00:00Next up, Leo DeVries of the No City Designation Athletics, the player acquired at the deadline for Mason Miller.
00:09Preller sent his best prospect over, and at the time, we debated it on this show because I thought if you can turn Mason Miller into a starter, this will all be worth it, and all indicators are telling us that's the eventual Padres plan.
00:25Now, who knows? Maybe they move off that, but that's what it seemed like to get a young, controllable starter like that with unbelievable stuff.
00:33That's the reason you have to part with one of the best prospects in baseball.
00:37Yeah, exactly. And, you know, I think there's a world where it ages well for both sides.
00:42I think what made it sting a little bit more is that an 18-year-old in DeVries was then promptly, like after the trade, promoted to AA after about a week or two,
00:52and proceeded to, if you include the postseason games where he went nuts as well, in 26 AA games prior to his 19th birthday, hit .306 with a .995 OPS.
01:02That's not going to help in the short term when you're trying to, you know, wrap your mind around that trade.
01:07What's amazing to me with DeVries is, you know, maybe nothing jumps off the page data-wise just yet because he's a kid,
01:13but eight homers in 26 games in that span because he already is so adept to pulling the ball in the air.
01:19It was a 33% ground ball rate in that span. When he's in his advantage counts, he makes sure to get that barrel out there
01:25and just crush balls out in front of the plate. Like, he has this feel to be able to tap into more power
01:31than maybe the raw EVs will suggest. And I'll bet on a kid that just turned 19 tapping into more power as he matures.
01:39But to launch 18 home runs with roughly average exit velocities this year,
01:43and to do it at the highest level there where eight of them, you know, came down the stretch.
01:48He is such a special talent as a switch hitter who has now really found a way to even out.
01:52Besides, he's better from the left side, but the right side has closed the gap a little bit.
01:56I have some questions about the defense in terms of, like, can he be a little bit more consistent?
01:59But the tools are there. I think he can be a solid, you know, above average shortstop if it all comes together.
02:04But when you look at a switch hitter with plus power potential that's getting on base at a good clip
02:09and not striking out and reaching double-A and having success in double-A at 19 years old,
Be the first to comment