00:00I'm going Hunter Brown of the Houston Astros, 61 innings pitch, 71 strikeouts, ERA just over two, factored in where he was drafted.
00:09Credit to the Astros, though.
00:10Like, I mean, George, they basically look nothing like they have in years past.
00:16I mean, think about those World Series with Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander and George Springer and Kyle Tucker and like all and Alex Bregman.
00:27I could keep going for Correa.
00:28And they just keep letting guys go, and then, you know, they replace guys.
00:32Now, I don't know.
00:33This seems to be the first year to me that they just don't look right.
00:35Like, I mean, I know they didn't look right last year.
00:37They came on at the end.
00:39But credit to them, another pitching development story, Hunter Brown.
00:43And with the injuries that they now have to their pitching staff, they're going to need this kid to go the distance.
00:48Right.
00:48He's finally realized his potential.
00:50He was supposed to be this guy when first called up here, and now he's starting to become that pitcher here.
00:55I have no problem with Hunter Brown, by the way.
00:56I was wrestling between Hunter Brown and you mentioned the Yankee I took, Max Freed.
01:01And I can't argue with your logic because that's what I believe in.
01:04Hunter Brown was taken later.
01:06All right.
01:07One of the reasons I took Freed, all his numbers are great.
01:09We know that.
01:10The Yankees win every one of his starts.
01:11They've only lost one of his starts here coming into the Memorial Day weekend.
01:15And one of the reasons I took him is because, boy, you're going to pitch in New York.
01:21A lot of pressure there.
01:23All right.
01:23The Yankees lost Gary Cole, lost Louis Hill.
01:26More pressure on him.
01:28I mean, Yankee fans like to complain, oh, they didn't sign Juan Soto, regardless of what he's doing with the Mets right now.
01:33If the Yankees signed Juan Soto, they wouldn't have Max Freed.
01:37There's no way Steinman was paying for both.
01:38And they'd be sunk.
01:39All right.
01:40Because they don't have a fifth starter now.
01:41So, they'd be a complete mess there.
01:43So, Freed has really been almost a godsend for the Yankees here.
01:45I love the way he's pitched so far for them.
01:47And hopefully he can keep it up here.
01:48Although, I'm the first person to tell you, Craig, he's not making 32 starts.
01:53Yeah.
01:53I would agree.
01:54But as of right now, fantastic signing for the Yankees.
01:59All right.
01:59Fantasy Rookie of the Year from a pitching perspective.
02:02This was the easiest one on the board, George.
02:04I don't know.
02:04Maybe I'm missing some middle reliever, closer somewhere, American League starter.
02:11I don't know.
02:11I can't find one.
02:13So, A.J. Smith-Crover of the Braves was the guy.
02:1741 innings pitched, 41 strikeouts, 3.67 earned run average.
02:21It's never a great season for rookie pitchers.
02:24I do want to add that.
02:26But in this season that the Braves are sort of hanging around here, and by the way, we saw Ronald Acuna return to a lot of fanfare.
02:33First pitch home run, by the way.
02:35Smith-Crover, to me, has been the easy rookie of the year pitcher.
02:39Yeah.
02:39No problem with this.
02:41Not sure if he qualifies, because he's been around a couple of years.
02:44I don't know how that works with the rookie of the year.
02:46He does so well.
02:47Because I thought about him as well here.
02:48I decided, listen, we're going to give some love to the Chicago White Sox here.
02:53All right.
02:53I gave a lot of hate towards Robert.
02:56So, we'll give some love to Shane Smith here, who's – I guess someone has to make the all-star team for the White Sox, and I think it's going to be Smith.
03:03He has pitched that well.
03:05I'm the first person to admit what you said here.
03:06I don't know if Smith or Shory at the end of the year are going to be the rookies of the year.
03:11You know, I doubt they will.
03:12But for what the purpose of this show, that's who I'm voting for.
03:15He said, a really nice season for a terrible team.
03:17All right.
03:17We know the White Sox are bad.
03:19Should he be the ace of the staff?
03:20Probably not.
03:21Would he be the ace on a better team?
03:23Probably not.
03:24But for the White Sox, he has.
03:25We know there's a lot of pressure on him because they're not going to hit.
03:29You're not going to get nine runs a game here.
03:30So, I went to Shane Smith here, showing a little love for the Chicago White Sox.
