Brendan Gawlowski Prospects Chat: 6/2/26

Brendan Gawlowski: Hello everybody. I’ve been told that in this chat, only folks with an account are able to ask questions. It’s a new system. DA has invited us all to share the following statement about that: “We’re trying out a new system where you’re required to log in to FanGraphs to ask a question. You don’t need to be a Member, but you do need to have an account, just like you need an account to comment on any article. We’ll see how it goes. If you have feedback, feel free to just leave it as a question, or you can send a note to support@fangraphs.com.”

Brendan Gawlowski: Looks like a lot of you aren’t having problems, but perhaps it’s a better day than normal for you regulars to submit a few questions. We’ll see!

Brendan Gawlowski: Housekeeping: I’m working furiously on Giants, Eric is almost done with Pirates, James is battling on a Twins list.

Brendan Gawlowski: our milb.tv game of the day is Springfield-Frisco. I’ve got my eye on Rafe Perich in particular, a guy I kinda liked on the backfields in ’25. He crushed High-A this year and is now up in AA.

Brendan Gawlowski: And away we go

P: You and Eric both talked about the the ball possibly being juiced at Double A and below on your chats last week.  Have pitching prospects across the board performed worse this season because of it?  I’ve been wondering why the Braves hitters seem to be raking this year, but the pitchers don’t seem to be.

Brendan Gawlowski: On some level it’s all relative, but the guys with softer stuff and guys who give up a lot of fly balls are going to be dinged especially

Brendan Gawlowski: Hello Everett, btw

vladsmyman: Is Felnin Celesten going to develop power or is he going to be a hit tool with little power SS with good to great defense? How projectable is he still?

Brendan Gawlowski: He’s got more to grow into, but think this is going to be a more well rounded skillset than one where one thing stands out especially

warpath: Hey Brendan, something I’ve been kicking around recently. How often do guys in the minors seems to be aware of their “prospecthood” vs. “non-prospecthood” so to speak? Clearly the 32-year-old minor league lifer will have a different outlook than the hotshot 1.1 pick shortstop, but generally are guys aware of the evaluations about them, their status within organizations, and their chances at the big leagues?

Brendan Gawlowski: Everyone’s the hero of their own story, so they tend to be optimistic as a class (and should be, imo). Some are well aware of their station, others are completely delusional.

vladsmyman: Best athlete you have ever scouted that made it to the major leagues?

Brendan Gawlowski: Technically saw Bobby Witt before he debuted, gotta be him

JayGray007: Do you see any big under-the-hood improvements made by Cole Carrigg this year, or is this mostly just baseball doing baseball things?

Brendan Gawlowski: A lot more contact this year. Don’t know if it’s just the altitude making it easier to hit soft stuff or a change in his approach. I’ll dive deeper if you wanna follow up next week.

PicnicLightning: What’s your take on Jacob Gonzalez? Actual skill improvements this year, or just a fluke while repeating a level? Any optimism for a solid debut?

Brendan Gawlowski: I think he’s taken a step forward. Hitting the ball a lot harder, EV90 up 3.5 ticks.

Anonymous Member #46: What do you make out of whatever happened with Carmen Mlodzinski and the Pirates?

Brendan Gawlowski: Understand that he’s disappointed, going to the bullpen is a tough pill to swallow after pitching well for a couple months. Unfortunate that it played out publicly, particularly since there’s every chance he’ll be back in the rotation as soon as someone gets hurt.

aglossman: Get an account, people! It’s a great website!

Brendan Gawlowski: And the account is free!

Daron: Just five org top prospect lists to go! I believe you’ve mentioned they might be rolled out on a different timeline in the future, is that still a possibility?

Brendan Gawlowski: Yes, plan is to get going in October next year.

Brendan Gawlowski: In particular, my increased familiarity with a bunch of orgs I had no touchpoints with in previous seasons should help me a lot.

MARK TOBIAS: Hi Brandon! Does River Ryan look ready to you? Do you think the Dodgers will bring him up before July?

Brendan Gawlowski: I don’t know who Brandon is but River looks more than ready to go

Daniel Bergman: Please tell me more about the epic chess losing streak!

Brendan Gawlowski: I have lost 17 gd games in a row and I’m on tilt

Brendan Gawlowski: Rating has plummeted from the 1500’s to the mid 1300s. Think my dog could at least scrape a draw at this point.

lbowman1: What’s your take on Brady Ebel so far? Slow start but the bat – and discipline – has been great after the first few weeks, the speed looks better than projected

Brendan Gawlowski: Holding steady. I’d encourage you to not read a ton into all the walks, those will dwindle as he faces more pitchers who can throw strikes.

Radhames Liz: You said recently that the O’s have a lot of guys in the lower levels with 20/30 command throwing max effort. I take it this is not normal. Why are the O’s doing this while other orgs aren’t? Are Elias and co. just heartless social darwinians (i.e. guys are gonna get hurt anyway so f*** it)? You hear of any internal dissatisfaction over this policy?

