00:00We just got done talking on the call-up about Ralphie Velasquez, the number one prospect in the Guardians organization
00:05who got the bump up to AAA and has not skipped a single beat.
00:10What impresses you most about Ralphie Velasquez over his last couple of weeks and really the season as a whole?
00:15I feel bad. You got to hear me say it all over again after we just did Guardians top prospects
00:19on the call-up.
00:20But this is one of my favorite power bats in the last few years in terms of just the ability
00:28to get into that power, but also my confidence in it translating at the highest level with Ralphie Velasquez.
00:32He's so ahead of his years.
00:34And to see what he did in the second half of last year, where it was the combination of ridiculous
00:38power, but the bat-to-ball that you wouldn't really expect for a guy that is designed for damage in
00:45the air consistently.
00:46I mean, Ralphie Velasquez has been one of the more advanced power bats that I can remember at 20 years
00:52old.
00:52I mean, he's going to be 21 in a few days here, so still 20 years old at AAA.
00:57To have the ability to crush the ball in the air as hard and as consistently as he does, while
01:02virtually never punching out for a player of his archetype, is just ridiculous.
01:06And through his first five games at AAA, he's already walked more than he struck out, and he's hitting the
01:10ball again.
01:11I think he's only going to get better and better, and he's already at a point where he's not far
01:15from the big leagues, and he's not even in his final form.
01:17I absolutely love this kid's bat, and again, even with the success of Bazzana, that's why I put him in
01:22number one.
01:23Another guy with plenty of prospect intrigue, and the prospect intrigue has gone away at points, but again, a guy
01:28trying to make a ball club in the state of Ohio.
01:32Edwin Arroyo of the Cincinnati Reds organization has been maybe the best bat in minor league baseball so far this
01:38year.
01:38Edwin Arroyo not only has eight stolen bases in 48 ballgames, but he's got 10 homers already, he's got five
01:45triples, he's got nine doubles, 33 driven in in 48 ballgames, and he's hitting .344 with an OBP over .400
01:52and a .997 OPS.
01:55Edwin Arroyo has been nasty as a Louisville bat, and you have to think, at some point, he's going to
02:02be cracking Terry Francona's lineup in Cincinnati very soon.
02:05Especially with the way Matt McClain has been struggling, and I mean, Arroyo has made huge improvements from the left
02:11side in particular, and I mean, you look at the swing side by side.
02:15I don't know what he was doing setup-wise last year.
02:17Like, his front knee, for those who are watching can see it, but for those who are listening, he was
02:21open with his front knee completely bowed out, and then he would try to load into his backside, but he
02:27would just kind of push right back out of his backside because he was leaning so far forward.
02:30He was already so bowed out onto that front knee, or now he's more lean towards his backside, a little
02:36bit more like, I would say, 60-40 towards the backside and setup, versus being like 70-30 towards his
02:42front side and setup before, and just loads into his backside and swings off of his back leg a lot
02:46more easily.
02:47And as a result, he has more time, his path is better, and I think it's just helping him also
02:52use the ground better to create more damage, or do more damage.
02:55So in context, up from the left side, 6%. Average exit velocity is up more than 2 miles per hour.
03:00Hard hit rate's up 7%, and his average launch angle is up 10 degrees.
03:03He's in 1,091 OPS from the left side this year, Arroyo, and when you look at McLean struggling, and
03:09you'll get a guy that's hitting the ball in the air more, that's going to be rewarded in Great American
03:12Ballpark.
03:13He can play a good shortstop. They obviously don't need him to do that, but it's just nice to have.
03:17He can play good second base. He can play great second base. He can play good third base.
03:22The only interesting variable is he's very aggressive in the box, but at the same time, he's gotten so good
03:28at getting back to ball, and he can run.
03:30He can get away with that. I think Arroyo is a huge internal upgrade, potentially, for them, because even if
03:35he's a league average hitter, with the defense, with the speed, with the things he brings,
03:38I think they could really use a league average hitter, especially with what they've been getting from McLean and Cabrian
03:42Hayes, and he can fill in for both of them with the defensive skill set that he has.
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