Future Projection

Today Ben and Carlos have an interview with Hudson Belinsky. Belinsky led Baseball America’s draft coverage from 2015-2017 and then joined the Arizona Diamondbacks as a Georgia area scout, where he worked for the team for five years. He is the signing scout for 2022 first-round outfielder Druw Jones, 2021 ninth-round lefthander Jake Rice, 2019 13th-round second baseman Cam Coursey, 2019 third-roun...

Ben and Carlos give their final thoughts on the World Baseball Classic, including Ben’s victory lap on splitter usage and thoughts on how we talk about high-energy vs. low-energy players—including the fact that we might just have it backwards most of the time. The two discuss how the WBC impacts our anticipation for Opening Day and touch on a few more spring training players of note, including: Re...

Ben and Carlos talk about the latest in the World Baseball Classic—the good, the bad and the ugly—before breaking down the contract extensions recently signed by Corbin Carroll and Keibert Ruiz. After that the two discuss the Nationals rebuild and the state of their farm system in the wake of the news that righthander Cade Cavalli will miss the 2023 season with a UCL injury. The two talk about the...

Ben and Carlos talk about the World Baseball Classic! Who are the favorites in the competition itself and then who are the most interesting prospects to keep an eye on at the event?  Roki Sasaki is certainly the No. 1 name to keep an eye on thanks to his immense stuff, but don’t forget about another Japanese righthander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who might get into the big leagues much sooner. After talk...

Ben and Carlos chat about how the pitch clock has looked so far in spring training and then dive into our recently published farm system rankings. Just how good are the Orioles in the No. 1 spot and how do they compare to some of the best No. 1 systems we’ve had in the past? What’s the tier break to the next group and how many teams are included? The two then talk about a few systems throughout th...

Ben and Carlos open the show by discussing the recent injuries to Guardians prospects Daniel Espino and Chase DeLauter before getting into the opening weekend of college baseball action.  The two discuss the players who stood out for Carlos at the College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, including Texas Christian third baseman Brayden Taylor, Arkansas lefthander Hagen Smith and Arkansas second base...

Ben and Carlos start the show by talking about a few of the new rule changes that were announced for the big leagues in 2023. Both generally agree on the limitations of position players pitching, but there are some different thoughts on the extra-inning rule to put a runner on second base. Following that, the two talk through a number of different players who have yet to make their full-season deb...

Ben and Carlos briefly talk about the Guardians and Reds swapping outfield prospects and the Padres extending Yu Darvish, as well as the state of San Diego’s farm system and pitching development, before getting into nitty-gritty scout talk.  What’s in each of their bags when they head out to the fields to see players? What’s their evaluating process? How has it changed over the years? Then the two...

Ben and Carlos talk through some of the best outfield prospects in baseball, starting briefly with James Wood (Nationals) and Jordan Walker (Cardinals) before getting into some players further down the board, like Emmanuel Rodriguez (Twins), George Valera (Guardians), Elijah Green (Nationals), Alec Burleson (Cardinals), Joey Wiemer (Brewers), Chase DeLauter (Guardians) and Spencer Jones (Yankees)....

Ben and Carlos talk about the baseball schedule and why exactly January feels so busy for the staff at BA despite no baseball taking place. This leads to a conversation about what scouts are working on this time of year, and why there’s still plenty of needle-moving things that occur off the field. Next, the two discuss the Astros naming former Braves VP of Scouting Dana Brown their new GM. How wi...

Ben talks about why his January 15th was much more chaotic this year compared to previous years and then he and Carlos get into the recently released BA Top 100 list. The two talk about how separated the trio of Gunnar Henderson (Orioles), Corbin Carroll (D-backs) and Jackson Chourio (Brewers) are from the prospects behind them, and get into a conversation about the power potential of Carroll. Aft...

Today on the show, Ben and Carlos talk about catching prospects. With Orioles franchise catcher Adley Rutschman establishing himself in the majors, is this the start of a new wave of catching talent? Who’s the top catching prospect in the game, and how much separation is there between the top backstops in baseball? The two dig into the profiles of a number of top-100 talents, including: Francisco...

