00:00The Marlins were in Detroit over the weekend, and I got to watch Kevin McGonigal swing a
00:05baseball bat a whole bunch of times.
00:07Kevin McGonigal, what he has done at the outset of his major league career is incredible.
00:13I watched him at his first major league homer, 21-year-old.
00:16He's one of just a couple 21-year-olds in major league baseball.
00:19But McGonigal threw 16 games, eight extra base hits, including a homer, a triple, six
00:24doubles, slashing 322, 412, 508 with a 920 OPS.
00:30He's walked more than he struck out, just like he did in the minor leagues, nine walks
00:34to eight punch outs in 68 plate appearances.
00:38Set whatever you want, but we can just do takeaways on McGonigal.
00:42He immediately became one of my favorite players to watch in the game.
00:46What do you think the thing, what did I probably feel like I had to argue against the general
00:51public more about, and the industry, was it McGonigal can play shortstop or McGonigal
00:57has plus power?
00:58Which do you think it was?
01:00McGonigal can play shortstop.
01:01I feel like that's the thing that you had to push back on more.
01:04Where are you left after watching him play some shortstop?
01:07He made a ridiculous play with the entirety of his body weight.
01:12And reminder, he's five foot nine and he's not 200 pounds.
01:15The entirety of his body weight working towards left field, towards the foul line.
01:20And he managed to just fling a ball in the air and it fell down to Spencer Torkelson in
01:25time for one of the more impressive shortstop throws that I've seen in quite some time.
01:30Now, I also saw him make a throwing air.
01:33He is one of those guys that he will take a lot of body weight to get his A throw
01:39off
01:40to first base.
01:42So he can play shortstop.
01:44Is he going to play a world-class shortstop?
01:46I don't know.
01:47But has Dansby Swanson played a really good shortstop with a subpar throwing arm?
01:51Yes.
01:52Has Lindor played a really good shortstop with a subpar throwing arm?
01:55Yes.
01:56I'm not saying he has the range factor of those guys, but why can't he be a league average
02:01to slightly above shortstop for the foreseeable future?
02:04And generally, he's so accurate.
02:05He gets it out quick.
02:06I think he's going to make it work.
02:08I agree.
02:08And if you move him to third, he'll be good over there.
02:11There's enough carry on his throws to make it happen.
02:14Buy or sell that he's the rookie of the year in the American League.
02:16We've got Chase DeLauter out there, too, obviously.
02:18And we still have Murakami Okamoto, who could easily get going here by our friends at BenMGM.
02:24DeLauter's the favorite right now at plus 210.
02:26McGonigal is just a couple bucks behind him at plus 240.
02:30Homers get you votes.
02:31I'm buying that he's the rookie of the year, though, because DeLauter's going to go cold
02:35at some point for two, three weeks.
02:38How does Kevin McGonigal go cold?
02:40We literally haven't seen it.
02:42It's been three years since he was drafted, right?
02:44We literally haven't seen him go cold.
02:46Has he ever been cold in the history of his baseball life?
02:49I don't know.
02:50Probably not.
02:51And I would say like his court.
02:53He might have been eight years old and struck out three times.
02:55I'm not sure that guy has failure in his blood.
02:59And the craziest part is like I think his cold is going to still be like 280 or like 280,
03:05350, 390,
03:08where he's just not slugging for a month.
03:09And it's just his numbers don't really take a huge hit.
03:11So this is the rookie of the year.
03:14I mean, he was my pick going into the year in the American League.
03:16And I just think he's going to be too damn consistent to not be that.
03:19And he's going to be such an important part of this Tigers team.
03:23So that I think is going to be competitive.
03:25Right now, he leads the team in F4.
03:28One other buy or sell.
03:29Does he lead position players on this team in the F4 department?
03:34I think, yes, because a lot of other guys on that team have a flaw that will rear its head
03:40at some point this year.
03:41So like Kerry Carpenter will really struggle in terms of plate discipline.
03:45He's going to chase a lot.
03:47Carpenter has never been a guy that has toned down the free swinging.
03:50Riley Green is going to punch out a lot.
03:52And he may carry that defensively at some point.
03:55Colt Keith just doesn't have that much defensive value.
03:58In terms of the offensive and defensive blend, McGonigal is already the safest guy in that Tiger lineup.
04:05Or Dingler, right?
04:07But Dingler is going to be at four, three and a half, four.
04:09Yeah, Dingler is fantastic.
04:11I really love Dingler.
04:12But he could go cold for like a month offensively and McGonigal won't.
04:15I'm buying McGonigal leads the position players on that team in F4, which is ridiculous for a 21-year-old
04:21rookie.
04:22It is so cool.
04:24A couple other hitters I want to run by you here.
04:25Brandon Lau is off to a great start in a new home here with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
04:31Lau homered twice on opening day.
04:33He has another multi-homer day under his belt.
04:3631-year-old guy is already over 1.1 B-worn, 14 games.
04:40He's walked 10 times.
04:41He's Cade 13.
04:42He's got a 1048 OPS.
04:44And he has six home runs with an average exit velo sitting in the fifth percentile.
04:49Bubbles be darned right now, folks.
04:52This guy is getting into some baseball.
04:56That savant page, the bubble screenshot, is a little concerning if you are buying the full season of Brandon Lau.
05:02But it just seems like this guy has a feel for where the first row of the right field seats
05:06are.
05:07Yeah, so that's the funny thing.
05:08And I was going to ask you.
05:10I think the most obvious question with him is going to be, you know, new team, career-high homers in
05:16homers is 39.
05:17He has six through 14 games.
05:19Does Brandon Lau finally eclipse 40?
05:22No, but he's comfortably above 30.
05:24I'm going to go 30.
05:25I'm going to go 34 home runs for Brandon Lau this year.
05:28The second most of his career.
05:30He hit 31 last year.
05:32I think this cat hits 40.
05:33I think the EVs are going to tick up.
05:36And I think this is going to be the first year he hits 40.
05:39And that's my hot take.
05:41I'm buying it.
05:42I'm buying it.
05:42He just looks too good.
05:44The angles are too good.
05:45The approach looks great.
05:46I think he's revitalized on a new team.
05:49It's a little bit chilly out there.
05:51I think the EVs are going to percolate.
05:53Give me 40 for Brandon Lau this year.
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