We’re back! Kate, Joe, and John emerge from a healthy winter break to take a look at the Lookout Landing 2021 Preseason Top Prospects List. Who just missed? Who were we relatively high or low on? And what does each prospect need in 2021 to take a big step? We also touch on the new minor league baseball alignment as it has become formalized and of course take listener questions throughout.

We recognize this is a Big ‘Ol Pod, and future episodes should hew closer to an hour or so, but we... had a lot to talk about! Grab a few cups of coffee.

0:00 - 13:45 - We start things off with discussion of the minor league realignment’s certification. The Mariners come out with a good deal of convenience, large (geographical) regions of the country are left in the cold. It’s a sad day for the West Virginia Power and many other communities around the country. For baseball fans in the Pacific Northwest, however, there will be full season baseball all across the state of Washington, Western Oregon, and Vancouver B.C.

13:45 - 1:28:00 - Let’s get into the list! We each talk about our favorite honorable mentions, with a few listener questions on guys like LHP Adam Macko and RHP Michael Limoncelli, as well as some love for recent LL podcast guest RHP Jarod Bayless. We take a pick ‘em approach to the list, highlighting a few players in each tier who really could show something. How much of the time is spent marveling that the back of the system is full of players who’d have been in the top 15 a couple years ago? Plenty, y’all. Plenty.

Joe takes us down the Max Povse memory lane and joins Kate in some discussion of the variance on lists for how the organization’s system is perceived. John quibbles about depth issues in the system. At the 44-minute mark we take a quick deviation into discussing top international amateur prospect SS Felnin Celestin and how and when he might be eligible to sign with the Mariners as rumored.

We have some lengthy discussions on a few players, including the Cal Raleigh (Rollie) timeline, what Sam Carlson’s Ivan Drago physique could translate to in games, and who we’re more enamored with between Logan Gilbert and Emerson Hancock.

1:28:00 - End - We take ten minutes at the end to hit a few more questions we didn’t get to, on some of the top prospects in particular. Who do we expect will debut this year among this list? Have the Mariners damaged their relationship with the Jarred Kelenic camp too severely by keeping him in the minors instead of calling him up and attempting to generate an extension as soon as possible. What should the Mariners be focused on developing and acquiring right now?

Music: “Top of the Pops” - Art Brut / “Top of the World” - Alex Wiley

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