Baseball America

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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In the second series of our draft lookbacks, JJ and Carlos go back to the 2018 draft. How has the class aged? Who are the standout picks? Which teams picked smartly and which would rather have a do-over? What are the lessons we can learn?
—
Time stamps:
(0:00) Intro
(2:15) Was Casey Mize the clear 1-1?
(09:00) So many prep pitchers 
(13:00) Nick Madrigal & Nico Hoerner
(17:00) Carter Stewart
(23:00) Kyler Murray
(32:00) The opportunity cost of high school pitchers early
(37:00) Jordyn Adams
(42:00) Seth Beer
—
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