00:00A guy that's making his way up through the minor leagues as well
00:02is Ray's outfield prospect, Theo Gillen.
00:05And Theo Gillen has just continued to mash.
00:08They promote him to double A.
00:10He has been one of the better performers, period,
00:13in the minor leagues this year.
00:14Their first round pick in 2024.
00:16Already 12 homers, 28 backs.
00:18I think this is one of the more electrifying power speed combinations
00:21in the minor leagues.
00:23342, 449, 589 slash lines.
00:26Good for 166 WRC+.
00:28And when he was drafted, he was an infielder.
00:31They've moved him to the outfield.
00:32His speed is shining through there,
00:33and it looks like he could potentially play an above-average center field
00:36as he continues to settle in there.
00:38But the biggest thing for me with Gillen is that he is really getting into the power
00:42as well, especially in the air.
00:44His average exit velocity on batted balls in the air is 95 miles per hour.
00:48He also is running a chase rate south of 20%.
00:51So you have this hard-hitting ability.
00:53You have this patience.
00:54You have solid contact rates, like good enough.
00:56I think better than the strikeout rate would imply.
00:58And then, again, the power and angles to all fields.
01:02If he can prove to be an above-average center fielder,
01:04which I still think could be in his game,
01:06Theo Gillen has a chance to be one of the best prospects in baseball, period.
01:10Last note on him, he's hitting .407 over his last 20 games
01:16at high A before the promotion with a .195 WRC+.
01:20Again, I think Gillen's going to be one of the top-rated prospects in the sport.
01:24He already kind of is trending in that direction, but by the next update and by the end of season,
01:28I think this is a guy we're looking at as a top-10 prospect in that race system,
01:31top-10 prospect overall, excuse me.
01:33One of these guys is going to work out at some point.
01:36Like, I understand Carson Williams hasn't really worked out to this point,
01:39and they've had a couple of other prospects that, you know,
01:42have come up and fizzled out a little bit.
01:43Common Arrow, that was not the case whatsoever with Junior Common Arrow.
01:47But Gillen, like, you have to think this is one of those prospects
01:50that is going to come up and show out at some point for the Tampa Bay Rays.
01:54But it seems like their hit rate is a little bit lower than you would expect
01:57from a team as well-oiled as the Tampa Bay Rays.
02:01Yeah, because I think there's a lot of their guys, huge upside, have some deficiencies.
02:04When you look at Gillen now, I think the biggest deficiency has been health historically.
02:09And here he is, available, stacking games, and looking healthy,
02:13and consistently being in the lineup, which is really big.
02:16An arm, and I think an arm in an organization that could really use one,
02:21Joseph Zerwa has been awesome, a top 100 prospect for us as well.
02:25Second-round pick in 2025.
02:26He has been nails in AA.
02:29And Zerwa, funky look.
02:31We picked him as a breakout guy, as one of our breakout prospects,
02:35because of the fact that he added a couple ticks.
02:37This was a fastball change-up 6'7 lefty that had built-in deception to find his success.
02:44You add a couple ticks to that fastball, and you add a slider,
02:47and all of a sudden, you know, you're going to have a little bit more success.
02:51And he had a slider before, but it's just a totally different pitch.
02:53The shape's different, and the velocity's up multiple ticks.
02:56Instead of it being this taste-breaker, it's a legit good pitch.
02:59He added a cutter as the bridge, and so that really makes a big difference, right?
03:03You have the fastball change-up that you already had.
03:05The fastball's better, the velo separation's better from the change-up,
03:08the slider's sharper, and you add this bridge cutter.
03:11No wonder this guy, who's actually now 6'8", according to the most recent measurements,
03:15is having the success that he is having.
03:17And it's been fun to watch the pure dominance.
03:20When you look at strikeouts to walk, he's been as good as anybody in the minor leagues.
03:24So far this season, 91 strikeouts against 16 walks.
03:28In 73 and a third's innings between high A and double A, he's pitched to a 2-3-3 ERA,
03:34and he has barely been touched for a long ball.
03:36Two homers on the season because of the heaviness to his stuff, the deception built in,
03:40the command being there as well.
03:42At worst, this looks like a back end of the rotation piece for the Orioles.
03:45He looks, he throws like somebody in the big leagues, and I'm trying to figure out who it looks like.
03:52Like, the first name that came to mind was Hagen Smith of the White Sox.
03:54He totally has some Hagen Smith to the delivery, but there's somebody else,
03:58and I just can't put my finger on who exactly it is, where it's like super whippy and kind of
04:04upright too.
04:05Tate said Tim Heron.
04:06That is a good shout.
04:07Yes, that's exactly who I'm thinking of.
04:10Like, there was just a classic tall guy that, like, you know, the body stayed still, yet super whippy.
04:16Come set super closed.
04:17Yeah, right?
04:18Like, kind of Dolander on the right side.
04:20Like, Dolander did that where it's like his body was upright, and the arm was just moving a million miles
04:24an hour.
04:25Hagen Smith is like, I think, the slam dunk comp, but Heron, yes, that's exactly who I was thinking of.
04:31I was like, I know I've seen that delivery before.
04:33It does.
04:33It does look very similar.
04:36Another guy that I am still skeptical as to whether it will translate to the big leagues, but I would
04:40be dishonest.
04:42I would not be a pro if I don't shout him out because he has been balling out, and we
04:47got a lot of flack for leaving Joshua Baez off of our top 100 list and our update.
04:52And the guy had a four homer game.
04:55Now, so did Hogan Windish in 2024 and AA, and you might say who exactly, but this is in AAA,
05:01four homer, seven RBI day.
05:03I still have concerns as to whether Josh Baez's swing is going to translate.
05:07It kind of feels like the Christian Campbell thing again, where I also got killed for that.
05:10But at the same time, he has been so darn productive.
05:15The Cardinals prospect has nine homers in his last 20 games, and that's not fair, actually.
05:20So if I go to 23 games, he has 14 homers in his last 23 games at AAA.
05:25Yes, he's striking out.
05:26Yes, he expands his own a little bit, but this is a player now where he's getting to the game
05:30power so consistently at the AAA level.
05:32We need to see it at the big league level and see if it's going to translate.
05:35I don't think it is.
05:36I think the swing's too stiff, but he has been unbelievable to watch.
05:40The bat speed and the explosion there is there, and there's so much excitement as to what could be if
05:45it does work.
05:46So I want to find out.
05:47The Cardinals are rolling.
05:49This could be a guy to ride the hot hand with, and I hope we see him up at the
05:52big league level
05:52because 14 homers in 23 games is stupid at any level, especially AAA, though.
05:57So I want to see this guy in the show.
05:59I want to see this guy in the show.
05:59Here we go.
Comments