Brendan Gawlowski Prospects Chat: 3/3/26

Brendan Gawlowski: Hello everybody

Brendan Gawlowski: Tigers list went up last week, if you haven’t seen it yet. In theory we should be posting a Mets and a Braves list this week although. I’m most of the way through delving into Atlanta’s system and it hasn’t been pretty.

Brendan Gawlowski: Also, my wife likes to submit a question to these with a random username and she gets very excited if I pick it. Just thought that was amusing to share.

Brendan Gawlowski: Anyway, let’s go.

Big Fan: It’s spring and all, but this is my first look at John Gil and I didn’t realize he’s Pete Alonso but playing SS.  Did he grow/change over the winter, or is it just a handful of homers early in spring training?

Brendan Gawlowski: Yes he looks enormous now. I don’t know if it’s a good change but here’s an example of how “that guy used to be a shortstop?!” happens in real time

Phil: In light of the Profar news, I a. wondering whether you have any thoughts on PED culture between different countries or other categories of players. When you were a scout, was “possibility of future suspension” a criterion for certain players? I am wondering both how much teams, intentionally or inattentively, overlook this stuff, and also whether there are broader approaches that might work. I find it odd how persistent it is, particularly for guys who have gotten caught twice.

Brendan Gawlowski: Perhaps Jurickson was playing a long game out of a deep philosophical disagreement with corporate ownership and or suburban stadiums

Brendan Gawlowski: As for the “possibility of future suspension” angle… Potential legal/disciplinary issues are a factor, not super often, but there were a couple times I was completely out on guys with big-league tools for off field stuff.

Brendan Gawlowski: Independently, there will occasionally be not-so-quiet speculation in the scout section about whether someone is/was on the juice. Not very often but it happens.

b1leper: Tommy Troy, Buy or Sell?  Does he have a path in Arizona this year?

Brendan Gawlowski: We pushed him onto the top 100 so, buy? I think he’s good/useful and should debut this year.

Shandy Koufax: I saw a story from Jon Bois that the Jays scout who signed Dave Stieb talked a bunch of trash to the other scouts to hide his interest.
What is collaboration/competition  like among scouts in different orgs? Is there an effort to hide some of your evaluation? Friendly discussion about differences in evaluation on a player?

Brendan Gawlowski: Those kinds of things were a lot easier to pull off a couple generations ago. They may still happen on the amateur side to a small degree, that’s outside my wheelhouse. For pro scouts, there’s a dance. Anything valuable you keep to yourself. Anything obvious, you’re free to share, maybe it curries favor for you down the road. And there were a small number of scouts whom I became good friends with where I was a little more open than I’d otherwise be inclined to be, and vice versa.

Naylor Sailor: Both Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan looked pretty fun over the weekend. Do you think we’ll see both in the bigs sometime in 2026?

Brendan Gawlowski: Anderson yes, Sloan would surprise me, less on talent than just on how far he has to go while building durability.

Sir Nerdlington: What’re your thoughts on the Marlins calling pitches from the dugout? As the dad of a catcher it makes me sad that we’re potentially trending this way.

Brendan Gawlowski: Interesting experiment. In theory, this could help take some of the load off of the catcher, and some pitchers won’t mind at all because they’re happy to outsource that choice anyway. But, and maybe this isn’t relevant to big leaguers, when I pitched, I always hated it when I had to throw what someone else wanted me to use.

Dodgers Blue: Brendan – the few athletic freaks aside, is there a somewhat consensus number of MiLB starts (AA, AAA) organizations like to see their starters put it before feeling comfortable about promoting them to the major league level?

Brendan Gawlowski: No, depends on the org and the player. The old rules of thumb — you need x hundred innings or whatever — are gone.

millvillemeltdown: who is the least “toolsy” guy succeeding in the majors? obviously there are guys like kwan who are doing well based on good hit/fld without huge power or speed, but i feel like picking hit-over-power guys is a bit cheap

Brendan Gawlowski: Late-career Martin Maldonado comes to mind.

