Which prospects have the most interesting hobbies?
The following is a transcript of a segment from this week's episode of the Cut4Cast podcast. To hear more of the Cut4 staff's weekly banterings about which position player is the best at pitching or how baseball would work in outer space, subscribe to the Cut4Cast by clicking here.
The SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game is a great time to see young players in action. This week on the Cut4Cast, Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman of Cespedes Family BBQ joined Dakota Gardner and Gemma Kaneko to talk about some of the most interesting prospects they've met during their travels.
Gardner: You are the Cut4 prospect gurus. My question to both of you: Who is the guy nobody is talking about? Who is the guy we should be paying attention to? Not necessarily because they are going to be a great baseball player, although maybe they will be, but because they are an interesting person?
Shusterman: We've been fortunate to meet some who are interesting and good. Some are more interesting than they are good. Some are way more good than they are interesting. We won't name names. But we have met a lot of prospects who are very cool people. When they are also good, it's even better.
A couple of guys come to mind for me. The first guy is a relatively homer pick because he's one of the nicest dudes we've ever met. And he's mashing in Triple-A. Rhys Hopkins, first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. Future first baseman, currently in Lehigh Valley. He was, I think, second in the Minors in home runs last year --
Mintz: -- behind his teammate.
Shusterman: Behind his teammate,
[Ed. note: He made it!]
Gardner: Jordan put together a projected Futures Game roster, so everyone knows how awesome he is.
Mintz: I was working while he was doing that.
Shusterman: It's part of our thing. We'll be at the Futures Game. We're excited.
Mintz: The thing about Rhys Hoskins - how do you think it's spelled? Spell "Rhys."
Gardner: R-e-e-s.
Mintz: No.
Kaneko: It's not spelled like the candy?
Mintz: No.
Kaneko: R-e-i-c-e?
Mintz: You also said R-e-e-s.
Gardner: I did.
Mintz: It's R-h-y-s.
Shusterman: Like "rice." But Hoskins is awesome. He was a fifth or sixth rounder. Right-handed first base prospects, nobody really cares about until they're at the big-league level. And it's like, is he
Mintz:
Gardner: Heard it here first.
Mintz: This is a thing we talk about all the time. It's usually with first baseman or third baseman, guys who aren't up on the defensive spectrum. They are a late round pick, usually, and they just hit and they hit and they hit. They've always hit. They played at a smaller school, and they hit there. And they hit all up the Minors and eventually it's got to stop. Sometimes it just doesn't. Goldschmidt is a great example.
Shusterman: Nobody believes it until we're watching it at the big league level. I think Hoskins is a great example of that. I assumed after last year, he'd get a little more buzz. But it was just, like, he's a first baseman, whatever. But don't count him out!
Mintz: Then, my dude…. The most interesting person I think we've met is
Shusterman: His tweets are half Magic the Gathering, half his adorable son. He is a must-follow. He's maybe a Top 3 Twitter follow.
To learn about more weird prospect hobbies and to find out who you should be paying attention to in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, listen to the whole Cut4Cast here.