Baseball America

In the third series of our draft lookbacks, JJ and Carlos go back to the 2019 draft. What was the conversation surrounding Adley Rutschman and Bobby Witt Jr. at the time? What about the rest of the top tier? How has a massively critiqued college pitching class panned out? What are the lessons we can learn? All that and more. 
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Time stamps:
(0:00) Intro and overview
(5:00) Adley Rutschman vs. Bobby Witt Jr.
(12:00) The rest of the top tier
(18:00) Andrew Vaughn and right-right first basemen
(22:00) Hunter Bishop and valuing high-caliber competition
(30:30) College pitching
(35:00) Alek Manoah’s strange career
(40:00) Savvy late-round picks
(44:00) The Keoni Cavaco pop-up story
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This week on the Baseball America Fantasy Podcast hosts James Anderson and Geoff Pontes are joined by National College Writer Jacob Rudner. The three dive into the tiers within the most recent update to the First Year Player Draft rankings. The trio discusses a total of 20 players, diving into targets within tiers and players to avoid. It’s an extensive deep dive on the 2026-27 FYPD crop. 

(2:00) Roch Cholowsky
(4:00) Jackson Flora
(6:00) Drew Burress
(8:00) Jared Grindlinger
(9:30) Bo Lowrance
(10:30) Zion Rose
(12:00) Ben Blair
(14:00) Kevin Roberts
(19:00) Elliot Lascelles
(21:00) Martin Shelar
(23:00) Connor Comeau
(24:00) Jace Mataczynski
(26:00) AJ Gracia
(28:00) Justin Lebron
(33:00) Ty Head
(35:00) Luke Williams
(39:00) Jack Radel
(41:00) Owen Hull
(43:00) Will Brick
(44:00) Tre Broussard
(45:00) Players we're fading

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On this week's Prospect Podcast, JJ Cooper, Geoff Pontes and Ian Cundall discuss the challenges and potential solutions to evaluating players after the most offensive MiLB anyone has seen.

(00:00) The Scope Of The Challenge
(06:00) It's Not Just More Home Runs
(09:00) Rely More On The Eye Test?
(15:00) How We Plan To Adjust Our Evaluations
(18:45) There Will Be Mental Impacts From This For Prospects
(22:00) Learning From Past Unusual MiLB Environments
(27:00) What Worked This Year May Not Work Next Year
(31:30) Prospects Who Are Difficult Evaluations

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/just-how-much-did-milb-offense-increase-in-2026/

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On this week's Hot Sheet Show, Jacob Rudner, J.J. Cooper and Geoff Pontes look ahead to the MLB playoffs with a breakdown of top rookies and second-year stars in the field. We also analyze big league strike zone changes in 2026.
The Hot Sheet Show airs live on the BA YouTube channel every Tuesday at 3 p.m. Give us a sub, and we'll see you then!
Time Stamps
(0:00) Introduction
(0:45) Young stars to watch in the postseason—Misiorowski, Schlittler, De Paula & more
(15:30) The MLB strike zone shrunk in 2026—why?
(18:12) What comes next for the strike zone evolution & fallout?
(20:15) Why aren't hitters dominating then?
(23:40) Answering viewer questions

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Baseball America national college writer Jacob Rudner is joined by former MLB pitcher and Texas A&M alumnus Ross Stripling to talk about changes in amateur baseball over the last decade, which arsenals are suited to benefit from ABS in college and advice for college pitchers hoping to make the jump to the pros.
(1:40) Welcoming Ross Stripling to the show
(4:18) How college baseball has evolved since Stripling played
(5:53) Caden Sorrell vs. Tyler Naquin
(9:04) How amateur pitching has changed beyond velocity
(20:42) ABS in college
(23:49) Could breaking balls benefit from ABS?
(27:43) The benefits of ABS in college
(29:20) The college ball
(32:24) Advice to amateur pitchers
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