Sir Nerdlington: On catchers, with ABS a thing and (potentially) pitch calling moving to the dugout, how do you assess the value catchers bring change going forward? More Piazzas, less Jose Molinas?

Brendan Gawlowski: The stuff we can’t see is so important. Like, remember how things went to hell in St. Louis for a little while right after Yadi retired? Honestly, that alone switched my (non-existent… yet) HOF vote from no to yes.

Brendan Gawlowski: I don’t think ABS or dugout pitch calling is going to change that dynamic.

Insert Witty Name Here: With the Tigers having promising hitters coming up, should they move the fences in a bit?

Brendan Gawlowski: God no.

Brendan Gawlowski: Moving the fences in doesn’t generate offense. It adds homers at the expense of everything else.

Brendan Gawlowski: And, imo, all the short fences are bad for the game and bad for the sport’s biodiversity.

RAH: It would be a big deal for JD Dix’s defensive profile if he was showing better arm strength this spring. Have you heard updates on if another off-season has helped him heal and get stronger?

Brendan Gawlowski: Sources within the org said it got better over the winter but I haven’t verified that this spring. You’re right to note that, to an unusual degree, it’s a potential game changer for him.

millvillemeltdown: if profar puts out a statement decrying the battery as a disgusting monument to the corrupt marriage between government and big money i’m with that him. (my phone tried to autocorrect to jurickson profit)

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m not ruling anything out.

Wallyworld: Are any teams really going to be swayed that heavily by a prospect’s spring training or is it really just more of an easier narrative for the front office.  I.E. Player struggles so he “needs more reps/seasoning” or Player gets hot “forced our hand”.  Obviously I love the reports, but if I have to hear that Charlie Condon somehow has proved something in 18 PAs that the Rockies just figured out to put him on the roster….

Brendan Gawlowski: Generally not but sometimes a guy looks so much better or worse than you were expecting and it changes the calculus.

Ben: Since you are close to completing the Braves’ writeup, what can you tell me about teen outfielders Carey and Hartman?  They seem to be getting ABs this spring which I find odd since they’re so young.

Brendan Gawlowski: You identified a couple of the guys I haven’t dug in on yet, so sorry about that. Will say: Atlanta has given a lot of AB’s to very green prospects in a way that’s generally been helpful for this list. So, thanks Walt and co.

millvillemeltdown: i’m curious what happened with j holliday. he’s been a contributor but not a massive one. considering how much hype there was around him, his career seems to have sputtered a bit..

Brendan Gawlowski: I only saw him once, back in the futures game in ’23. The degree to which he looked ordinary relative to the other shortstops and top prospects around — Merrill in particular blew me away that day — stood out. Showcases aren’t the be-all end-all and it’s not really the best environment for him in particular and at the time I completely flushed the look… In retrospect though, maybe it was instructive.

curious george: Nate Garkow legit?

Brendan Gawlowski: I don’t think so but he deserves the chance to find out.

Insert Witty Name Here: Do you know of any commonalities about successful big leaguers relative to their pre-high school days?

Brendan Gawlowski: They were mostly really fucking good.

Brendan Gawlowski: Every once in a while you hear about Mark Buehrle not making his high school team as a sophomore or something. That’s the exception.

Ben: Hi Brendan, are there any under the radar giants prospects you’re excited about? How do you feel about the system as a whole? I’m looking forward to seeing the report on their system when it comes out!

Brendan Gawlowski: I really liked Keyner Martinez on the complex. Was hoping we could swing a deal with them last summer but SF faded at the critical moment and now the cat’s out of the bag. Of course, they probably knew what they had…

Jeremy: As a fan who will be watching a ton of in-person games in Phoenix this week, what recommendations do you have about how to watch a game / work a stadium more like a scout?

