00:00Let's start with Harry Ford of the Seattle Mariners.
00:02He comes up.
00:03He is the number 62 prospect in baseball on just baseball's top 100.
00:08How does Harry Ford fit into this?
00:09Because you got that whole MVP candidate to catcher thing going on in Seattle.
00:13Yeah, you know, I think especially with the playoffs looming, obviously you want to make a push to get to win the division there and overtake the Astros.
00:23But I also think you've got to look at Cal, who's slowed down a little bit over the last couple weeks, and say maybe we get him out of the crouch just a couple more times in this final month.
00:36He could still DH for you.
00:38I don't think you have this crater now with how much Ford has come along defensively.
00:43So I really like Ford just being able to get Cal out of the crouch a couple times a week where instead of having a backup catcher, you've got a fun young prospect who, one, will benefit from the reps, but two, I think is going to give you a little bit more than your traditional backup catcher.
00:59Yeah, you may have some growing pains, things like that, but he's had all year really to continue to get ready in AAA, work with a lot of different arms that have got the bump back up to the big leagues.
01:09And I think Ford being able to just work back there is good for him long-term, but also I think is going to help preserve Cal a little bit, who has been asked to do as much as anybody in Major League Baseball this year.
01:20So I like that side of things.
01:22And then it's really underrated just how good of an athlete he is.
01:26So that is a guy that down the final stretch and into the postseason, he can be a speed-up guy on the base paths for you.
01:33He can be just a really solid pinch-hitting option for you as well.
01:39He makes that bench a lot more dynamic.
01:42So I think that's ultimately what it's going to be, but that's what he's there to do.
01:46It's all hands-on decks.
01:47He's gotten plenty of reps already this year, almost 500 plate appearances.
01:50So I think it's okay if his reps get cut into a little bit given the fact that he has caught a ton this year.
01:55So if he's playing just a couple times a week and then coming off the bench plenty, I still think that's a really helpful addition to this Mariners ball club.
02:02So something that goes incredibly underappreciated as it pertains to the Seattle Mariners, and if you listen to this show all the time, you've definitely heard me talk about it.
02:11Their scouting director is Scott Hunter.
02:14Scott Hunter is as effective at nailing the first-round pick as pretty much anybody across Major League Baseball.
02:20I saw this note from Mariners player development on social media.
02:23They have first-round picks from five consecutive drafts in the big leagues now.
02:28Logan Gilbert from 2018, George Kirby from 2019, Emerson Hancock from 2020, Harry Ford from 2021 now, and Cole Young from 2022.
02:39That does not happen around Major League Baseball.
02:43Guys get traded.
02:44Guys don't pan out.
02:46It is amazing to see the track record of Seattle Mariners' early-round draft picks.
02:52So tip of the cap to Jerry DiPoto, tip of the cap to Scott Hunter, the scouting director.
02:56They are amazing at what they do from a draft perspective.
03:00It's a testament to the development, too.
03:02I mean, it's not like all these guys have just cruised on a linear path to the major leagues.
03:07Harry Ford has been very alinear.
03:09Yeah.
03:09Yeah.
03:10Those points were forward.
03:11I was very skeptical at the track that he was on when you looked at the defense and the batted ball quality.
03:17Emerson Hancock, through points, I didn't even know if he looked like a depth arm for them.
03:21Now he looks like a solid relief piece, potentially, for them.
03:24But a guy that's plugged in and still giving them meaningful innings.
03:26And that's probably the weakest link of them there.
03:28And then you can talk about the other guys who have all just made huge leaps as they've progressed through
03:32and even continue to progress at the big league level.
03:35So, I mean, the Mariners are the gold standard, I think, in drafting.
03:39But they also have developed quite well also.
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