Venezuela Brings Home the WBC Title & Best Organizations for Pitching Development
Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball
The Athletic
4.7 • 874 Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2026
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eno, Trevor, and DVR discuss Venezuela's thrilling win over Team USA in the World Baseball Classic Final on Tuesday including the impressive outing from Eduardo Rodríguez, an incredibly close play on Javier Sanoja's ninth-inning steal of second base, and a swing from Eugenio Suárez that will have a permanent place in Venezuelan baseball history.
Plus, Lance Brozdowski joins the show to discuss his recent pitching development survey, teams that appear to be headed in the right direction for the future, and a few prospects on the rise including potential keeper and dynasty league sleepers.
Rundown
0:13 Venezuela Brings Home Its First WBC Title
12:20 A Great Celebration of Baseball
17:13 Mark DeRosa's Future as Manager & Tactical Limitations for Tournament
21:43 About That Lack of Joy From Team USA
25:23 Lance Brozdowski Joins the Show!
(Lance's Survey: https://lancebroz.substack.com/p/2026-mlb-pitching-development-rankings-acqusition-lance-brozdowski-best-pitching-organizations-coaches-executives-survey)
26:19 Best Organizations for Pitching Development & Acquisition
29:11 How Much Did Past Reputation Influence Guardians’ & Rays’ Rankings?
31:59 Varying Timelines in Pitching Development
36:40 How Quickly Can Teams Improve Their Development?
39:44 Is Alignment Underrated In Organizational Success?
49:45 What Results Do You Look at to Measure Minor League Success?
55:13 Who Will Likely Move Up In These Rankings in the Near Future?
57:48 The Marlins Are Doing Things Their Way
1:04:44 Can the Cardinals Improve Faster Than Expected?
1:09:25 A Few of Lance’s Favorite Pitching Prospects
Follow Eno on Bluesky: @enosarris.bsky.social
Follow DVR on Bluesky: @DVR.bsky.social
Follow Trevor on Bluesky: @iamtrevormay.bsky.social
Follow Lance on Bluesky: @lancebroz.bsky.social
e-mail: ratesandbarrels@gmail.com
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Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris
With: Trevor May & Lance Brozdowski
Editor: Jason Potere
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Rates, Beryl, it's Wednesday, March 18th. |
| 0:15.3 | Derek Van Riper, Unisarius, Trevor May here with you on this episode. |
| 0:18.3 | We get you caught up on the WBC final. |
| 0:20.6 | Venezuela brings home its first world baseball classic championship. Absolutely amazing championship game going down on Tuesday night. Lance Brasdowski joins us in just a few minutes. He had a big pitching development survey that he sent out. Some really interesting responses. Get some really deep |
| 0:37.6 | dynasty sleepers in that conversation as well. So if you're trying to make some pickups or you still |
| 0:42.2 | haven't drafted yet in your keeper dynasty league, there are some names to file away on the |
| 0:46.3 | pitching side coming up here later on in this episode. Trevor, how's it going for you on this Wednesday? |
| 0:51.6 | I am doing great. I enjoyed watching the finale last night |
| 0:55.2 | with my son. So he's starting to figure baseball out, or he's starting to figure out that I like |
| 1:01.1 | baseball, which is cool. I can't wait to share that more with him. So yeah, doing good. How are you guys doing? |
| 1:08.1 | I always like losing the battle for the remote against my son. |
| 1:11.5 | He's got a strong-willed mind of a three-year-old. |
| 1:15.6 | I was trying to find anything I could to keep him on the game as long as possible |
| 1:19.5 | before having to go to my phone or the iPad. |
| 1:22.0 | Before my screen got to this size. |
| 1:25.3 | The thing he likes right now are the numbers on the back of the jersey. |
| 1:28.4 | So if I just call up the numbers as we see them, like that buys me about five or ten |
| 1:33.0 | extra minutes before I lose to Miss Rachel or whatever he wants to watch. |
| 1:37.7 | I got to watch it during a Little League game. |
| 1:40.7 | So, yes, I had the smallest of screens. |
| 1:43.5 | Were you managing that little league game? |
| 1:45.2 | At least I was not. I was in the stands. I told him I couldn't manage in spring. Well, the timing of our |
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