Brendan Gawlowski: email me. first/last at fangraphs dot com

Ice Cream Helmet: Braves fan here. Our pets’ heads are falling off! As I understand it, the farm system ain’t great either. Any good news for me

Brendan Gawlowski: Your young core is really good and the top four in the system are all arrow up pitchers.

Profar’s dealer: Are there any desperate mediocre prospects out there who would be really elite if they just had more power?

Brendan Gawlowski: Tons of shortstops with bat to ball and 30 pop

Brendan Gawlowski: Like, if Dauri Fernandez had 55 impact or something he’d be a top 100 guy

Insert Witty Name Here: How long would a pitchers extension have to be to where hitters just couldn’t hit it? Thinking if Wemby took to pitching (his first pitch disaster notwithstanding).

Brendan Gawlowski: Michael Jordan in Space Jam

Brendan Gawlowski: Franco Aleman has ridiculously long arms and is fun to watch for that reason though

529: Thoughts on ABS thus far? I surprisingly don’t really like it, either go full auto or no auto IMO. I also get annoyed at the overturns of <0.1″ (which is significantly smaller than the precision of the system), but that may be the football fan in me.

Brendan Gawlowski: I think it’s fine, I’m maybe the wrong guy to ask because I can live with missed calls. I agree that there’s an element of false precision.

D: Your comment on Yadi is really interesting. Are there other catchers whom you’ve observed to have a similar effect/value?

Brendan Gawlowski: There are presumably a bunch of catchers who are doing/have done load-bearing work but it’s really hard to have insight into that. The contrast from Molina to Contreras, along with the club’s public comments, made for an unusually revealing case study.

Shake-N-Bake: Are we ever going to see Emiliano Teodo pitch for the Texas Rangers in the Big Leagues?

Brendan Gawlowski: Unless he keeps getting hurt forever. I think he’s a reliever but he could be a really good one.

War2D2: Enough with the film flam Gawlowski, gimme the straight dope or I skate. You’re in Florida, right? Do you know if Eric had a chance to check out Cubs camp yet? Rojas has been hitting well so far. Think he’s going to stay a 50fv or does he have some room to move up? What’s his ETA, and do you think the glove is strong enough to stick at SS?

Brendan Gawlowski: I am not in Florida, will be in AZ next week for 11 days. Eric will be handling the Cubs and we’ll both presumably run into Rojas a bunch over that time. He’s volatile but we’re on the tools.

Crewsing 4A Brewsing: how do guys like dylan crews just become lost at the next level?

Brendan Gawlowski: The batted ball data was always kind of scary. I figured he was toolsy/talented enough to make an adjustment, and maybe he still will. But in retrospect there were at least orange flags in the performance.

529: Do you think the current way of deploying a pitching staff is optimal? As in, is there a better way than 5 starters, 8 relievers, with the vast majority of those relievers being 1 inning only guys?

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s probably even less length from some of the starters. Real-world factors — Smith’s under the weather, Rojas just hasn’t been able to get loose today, Jones is worried about his grandma and his head isn’t here today — will always complicate perfect efficiency.

e: you just used the phrase ’55 impact’ to describe power, not sure I’ve heard that before- is that game power or quality of contact or something else?

Brendan Gawlowski: Impact = raw power
Damage = game power

Barry Sagittarius: Apologies if you’ve covered this previously, but do you have any hope for Henry Davis being even a mediocre hitter? He seems to have a roster spot locked down as Skenes personal catcher, but with Bart as potential trade bait and Endy Rodriguez and Rafael Flores being question marks, it’d be really nice if Davis was somewhat competent at the plate.

Brendan Gawlowski: Bad swing path. Surrounds the ball, hits a bunch of missiles into the seats down the third base line. If he can find a way to straighten that out, you might have something.

Well-Beered Englishman: After you’ve done the legwork of video, stats, talking to sources, etc., how much can change by seeing a guy in person? Whether for a player specific report or a FG org ranking.

