By Baseball America
Baseball America’s Ben Badler and Carlos Collazo offer scout-level insight into all levels of baseball—everything from the amateur MLB Draft, international scouting, minor league prospects to the b
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4.9
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The podcast currently has 103 episodes available.
Ben and Carlos talk about all things Roki Sasaki for the first ~30 minutes of today’s episode. How would we line up the pitching trio of Roki, Paul Skenes and Yoshinobu Yamamoto? What do we think about Sasaki’s pitch mix? He’s the best pitching prospect since… who? And how is Sasaki going to create chaos for the 2025 international signing class?
After that the two continue their organization overviews with the NL Central.
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Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
Ben and Carlos talk about the Cesar Altagracia age fraud story and Ben gives more information about the state of the international mark as well as details of MLB’s expanded investigations into players falsifying ages.
After that, the two start their organization overview series, beginning with the National League East. With updated top 10s now live at Baseball America for each team in the division, Ben and Carlos talk through each team and try to get a feel for the state of the farm.
At the end of the show the two take listener questions with topics that include a power-armed 2026 college name to know, whether or not Billy Carlson will be a top-five pick next year and a question about 2024 Latin American signees with the best usable in-game power.
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Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
Ben and Carlos give their thoughts on the conclusion of the 2024 World Series. The two talk about Gerrit Cole’s pitching efforts throughout the postseason, the disappointing efforts from superstars Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, talk through early sleeper teams for the 2025 season and wonder about the coming Juan Soto sweepstakes.
The two then talk through the future for the Dodgers and Yankees after this matchup, and touch on a few impressive prospects like Dalton Rushing and Zyhir Hope and also about young established big leaguers like Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells.
After that the two pivot to the 2025 high school recruiting class and a few big moves on that beat, including flipped commitments from Billy Carlson and Kayson Cunningham and dig into Ben’s piece looking into the rate at which elite high school players make it to campus.
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Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
Ben and Carlos record a milestone episode of the Future Projection podcast and reminisce on the origins of the show that started back in 2021.
The two then move into World Series mode and talk through a highly-anticipated and star-laden Dodgers-Yankees matchup. The two talk about Giancarlo Stanton’s consistent great performance in the postseason and then contrast the results that Juan Soto and Aaron Judge have had to this point in their postseason careers. Which would you rather face in crunch time?
Then the talk turns to pitching and whether or not starters or relievers will wind up being more impactful in this series before the two debate whether or not the Dodgers are a dynasty. How do the Dodgers from 2013 to now compare to the Braves team that won 14-straight divisions in the 90s and 2000s but managed just one championship?
After that the conversation turns to Andrew Painter’s re-emergence in the Arizona Fall League and talk about his prospect status at the moment, briefly discuss Noble Meyer’s control struggles in 2024 and then get into a surprisingly thorough conversation about MLB’s new experiment in the league: a checked-swing challenge system.
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Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
Ben and Carlos hop on the show to talk about the four teams standing this postseason and think through the scouting and player development lessons that can be learned from them.
The two talk about Cleveland’s ability to identify and develop domestic pitchers which helped lead to one of the best bullpens in the game, how the Dodgers’ investments on and off the field have led to sustained success, examine a strong up-the-middle position player core that the Yankees have developed and then use the Mets as an example of why you need to be patient with international prospects.
Other topics include postseason pitching strategy, Austin Wells’ going from catching question mark to defensive standout, the tremendous offense from Mark Vientos, and a listener question about international prospects who Ben expects big things from in 2025.
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Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
Ben and Carlos hop on the show and talk about new leadership moves for both the Giants and the Cardinals organizations. Ben wonders if Giants fans should be wary about Buster Posey taking charge in San Francisco given lack of extensive front office experience and the two also discuss the changes that could be coming for the Cardinals in the future with Chaim Bloom set to become president of baseball operations in 2026.
Where do both orgs stand with their current farm systems? How has each team drafted and done on the international signing market in recent years?
After that the two talk about Quinn Mathews and his development as a pitcher, compare him with some of the best lefthanded pitching prospects in the game, including Marlins southpaw Thomas White, and move onto a conversation about Paul Skenes and the state of the Pirates.
Was anyone particularly close to Skenes in our Rookie of the Year race? And what about those Yoshinobu Yamamoto debates before the 2024 season got started? The two then talk about the draft lottery odds being set, praise the new system that no longer incentivizes tanking and get into a trio of listener questions including: the biggest adjustments from Triple-A to the majors, thoughts on Phillies prospect Eduardo Tait and the rarity of big leaguers who perform better in the majors than the minors.
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Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
With Arizona Fall League rosters announced, Ben and Carlos talk through some of the prospects they are most looking forward to seeing. From obvious Top 100 names like Colt Emerson, Ethan Salas and Leo De Vries, to players coming off of injury riddled seasons like Chase DeLauter and Jett Williams, and other players with huge tools like Zyhir Hope and Jac Caglianone.
After that the two talk about Kristian Campbell being named the 2024 BA Minor League Player of the Year and trace his history as a prospect. What are the lessons we can learn from his player development path and who are other prospects with similar skill sets or untapped potential who might be able to follow that path?
At the end of the show the two take listener questions about Jackson Jobe, offensive prospects to know for fantasy purposes in the 2025 and 2026 draft classes and Top 100 prospects poised to leap forward on the list in the future.
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Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
Ben and Carlos talk about how their report writing process and then get into a conversation about standout 2024 international signees. Which players have been better than expected? Which teams seem to have particularly strong classes after a first look in the Dominican Summer League, and which teams in general scout international prospects particularly well? Ben breaks that all down.
After that the two talk about college scholarships and the potential for rosters shrinking and wonder how that will impact players, coaches, team construction, college baseball parity and the high school recruiting process.
The show closes with a great listener question about the easiest and most difficult tools to scout.
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Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
The importance of scouting and projecting frames is the main portion of the show in today’s episode. Ben wonders whether or not we are too critical of superficial “bad body” players who actually have proven hitting chops, while Carlos talks about how projecting bodies might be more important for defensive profiles than anything that happens in the box. The two discuss early physical developers, hyper skinny frames, whether or not they weight physicality more or less for hitters vs. pitchers and more.
After that the two talk about how impressive Cardinals 2024 first rounder JJ Wetherholt has been in pro ball, then dig into a few other notable 24 debut performers. The two revisit their preseason 2024 drafted teams to see who has panned out better so far and then talk about the major league player of the year race.
Is Aaron Judge’s offensive dominance too much for any other player to challenge him or is Bobby Witt Jr.’s well-rounded game enough to make a defensible case for the honor. The two then talk about a few standout defensive rookies—Jacob Young and Masyn Winn—and Carlos offers up a 2025 draftee player comp to Winn to see what Ben thinks.
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Time Stamps
Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
Ben and Carlos hop on the show to talk through our most recent top 100 update that dropped this week, including notable up-arrow moves from a number of Red Sox prospects—most prominently Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell.
The two work through a number of risers on the list, including Chase Dollander, Kumar Rocker, Alejandro Rosario and Tyler Black, then also talk about a couple of players who have slid or fallen out of the list entirely.
Ben makes a point on potentially overvaluing athleticism in baseball, the two discuss whether or not Rhett Lowder’s pure stuff is underrated, wonder how much margin for error Thomas Harrington has and take a listener email about draft pick trading.
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Time Stamps
Do you have a question you want us to answer? Email us: [email protected]
Ben's Twitter: @BenBadler
Carlos's Twitter: @CarlosACollazo
Baseball America Website
The podcast currently has 103 episodes available.
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