Baseball America

JJ joins the draft podcast with Carlos to talk about his overall thoughts on the 2026 draft class and talk about a number of macro-level strategic topics, including how faster minor league progressions could shift draft strategy and why it’s so valuable to get to the majors as a young player. The two talk about Roch Cholowsky’s early season and why college shortstops so rarely produce stars, and Carlos tries to see who JJ would prefer on the board after top tier shortstops like Cholowsky and Grady Emerson are gone.

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Time Stamps:

• (1:30) JJ’s overall thoughts on the class
• (3:50) College shortstops don’t normally become stars
• (6:15) What are Roch’s flaws?
• (10:20) Why depth is overrated in the draft
• (23:00) How shifting ETAs impact draft strategy
• (38:00) Who would JJ take No. 3?
• (55:00) That value of getting to the majors young

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Bill Mitchell and JJ Cooper are taking and in-depth look at the Kansas City Royals farm system for the latest Baseball America Prospect Podcast Deep Dive.

(00:00) The Royals are building something around Bobby Witt Jr.

(02:00) What happened to help Carter Jensen break out in 2025. Why he's the No. 1 prospect

(07:30) How the farm system has improved since last year. It's not just Carter Jensen.

(14:00) Looking at the pair of top picks--Josh Hammond and Sean Gamble

(17:20) What is the org good at developing?

(22:30) Looking at prospects to know outside the top 10

Royals Top 30 Prospects: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2026-kansas-city-royals-top-mlb-prospects/

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JJ Cooper and Bill Mitchell are talking all about the White Sox farm system on the latest Prospect Podcast Deep Dive. Even after graduating Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero, Colson Montgomery and Shane Smith last year, this is a very solid top 10.

(00:00) How the White Sox are making strides.

(02:00) Why Noah Schultz stood out as the No. 1 prospect and why patience may be required.

(09:00) Is the system better or worse than a year ago?

(09:45) Looking at the 2025 draft picks

(11:15) Other arms to watch

(14:25) A pair of shortstops who could vie for No. 1 on this list next year

(18:20) What this system is good at developing

(23:00) Prospects outside of the top 10 to watch

White Sox Top 30 Prospects: https://www.baseballamerica.com/teams/2027-chicago-white-sox/prospects/

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On this week's Hot Sheet Show, Jacob Rudner, Ben Badler and Geoff Pontes talk about UCLA's dominant start to the season, college names to know and MLB prospects who are worth monitoring in spring training.

The Hot Sheet Show airs live on the BA YouTube channel every week on Tuesday at 3 p.m. Give us a sub, and we'll see you then!

Time Stamps

• (0:00) Introduction
• (0:45) UCLA impresses
• (4:00) Dax Whitney domination & draft profile
• (10:50) Can someone push Roch Cholowsky for the 1-1?
• (13:15) Jackson Flora's profile
• (15:45) Other college prospects who had stood out
• (19:30) What we're watching for early in spring training
• (21:20) Konnor Griffin & Payton Tolle outlooks
• (24:20) Will Joey Volchko go in the first round?

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Baseball America college reporter Jacob Rudner and national writer Geoff Pontes look back at the first full week of the season, including the No. 1 UCLA Bruins' sweep of then-No. 8 TCU, Texas and Georgia Tech getting off to hot starts and Oklahoma's fast rise in the Top 25. Rudner and Pontes also dive deeper on five teams with varying levels of concern.

(4:09) UCLA dominates TCU

(13:33) Texas off to a great start

(19:29) Georgia Tech’s historic offensive start

(22:34) Oklahoma enters the top 10

(30:54) The Fear Index

(31:33) TCU’s five-game skid

(34:06) Coastal Carolina drops in the poll

(38:36) How much should you worry about Florida State?

(40:43) Tennessee upset by Kent State

(46:17) Oregon State falls from the top 20

(54:32) What we’re watching in Week 3

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We're going deep on each of the top prospects in the AL East. The guys explain how each respective player climbed to No. 1 in their system, run through their scouting reports and lay out what you should expect in 2026.

Time Stamps

(0:00) -- Trey Yesavage, Blue Jays

(9:35) -- Payton Tolle, Red Sox

(17:55) -- George Lombard Jr., Yankees

(26:30) -- Samuel Basallo, Orioles

(35:00) -- Brody Hopkins, Rays

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This week on the Baseball America Fantasy podcast we kick off our final offseason series leading up to opening day. Division Prospect Previews! We'll start a division by division look at the top fantasy prospects for each organization. There's a slight tweak we give you two 2026 contributors, two high upside prospects and two prospects we think are underrated. 

• (2:00) Tampa Bay Rays
• (15:00) Baltimore Orioles
• (29:00) Boston Red Sox
• (43:00) New York Yankees
• (50:00) Toronto Blue Jays

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Carlos and Jacob talk about a few notable pieces of injury news for the 2026 class, then discuss some of the standout players they saw from a loaded trip to Texas. The two talk about their Grady Emerson impressions, then highlight some of the college standouts—and head scratchers—from a three-day stay at Globe Life Field.

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Time Stamps:

• (1:00) Tyler Bell injured shoulder
• (6:00) Cameron Flukey day to day
• (10:00) Tommy LaPour dealing with arm soreness
• (15:30) Grady Emerson impressions
• (21:00) Jackson Flora
• (28:00) Sawyer Strosnider
• (32:30) Cam Johnson
• (39:00) Colin Barczi, Camden Johnson
• (42:30) Logan Hughes
• (48:25) Deiten Lachance
• (50:00) Jared Grindlinger’s 2026 reclassification

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On the latest Prospect Podcast Deep Dive, JJ Cooper and Nick Piecoro dig into the Arizona D-backs farm system. Overall the system has improved from a year ago, largely because of improved depth.

(00:00) It's been a fascinating offseason

(03:00) Ryan Waldschmidt is the No. 1 prospect, but there were a lot of candidates.

(09:00) What is Waldschmidt's realistic timetable?

(11:00) Why this system is better now than a year ago

(16:00) Who could be next year's No. 1 prospect

(22:00) What is Druw Jones' prospect status?

(27:30) What are the D-backs good at developing?

(31:30) D-backs prospects to know outside the top 10

D-backs Top 30 Prospects: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2026-arizona-diamondbacks-top-mlb-prospects/

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In this crossover episode from Baseball America's "From Phenom To The Farm" podcast with Kyle Bandujo, actor and Gilmore Girls star Scott Patterson recalls the ups and downs of his original career spent as a minor league baseball player with the Braves, Yankees and Dodgers.

Time Stamps

(5:00) Being Drafted Three Times

(15:00) Introduction to MiLB

(19:40) Emphasis on Winning in 80s MiLB

(29:25) Contract Negotiations with Hank Aaron

(36:30) Trade to the Yankees

(48:50) A Big League Call Up That Didn't Happen

(59:45) Spring Training as a Rule 5 Pick

(1:11:30) Starring in "Little Big League"

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