Down on the Farm Podcast

In today’s Down on the Farm Podcast, we break down the Brewers’ World Series victory, highlighting the performance of Cooper Pratt and Chandler Simpson’s valiant effort in defeat. Were we on these players as prospects, or did we miss the boat on these once-polarizing young talents? We then talk about a pair of breakout prospects in the Arizona Fall League: former Oyster top-10 prospect Welbyn Francisca (CLE) and indy-ball signee Jack O’Dowd (COL). They’re on opposite ends of the skill set spectrum, and while they’re not surefire stars, they’ve got a legit shot at breaking through.

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!

It’s the World Series edition of the Down on the Farm Podcast! We break down Games 1 and 2 of the Fall Classic, bringing our data perspective and research to the discussion. We dive into the big decision to send Liam Hicks to his doom in Game 2, William Contreras’ unique approach to ABS challenges, and why players like Richie Palacios are slept on (but shouldn’t be!).

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!

This week’s Down on the Farm Podcast welcomes a special guest: ESPN content producer, author, and data maven Paul Hembekides. We connected over our separate playoff vs. regular-season analyses, and we go deeper into each study. While our results may seem contradictory, our conversation shows they may actually align. We also chat about data usage in baseball, how to embrace the good and avoid the bad of social media, and why data only matters if it is communicated clearly and accessibly.

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!

We’re fully into the playoffs, and this week’s Down on the Farm Podcast is devoted to postseason baseball. We first address Max’s “playoff nihilism” theory, where all strategies fall prey to the small postseason sample size. If the playoffs are so random, then why strategize? We then move to Owen’s analysis of postseason vs. regular season play, and why homers, not small ball, play up in October and November. We finish with challenge and steals talk, and how the postseason affects decision-making in both areas.

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!

The minor leagues have finished, but our podcast continues! This week, we break down one of our first articles: an analysis of pitch sequencing, stuff, and longevity. With the all-out four- to five-inning playoff starting pitching strategy, which pitchers could benefit (or lose out) from the shortened workload? We also cover a series of late-season call-ups and assess their 2026 play, their fantasy impact, and how we project their real-life and fantasy futures.

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!

This week on the Down on the Farm podcast, we’re excited to interview former Angels pitcher Ryan Smith, who plied his trade in the Angels farm system from 2016-2023. We start by talking about his late-blooming pre-professional career and how Smith grew from a low-80s tossing arm into a high-level college pitcher. We then discuss the Angels’ organizational philosophies, the tension between stuff development and strike-throwing, and how “being a dawg” never stops being important.

We move to the difficulty of pitch development in the minors, and how experimentation to improve your arsenal can impact current performance, even if the new stuff could lead to better long-term results. We finish on our Oyster standard questions, including what makes the elite players elite, what Ryan would do if he were commish for a day, and Ryan’s World Series pick.

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!

After the final week of the MiLB regular season, we take the time to look at our small-sample streak modeling to see who we got right, who we missed the mark on, and what our hits and misses say about our modeling strategy (NOTE: Baseball America is bearish, not bullish, on Franklin Primera’s future behind the plate; Max got his words mixed up). Then we transition to our in-person scouting implementation to supplement our research, and how we balance mechanical observations from small samples with large-sample data. We finish by talking about a pair of MLB players who rebounded from below-average starts to finish strong, and whether they’re fantasy-relevant heading into 2027.

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!

We’ve got a special episode this week, as we discuss the current and future state of the MLB CBA negotiations. We start with the main issue: the battle over ownership’s push to institute a hard salary cap in the next CBA. We discuss the rhetoric from both sides, how salary caps impact parity, and how a cap is a must-have for ownership and a must-prevent for players. We then evaluate the transparency gap between the two sides, focusing on contextualizing the asset valuation, upsides, and downsides of MLB ownership. We finish with a discussion on the potential for a “baseball bubble”: is this a reasonable concern, or are MLB teams a highly stable asset?

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!

This week on the Down on the Farm podcast, we begin by making the case for our #8 overall prospect, the just-promoted Lazaro Montes (SEA). While many aren’t sold on his high-power, big-whiff profile, we outline the reasons why we believe in the young slugger. Montes also has an elite-level arm, and in our second segment, we discuss the validity of putting your strongest-armed corner outfielder in right field. Is the baseball adage old-school wisdom, or misplaced attention (or is it both)? We finish by sharing our thoughts on the Marlins’ decision to fire most of their pro scouting team. What does pro scouting look like in the modern era? How has extensive video coverage changed the job? And why do the analytically forward clubs vary wildly in their “boots on the ground” scouting capacities?

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!

As the DSL regular season concluded last week, we start this week’s podcast by reflecting on three prospects who stood out for their balanced, five-tool teasing approaches. These guys are far from stardom, but they’ve shown enough upside to get us excited! We then move on to a discussion on the ins and outs of fielding grades. Are outlets faithful to the 20/80 scale? Are we projecting a prospect’s fielding “ceiling” or merely their “expected outcome?” And what should our biggest takeaways from fielding grades be? We finish by talking about prospect-focused trades, which recent trades have aged poorly for the prospect-trading franchise, and what current deadline deals could spur some future buyer’s remorse.

We hope you enjoy. Thanks, as always, to Laura van der Heijden for her stellar jingle work!