Brendan Gawlowski: If I’ve grinded through video, picked apart the data, and talked to evaluators who know things about him personally or can chip in on things that are tough to see on video… well, I’d still like to see him move, but generally not a ton. But that’s a lot of legwork.

Arsenal’s Football: What’s more important, beautiful football or winning games? It feels like the EPL is having their “opening pitcher” type of strategic change with the emphasis on set pieces/throw in plays. Effective strategy that takes some of the beauty away from the game. Anyway, how close was Antwone Kelly to the t100? Thx for the chat

Brendan Gawlowski: The Arsenal-Chelsea game last weekend was an awful watch in a lot of ways, imo. Inch at a time, playing for set pieces. Get out the towel to optimize the long throw, set the ball outside the circle on corners and make the ref notice, push and shove in the box to the nth degree allowed by law… blegh.

Brendan Gawlowski: Kelly: not super close, think he’s a reliever. A relatively early cut on the long list. Which is still a very good prospect, to be clear.

Redbeard: Can you tell me anything about Yordanny DeLos Santos.  Seemed like he had a bit of hype coming out of the DSL but has stagnated but is performing well in mop ip spring abs?  Any hope of a post hupe breakout?

Brendan Gawlowski: A good example of a guy who could have used short season. Maybe he always struggles with pitch recognition anyway but the jump from the complex to Low-A is huge. We’re still learning about whether guys like that just need a ton of low-minors time and if that eventually compensates for a big jump. There’s also a chance that we’re just finding out who can’t hit earlier than we used to.

Jesse: How is the Atlanta system this weak on position player prospects?

Brendan Gawlowski: They’ve prioritized arms because they have so many position players locked up for the long haul.

Brendan Gawlowski: I think that’s, correctly, starting to change. Lodise/Southistene last year for example

Oaktown Blues: How often does a pitcher throw two variants of the same pitch (fastball excluded)? I read Laurila’s interview from today and Jamie Arnold having two different changeups is interesting

Brendan Gawlowski: Increasingly common. Sweeper/bullet slider or a circle change and a split.

High Zyhir Hopes: Where do you think Zyhir Hope ends up on prospect lists this time next year?

Brendan Gawlowski: About where he is now, maybe a little higher. Think he’s always going to be risky.

Uncle Spike: Do you ever just throw out a season of a prospects development because they were dealing with an injury or personal problem and project them as if that season never happened or is it always part of the calculous?

Brendan Gawlowski: You don’t throw it out but that can be helpful context.

Brendan Gawlowski: I feel differently about Thayron Liranzo going forward than I would have just looking at his data/video. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not a little concerned about how everything looked last season.

Bog: Were you ever a Luis Matos guy and do you hold out any hope for him? He’s still young

Brendan Gawlowski: I was and do. Change of scenery candidate

Kate: Was a little surprised to see Ethan Conrad not mentioned in the picks to click article.  Guessing you all have some reservations about the hit tool given the small school background and small sample this year before the injury?

Brendan Gawlowski: We imposed a limit on ourselves or we’d have picked fifty guys. I’m still very interested to see him.

Galahad: Is Spencer Jones’ swing-and-miss game determinative? It seems to me he’s even beyond the Joey Gallo zone of TTO.

Brendan Gawlowski: He could be Gallo. Some of his swing and misses are odd, he’ll just… wave at pitches that are practically already in the catchers glove. I don’t really know what to make of it.

529: How much of a developmental risk is it to bring a guy up too early? Too late?

Brendan Gawlowski: Depends on the player. How they respond to failure is a factor. I tend to think that “too late” is not really a thing for the most part.

Phil: Pedro Martinez claimed to have four different changeups. Stuff like that just wasn’t tracked in those days

Karl Hungus: Do you use a correction factor when correlating metal/composite bats to wood – in terms of EV, bat speed, etc.?

Brendan Gawlowski: No, in part because I don’t think we’re necessarily dealing with a straight apples to apples comparison among the bats. Baseball America has written about how bat manipulation is pretty rampant in the college game right now, for just one reason why.

