The podcast returns! After a bit of a hibernation, Ben explains to you all why Future Projection has been dormant for much of the winter—don’t blame Carlos, he’s not at fault! The two talk about the Wander Franco contract extension with the Rays and whether or not we like aggressive, team-friendly deals like this. Ben makes the case that we shouldn’t always view a contract as team or player friendly, but perhaps agent friendly. After that, the two discuss the immense talent and depth of the catching ranks in baseball at the moment and dive into a few catchers we like who might begin the year on the outside of our top 100 looking in. Following that, we talk about a few players we found ourselves liking more and more throughout the Prospect Handbook editing process and touch on a few pitchers who have trended in the right direction with velocity. 

Time Stamps

• Opening banter (0:00:01)
• Ben’s big announcement (0:01:16)
• International big board update (0:06:00)
• The Wander Franco extension (0:10:12)
• Other notable pre-lockout moves and signings (0:23:24)
• A tidal wave of catching talent (0:26:21)
• Players who grew on us throughout the Prospect Handbook process (0:42:41)
• A conversation about velocity gains with pitchers, including Aaron Ashby and Ricky Tiedemann (0:53:49)

Links

• Ben’s updated international big board
• Matt’s story on the Golden Era of Catching Prospects

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Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler

Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo

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