Ben and Carlos are back on the podcast for the second season of the show! After a long hiatus, the two bring 2023 in with a bang, chatting about the most recent Prospect Handbook and the players who impressed them within it, plus an early look at the 2023 and 2024 draft classes. The two discuss players they’re excited about in the minor leagues, including Gunnar Henderson (Orioles), James Wood (Na...

Ben and Carlos talk about Baseball America’s recently updated draft rankings. There’s plenty of movement on the board, but perhaps the most notable prospect moving up is former Vanderbilt star Kumar Rocker. The two talk about how he looked in his debut outing for the Tri-City ValleyCats and then try and figure out how he fits into the 2022 class. After that, the two touch on other notable risers a...

Ben and Carlos talk about the improved pace of play in the minor leagues thanks to implementing a pitch clock and enforcing it. The two give their thoughts on the rule change and talk about a few potential ramifications, before talking about Ben’s International Review series. Ben gives some insight into a few players who have stood out throughout the process and also talks about some teams who hav...

Ben and Carlos talk about the first week or so of the professional season kicking off, including a scorching start for Guardians fifth round pick and outfielder Steven Kwan—who literally cannot miss. After that, the two touch on more rookies who have impressed, including Mariners righthander Matt Brash, Reds righthander Hunter Green, Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki and Braves righthander Spencer Stri...

With spring training currently underway, Ben and Carlos talk about how valuable it is when it comes to evaluating players. We touch on a few players who have gotten some buzz early this spring, like Marlins shortstop Kahlil Watson, and then touch on another Blue Jays trade that Ben is a big fan of. After that, the two talk about how stacked the field of American League rookie of the year candidate...

On today’s episode, Ben and Carlos react to many of the moves that have been made around the big leagues over the past week including: Freddie Freeman signing with the Dodgers; the Matt Olson deal that sent Christian Pache, Shea Langeliers and two others to the As; the Matt Chapman deal which brought Gunnar Hoglund and three more to Oakland; and others. The two discuss high-octane arms like Chase...

Ben and Carlos are briefly joined by JJ to talk about MLB and the MLBPA agreeing to a new CBA after a lockout that lasted 99 days. The three give their immediate impressions on what this means for the game. JJ talks about the chaos that will ensue shortly and Ben explains why no one should be surprised about the international draft after MLB has been trying to make it a reality for years. After th...

There’s finally real, live baseball happening around the country. On this episode, Ben and Carlos talk about a lot of it, including 103 mph fastballs thrown by Tennessee righthander Ben Joyce and North Carolina State first baseman Tommy White’s home run binge to start the season. The two discuss Carlos’s trip to Florida, where he got looks on potential first rounders, including high school outfiel...

Ben and Carlos discuss the best tools results from our survey with major league scouting departments. We wind up talking about just how impressive Georgia righthander Dylan Lesko is for quite a while, before getting into all kinds of tools on both the high school and college side of things. We talk about sleeper hitting prospects who could push up boards, how this class seems particularly strong o...

Ben and Carlos are joined by Geoff Pontes, who makes his debut appearance on the podcast! The majority of the show is spent breaking down our recently released farm system rankings, where the Mariners checked into the top spot for the first time ever. We talk about the top farms, and whether or not the separation between the Mariners and the next group (Rays, Pirates, Orioles) is significant or ma...

Ben and Carlos bounce all over the baseball world in today’s episode, going from junior college kicking off, to the Hall of Fame results, to international draft talk and conversations about the upcoming 2022 draft class. We start by talking about how impressive it is that Cam Collier homered in his junior college debut with Chipola (Fla.) JC and then pivot to some big league news. The two discuss...

It’s a busy week! Ben and Carlos chat about the international free agent signing period over the weekend and what Jan. 15 itself is like from Ben’s perspective (spoiler, it’s a ton of texting). Ben talks about players switching teams before the signing period and why and how that happens. After that, the two discuss the class and then pivot to Carlos’s recently released top 100 draft list for the...

The podcast returns! After a bit of a hibernation, Ben explains to you all why Future Projection has been dormant for much of the winter—don’t blame Carlos, he’s not at fault! The two talk about the Wander Franco contract extension with the Rays and whether or not we like aggressive, team-friendly deals like this. Ben makes the case that we shouldn’t always view a contract as team or player friend...