Mr. Redlegs: Brock Wilken put up huge # in AA last year before he got hurt. Is he a guy? Even in a fantasy baseball sense?

Brendan Gawlowski: I think he’s a big leaguer but probably not an everyday guy

Pumpsie Green: 2 naive questions. 1. When going to scout a prospect in a minor league camp that you haven’t seen, how do you identify him?. 2. Does the public have access to the back fields & minor camps or do they need credentials? Thanks for doing these chats. They allow us a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.

Brendan Gawlowski: If he’s got a name on the back of his jersey, great. If he has a number, get a roster. If you’re watching BP and the team doesn’t have numbers, ask one of the coaches or do a little detective work on the headshots.

Brendan Gawlowski: For the second question, 99% of the time, at least in Arizona, I don’t know about Florida, the public has access to the backfields during spring training.

Brendan Gawlowski: There will be times the facility is closed to the public, but you shouldn’t have a problem watching backfield games during the spring.

Carl: Talking Serie A?! Who’s your team? Best entertainment value among the top leagues by a good distance IMO.

Brendan Gawlowski: I went to San Siro for an Inter game back in 2019, so I guess them, but I tend to gravitate towards the fun teams. Roma was dead to me during the Mourinho era; now they’re fun. Sassuolo and Como are great watches and, much as I hate, hate, hate to say it… so are Juve right now.

Grades: When you see what seem like wildly different grades on a skill, like game power or command, what could account for the differences? Are some skills more prone to large differences in grade than others?

Brendan Gawlowski: The hit tool tends to be volatile. Fielding can be depending on when you see a guy. I’m also finding that my conviction in a guy’s defense is much lower watching the video I have access to now vs. when I was scouting in person and had the benefit of better and more camera angles.

Insert Witty Name Here: If the Kochen-Specker theorem proves that physical properties do not have definite values independent of the act of measurement, does ‘objective reality’ exist between observations, or is reality fundamentally ‘constructed’ by the specific geometry of the questions we ask the universe?

Brendan Gawlowski: The postmodernist has logged on.

mike: QBs used to call their own plays, and people hated it at first when they were called by coaches…..times change.

Brendan Gawlowski: QB’s also change stuff on the fly all the time

Matt: With a guy like Carlos Lagrange, what/how much do you need to see before you could conclude that the command might be improving? Is cleaner mechanics enough? Or do you need a decent sized sample of innings?

Brendan Gawlowski: Depends on the guy and what your projection was… To some extent, people will improve through reps and as they get stronger, which is why you’ll see guys with different present/future grades even when we’re not projecting/hoping to see any mechanical changes.

Brendan Gawlowski: I apologize if it seems like I say “it depends” too often, but there really is a lot of case by case

Bumpin Ugglas: Last week, you mentioned that you’d be in favor of busting up the draft. I’m intrigued-what would that look like? Just teams sign whoever they want to whatever money?

Brendan Gawlowski: I have a philosophical problem with players not getting to choose their employers. I personally don’t think the sport needs bonus caps for amateurs but I could definitely be talked into a system where the cap is low enough to deter the dodgers or yankees from signing everyone (I don’t think it would happen that way, but, sure, we can guard against that) but not so low that it’s significantly suppressing what these guys would get paid on the open market. Which is what we have now.

Woo Man Chu: Pretty stark change in pitch mix from the Nationals new org – from one of the most fastball-heavy teams in the sport to one of the least. Any thoughts on this change in approach?

Brendan Gawlowski: Seems significant. SFG going the other way does too.

Dog Walker: Not a gun to your head but more like the local dog walker uses your front yard as a bathroom if you dont choose.  If you had to select one for a keeper league who is it:  Jac Caglianone or Bryce Eldridge?

