak major league level may not seem like there's many reinforcements they figure right away. They need to figure out things at the major league level when it comes to offense again. But I do feel like, even with the draft being as good of a process as it was, I do feel like that if people are down on the farm system right now, a good second half of the season could really be a big boost to where we can once again see some reinforcements that could help out next year and beyond even to the point of helping us be a contender. Scott, anything else from you as we wrape up this edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.

00:34:42
Speaker 2: Just has to give a big old shout out to Luke Williams, who pitched the ninth inning tonight in a nine to nothing shutout loss. Good on Luke one two three, didn't give up anything to the Giants. Good on him. I'm sure you've got a bunch of high fives and pats on the back in the dugout. But yeah, I mean, just hopefully on when folks will probably be listening to this, maybe as the game is going on, because it's a day game on Wednesday, but hopefully the Braves can win the series. I know this is kind of a lost season, but at least for me, deep down, I always want the Braves to win. But yeah, we'll be back more shows we do have. I'm gonna tease it because it's already been recorded. We have an in depth episode recapping the Draft that Brad and Gore of the Deck, friend of the Show recorded, so that'll be in your feed soon, so you get a full on breakdown from people who know far more about the draft than Sean and I and Brad, which is exciting. I'm looking forward to hearing it. I have not heard it yet. And yeah, as always winn to lose, good or bad. We'll do shows throughout the week and say maybe Sean, me and you buddy sometime we might be doing one of those emergency reaction shows whenever the Braves inevitably make a trade.

00:35:47
Speaker 1: And you never know who could potentially show up on the podcast as well. In a year that seems lost. Two notes, we may have some special guests that could also come on and give their perspective on the Brave, some fun on some in depth ones. Will Hey, that's the good thing. If you're not talking about winning baseball, that opens up the door to get a bunch of different perspectives when it comes to the Braves in baseball in general. You can find Scott Coleman at Scott Coleman fifty five on x slash Twitter, myself at Stat's Sac on next slash Twitter. Hamry Territory across all forms of social media part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts, and I cannot go without mentioning that for those of you who are going to be listening or watching the show before tomorrow's matchup, it's a pretty good one. Spencer Strider versus future Hall of Famer Justin Berlander. I know Erlander has not been himself this year, but that doesn't mean you still don't really get excited to see him on the mound. That's gonna be a good one to see. But until next time, go brads. We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast