Max Meyer's Strong Performance and Future MLB Prospects

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00:00This is Max Meyer starting against the Cincinnati Reds, and Tom, two starts ago, Max Meyer was unhittable.

00:09He still is getting a ton of swings and misses, way more than he did last year,

00:14and it seems as though his pitch usage is just way more up this year in terms of throwing a slider,

00:20and that seems to be working, but he did get beat up a little bit by the Arizona Diamondbacks last time out.

00:25He'll face off with another really good offense in the Cincinnati Reds, but Tom, let's call it what it is.

00:31I mean, the Reds can throw an 8-10 spot on you, and they can get shut out too.

00:35What do you make of this start?

00:37Well, I can forgive the start versus the Diamondbacks.

00:40They're a good offense. It happens.

00:41I think we are at the point where Max Meyer is like a rocket ship ready to take off.

00:47His swinging strike rate is up at 13.2% compared to 10.3% last year.

00:51Strike out rate overall is up at 27.6%.

00:55Walks are still under control.

00:57I think it's a good matchup versus the Reds, a 23.7% strike out rate versus righties,

01:02which is the 10th worst league.

01:04They also have an 84 WRC plus and a 124 ISO.

01:07I think this is return to form for him.

01:11Again, Diamondbacks start, it's going to happen.

01:13Great offense. They get runners on base.

01:15Cormacaro steals next thing you know.

01:16Naylor's coming up and hitting home run.

01:18Pavin Smith, whatever it might be.

01:19I can forgive that.

01:20I think we are at the precipice of a breakout.

01:24I just want to see him pile up the innings, right?

01:26We're already at like 20, what is it, 24 innings for Max Meyer this season.

01:30Yeah, 24. He had 57 last year.

01:32So, like, let's pile up the innings.

01:34Let's keep the strikeouts going.

01:35And it will be all good things for him this season.

01:38Yeah, hopefully gets to 120, 130 innings this season.

01:41I think that's a pretty good goal.

01:43All right.

01:44So, you know, the A's fans joke that this guy should have started opening day for them.

01:48I mean, you could probably make the case Osvaldo Bito for the A's, you know, has done a really nice job here at the start of the season.

01:55But, but, always the asterisk here.

01:59I mean, this is playing like Coors Field in Sacramento right now, Tom.

02:02Goes up against Texas.

02:04I've been very wary about these starts.

02:06It seems like out of every three games, two of them are going way over the total here.

02:11The altitude is the highest in the history of Major League Baseball outside of Colorado.

02:14And I think that's just going to continue here as we get closer to warmer weather in the summer.

02:21Yeah, so this one's a little tough for me because he's not a big strikeout pitcher and only 15.6%.

02:27It's well below the league average.

02:30But he has a 50.7% fly ball rate.

02:32And putting that into play against the lineup with Texas at home in Sacramento, that's a dangerous recipe.

02:42That's a really dangerous recipe.

02:44And we know that the Rangers lineup has been a bit up and down.

02:46Jake Berger isn't performing as well as we thought he would, you know, would.

02:50But, man, a 50% fly ball rate, especially if it's a warm day and there's wind blowing out, that has danger written all over it.

02:56All right, now let's get to this juicy matchup here between the Twins and White Sox next week.

03:04David Fest has done a nice job thus far.

03:06I see no reason to not play a guy against the Chicago White Sox.

03:10I don't know that I would ever say anything is instant fade, but I feel like this is as close as it gets.

03:16Right.

03:16And this really just comes down to availability in your leagues.

03:19Be a day ahead.

03:20Be a week ahead.

03:21You know that you have a – even if it's a – what we would consider a mid-tier pitcher.

03:27Forget who we were talking about.

03:28Look for, you know, Gavin Williams.

03:29Like, we were talking about him.

03:30But someone, like, oh, he hasn't broken out yet.

03:32He's a 3-4 starter.

03:34But you see him.

03:34He's going to be starting twice in a week and one of them is against the White Sox.

03:38Grab him.

03:38Just fire him up every single time.

03:41The White Sox got off to a nice couple wins to start the season, but they quickly fell back down to earth.

03:46Start Festa, a 26% strikeout is awesome against the White Sox.

03:50And he could probably go seven innings with maybe one earned run.

03:55All right.

03:55Now, the final one here.

03:56I don't know a ton about this guy.

03:58Shane Smith pitching for the White Sox in the same series here.

04:02I mean, I'm going to guess that he's available in every league, and it's probably a pass, too.

04:07Yeah.

04:08You could take him if you desperately need him.

04:11But, listen, it's what?

04:12His first MLB season, 17.2 innings.

04:15The only encouraging sign is that he's not giving up a ton of home runs.

04:18He has a 50% medium contact rate and a 52.1% ground ball rate.

04:22So, in theory, if the power isn't there for Minnesota, which it really hasn't, he could probably limit the home runs.

04:30I'm not going to say it's going to be great, but the home runs may not be there.

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