Brendan Gawlowski: Eldridge but good/tough question

Oaktown Blues: Do you have a guess as to why the “abolish the draft” viewpoint so prevalent among scouts/prospect evaluators? (Or is it not and FG has just had several who feel that way)

Brendan Gawlowski: I have no idea if it’s prevalent among scouts… I think it’s probably just more prevalent among people on the left.

Brendan Gawlowski: Although, even if you kept the bonus pool structure the same, I still think it would be more fun to have a signing day format than the draft, which isn’t really aligned with the left-right spectrum.

Dodgers Blue: Are you in on each of Dylen Beavers, Daylen Lile and Jac Caglianone this year?  Any one much more so than the others?

Brendan Gawlowski: Think Beavers is ready to go and will be productive from the jump, so he sticks out first.

millvillemeltdown: are there any players you’ve been way higher than consensus on where you were vindicated?

Brendan Gawlowski: Ragans would be the best one. But everybody has hits like this and misses like Richy Valdez.

NFP: Do you know how teams see the defensive spectrum, if at all? In 2025, the lightest hitting positions were 2B (90 wRC+), CF (93), C (95, duh), 3B (96), where SS is actually slightly above average (101).

Brendan Gawlowski: Similar to how you do; SS’s turning into big bats is really interesting. A big win for the strength coaches of the world

millvillemeltdown: this date in 7 years is gonna go crazy

Brendan Gawlowski: I kind of hope you’re making a tour of the internet raising awareness today

millvillemeltdown: are there any historical guys you wish you could have scouted?

Brendan Gawlowski: Steve Dalkowski

KC Pain: How do you feel about how teams handle prospects? I see guys like Seymour and Boyle and realize they are both going to be 27 this year and still not sure why they aren’t leaned on. I feel like a guy at that age we should kind of know what we have in a player instead of wondering if they can be one. (Boyle has massive control issues but Seymour….?

Brendan Gawlowski: Pitching development and hitting development are not the same. Pitchers find new paths forward throughout their careers.

Guest: Is the feeling inside the industry that there will be a labor strike next year or nah ?

Brendan Gawlowski: Most people I’ve spoken with are pretty worried. Scouts tend to be the first on the block whenever something happens, so that group in particular is pessimistic.

Oaktown Blues: Poor Richy Valdez may become synonymous with “org filler” on FG

Brendan Gawlowski: Which would be too bad, because he wasn’t org filler… he was talented and had a shot, he just had a long way to go and ultimately struggled to throw strikes. The story isn’t that he was bad, it’s that I learned by doing.

beanbong: Is Jhancarlos Lara ever going to throw enough strikes to be a major league reliever? You could give him a 10 for command right now, but say he bumps that to 30, is that a 7th/8th inning guy?

Brendan Gawlowski: Hard to be a leverage guy with 30 command. He’s getting HM’d.

Taking positional adjustment to seriously: How confident are you in projecting players is at other positions? I’ve often said that the best defensive 2B/3B probably plays shortstop (Lindor at 2B or Elly at 3B as an example)

Brendan Gawlowski: Sometimes there’s a clear fit elsewhere. Part of the reason Roldy Brito is so fun is that there are so many options. Ben Williamson is another fascinating one. He’s so good at third that you can argue he’d transition well to short… but there’s a counter argument that his skills are uniquely tailored to third and don’t translate as well as, like, Maikel Garcia’s would.

Surplus Valuez = Profits = Stolen Wages: Is it just me or are all levels of ball older post-pandemic? What does it change other than earning potential (lower) and availability of full time work (fewer)?

Brendan Gawlowski: A bunch of factors are pushing more and more guys who would have signed out of high school ten years ago into college. Shorter draft, improved dev at colleges, NIL probably to some small extent, etc…

Max: when is the first season that River Ryan will have 100 IP in the majors?

Brendan Gawlowski: 2027 but ’26 wouldn’t shock me either

Alex: Do you believe in the Ben Brown breakout? I liked his strikeout numbers as a prospect.

Brendan Gawlowski: Another good example of a guy who will have paths forward forever.

529: Can Nick Gonzales play an acceptable SS while the Pirates wait for Konnor Griffin?

Brendan Gawlowski: Acceptable? Sure. Average? Ehh…

Not Brendan’s Wife: What grade would you give yourself on things like folding laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen and general household chores?

Brendan Gawlowski: Folding: 80
Vacuuming: 60
Kitchen: 55
General chores: 55

Brendan Gawlowski: I definitely contribute

E: How much room to run do you think the Royals will give Carter Jensen if he forces the issues with the bat? Roster resource has him in a strong side platoon split, but it seems to me, so far, he’s earned a chance at full time play between DH and backing up Salvy. What’s your take here?

Brendan Gawlowski: I think he gets a lot of playing time.

Sir Nerdlington: How many rounds is the draft in 2027 and does that include int’l players?

Brendan Gawlowski: Maybe this is optimistic (“optimistic”) but I think the Bad Stuff happens in the CBA after this one

Arn Anderson: Videos today of Miguel Sime throwing one hundo+ fuel and a 90+mph gyro slider. Any thoughts there?

Brendan Gawlowski: Always had the arm strength…

MrMet: Eric spotlighted Romeli Espinosa on the PHI list; someone who seems off the radar of most other prospect hounds. What tools do you employ to evaluate a 17 year old and minimize the potential bust rate on a FV? I’m curious for example how you try to establish a player’s mindset or reptuation for growth as much as eye-balling their physical tools.

Brendan Gawlowski: Very hard at that age… There’s inherently going to be a clash between the projection of these players (what he could do) and how often they’re going to reach it. Things you can do to minimize bust: stay on the athletes,  pick off the guys with the very worst hand-eye/rec, bet smartly on who looks like they’ll grow and who is mature

FishFan: Is Berry going to be a big leaguer? The *only* standout quality I see with him is his Z-contact rate, but at least he kinda plays like 4 positions now

Brendan Gawlowski: I’d guess he makes it but not in any kind of impact role

Farhandrew Zaidman: Is Bobby Miller just straight up cooked now? Change of scenery maybe?

Brendan Gawlowski: Change of scenery candidate. 20 deception.

Alex: Re: paths forward. What paths forward do hitters have? swing harder? Elevate? Have a better approach?

Brendan Gawlowski: Depends on the hitter. Young, physically immature ones can make hay by getting stronger. For others, learning to catch the ball out front more can make a big difference. For a few guys, it’s dropping switch hitting. Just about everyone in the world would benefit from honing their approach.

E: Can bryce eldridge be a .255 hitter in the majors this year/ever? How many homers do you think he gets to, if he can hit for that avg?

Brendan Gawlowski: If he hits .255, 40 bombs is in play

DC51stState: How should Yankees (and Yankees fans) prioritize the futures (positions, timing, potential)  for Dax Kilby and George Lombard, Jr.? What do their prospect profiles tell us about Anthony Volpe? If Yanks put Lombard at AAA, what does that mean for Volpe?  And does Kilby have a higher ceiling than Lombard’s ceiling?

Brendan Gawlowski: Kilby: cautious optimism. Lombard I’d be a little more concerned about, it’s a lot of swing and miss, could be a light hit tool.

FLmarlins: What makes your fave player your fave player? Anyone you have a soft spot for that we’d be surprised to hear about?

Brendan Gawlowski: Man… I feel like our favorites choose us.

NFP: Follow up on defensive spectrum: is there a reason we don’t see more power hitting second basemen the way we do now with shortstops? 2B is traditionally very high on the defensive spectrum, but now it feels like an afterthought.

Brendan Gawlowski: Kevin McGonigle incoming

Mas Datos, Por Favor: Is Fangraphs still accepting community articles? None have been posted in a a while and curious before I write up some of my data collected on prior years FV to actual WAR produced.

Brendan Gawlowski: Let me check in with Meg real quick

brian: the real question is what grades would your wife give you for those chores?

Brendan Gawlowski: Conveniently enough, my wife has weighed in

B’s Wife: My grades for Brendan…. Folding: 80, Vacuuming: 50, Kitchen: 60, General chores: 60.

Brendan Gawlowski: “You’re definitely not above average on vacuuming”

Not your wife: Do Benge or Clark have any superstar potential? They both seem 5 toolish, but I’m having trouble comping them.

Brendan Gawlowski: Yes, although with Clark in particular I think Eric sees that more and I more envision a solid 3-4 WAR guy who maybe peaks a little higher

Grand slam to Manzardo: What are the odds that Sasaki doesn’t end up being the best player in his IFA class?

Brendan Gawlowski: I’ll take the field, but Sasaki probably finishes pretty high

Something Bruin: If Roch Cholowsky was in AA right now where would he rank in the Top 100 prospects?

Brendan Gawlowski: 30-something?

Brendan Gawlowski: Meg says we are accepting community posts, btw. She also asks for patience given the editorial load coming with Opening Day on the horizon. Busy time.

Pass the Buc: FG was way lower this year on Robert Florentino than other outlets — thoughts? Misgivings?

Brendan Gawlowski: I assume you mean Edward? Bat-first, borderline bat-only on the Top 100 feels pretty positive to me

Farhandrew Zaidman: In retrospect, what would the accurate FV grade for someone like Miguel Rojas be? Career 85 wRC+, but elite SS defense and a respectable 14.5 WAR over 13+ seasons.

Brendan Gawlowski: A very good 45

lou: what does a successful Tai Peete profile look like? James Wood?

Brendan Gawlowski: Closer to Buxton lite

RE: draft: I can understand abolishing the draft if it came with a spending cap. But why are you so in favor of no limits? I don’t want to emulate the EPL or college football, where the richest teams get nearly all of the best talent.

Brendan Gawlowski: Mostly just want the kids to get paid.

lou: what are the odds Peete reaches buxton lite?

Brendan Gawlowski: Not great

Mitch: Internally, how do the Pirates view Oneil Cruz at this point?

Brendan Gawlowski: Depends who you ask. Some are pretty frustrated, others are more like ‘why are we always complaining about and tinkering with our best (position) player?’

Farhandrew Zaidman: Pitching/hitting is a zero sum game. Pitching analysis has also developed to love the strikeout, for obvious reasons (single least likely outcome to score a run). Why, then, isn’t the strikeout anathema for hitters the same way it’s panacea for pitchers?

Brendan Gawlowski: Because strikeouts are the cost of doing business for power hitters. The pendulum has swung back toward contact at least a little compared to seven or eight years ago though.

Nils: Have any international guys moved up since Eric updated his list?

Brendan Gawlowski: We don’t have the capacity to really track that now, although undoubtedly there are international players on complexes who are doing things that would move the needle if we had a way to document it.

Buck: Can you share more about the internal frustration with Oneil Cruz?

Brendan Gawlowski: There’s some understandable disappointment that he’s probably not going to hit his ceiling. Varying levels of frustration with all the bonehead plays.

Brendan Gawlowski: Nothing crazy

Bart: Will Kade Anderson pitch 40 Innings in the Majors this year?

Brendan Gawlowski: That’s, what, eight or nine starts? I think so, yeah.

Farhandrew Zaidman: permission to hit the panic button on Sasaki given he got shelled again today?

Brendan Gawlowski: Resist the urge.

RE: draft: If the draft were abolished and there were no pool limits (and I won the lottery as long as we are dreaming), what would your strategy be? Try to sign as many first rounders as possible and then pick up cheap depth, sign a bunch of mid rounders, have the class look similar to a traditional draft class, etc.

Brendan Gawlowski: Fascinating question, sounds like a good article for when the lists are done.

Brendan Gawlowski: Speaking of which, I should probably get back to the Braves.

Brendan Gawlowski: Thanks all for coming by.