Brendan Gawlowski: There are guys like that all over the minors, anecdotally it felt like Baltimore had more of them than most. Seems like there’s an emphasis on developing stuff and hoping the strikes follow

MF Luder: For Boston Eyanson and Witherspoon get all the attention, but I found Marcus Phillips interesting as a college player. What do you think of his pro career thus far?

Brendan Gawlowski: Definitely interesting, huge gap between results and the quality of his best stuff. If I had to guess I think he winds up in relief.

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m a little surprised his control has regressed so substantially in pro ball thus far

rossredcay: JD Dix has really turned it on over the last several weeks.  Any word on the health of his shoulder?  My understanding was that was really going to drive a lot of his value in terms of where he could realistically fit defensively.

Brendan Gawlowski: I don’t know how it feels but the arm is still very light. No shot at short in current form.

WarrenJ: Since Eric is doing the Pirates list but I expect you know the players, I’m curious about your thoughts on some of the young infielders they have in the FCL:  Johan De Los Santos, Frederick Ovalle, Hyun Seung Lee, and Darell Morel.  They seem to be giving each of them brief stints in the Florida State League also (easy given the geography of their system), and I’m also curious about that idea.

Brendan Gawlowski: You should save this for Friday — I actually know relatively little about the Bucs lower levels. Never saw them, my focus was elsewhere.

doink000: Anything you’ve seen so far in Eldridge’s call up concerning? Encouraging? or Basically no change in evaluation.

Brendan Gawlowski: Cautiously excited that he’s starting to do The Good Things at the highest level. I’m not going to go nuts one way or the other over 71 PA’s for a 21 year old

Brendan Gawlowski: So, don’t expect a huge change there from the Top 100 list

Fangraphs Man: how real is what Jacob Gonzalez did in Charlotte this year? Understand Charlotte is a massive hitter’s park, but seems like his max and 90th percentile EV reflected plus power after not hitting much at all in the past few years

Brendan Gawlowski: The homer totals are inflated but yes, the power is way up. Vargas taking a similar leap — huge jump in his measurable bat speed — seems like a very, very encouraging development for the health of Chicago’s dev system.

rossredcay: David Davalillo has struggled pretty bad since moving up to AAA.  Any read on whether this is just an adjustment period or are more advanced bats figuring out his bad fastball?  He doesn’t seem to be throwing the split as much…

Brendan Gawlowski: Stay patient here. Even I get annoyed by how often I talk about the ball, but the Triple-A ball is different and some guys need a beat to adjust to it. This is speculation, but he’s a guy who has always thrown strikes and he’s suddenly walking the yard, so that’s where my head went first.

sa1251: An article came out today about possible trade scenarios for Tarik Skubal. For the Yankees it was mentioned that Elmer Rodriguez would not be a part of a package.

Brendan Gawlowski: I like Elmer plenty but wouldn’t have him in the ‘untouchable’ bin by any means.

Graham Lewis: What do you make of Jonah Cox’s year so far?

Brendan Gawlowski: Huge improvement in his ability to lay off garbage out of the zone.

Brendan Gawlowski: Still think it’s a fourth outfielder profile, but his odds of him reaching that projection are up significantly

Brendan Gawlowski: He’ll have one of the longest blurbs in the system

rossredcay: How concerned should we be about the Robert Arias injury?  Is this just a timeline impact or would you have actual concerns about him returning with his speed intact?

Brendan Gawlowski: I just feel awful for the kid.

ammutch: Can you drop a name or 2 from the Giants organization that surprised you the more you have dug in? I think the minor league organization as a whole has taken a positive step forward this year.

Brendan Gawlowski: Yunior Marte and Cox are up a fair bit year over year

Brendan Gawlowski: Joe Whitman too, he’s throwing hard.

maisany: Pre-season, you had Sloan rated ahead of Anderson. Would you flip them back now, or do you think Sloan is still the higher ceiling pitcher?

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m gonna ride with Sloan still but my conviction in that pref has dropped

ankoalec: Not sure how similarly you feel as Eric does about Jake Bloss, but with his rehab starts underway and the current state of Toronto’s rotation would you expect him to make it up to the major leagues sometime over the summer? Does he have a chance to stick in the rotation heading into next year?

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m not sure how Eric feels about Bloss right now actually!

Brendan Gawlowski: Last rehab start wasn’t great, see a path to starting later this summer but it’s not gonna be next week or anything

JoshCleveland: Report on Bazzana showed below avg hit tool which was lower than industry average (BaseballAmerica/MLBPipeline) Obviously small sample size in majors, but what will his prospect grad report read like? Would you revise your grade with this brief snapshot

Brendan Gawlowski: Bazzana has been great but we’re gonna need more than 30 games before we reevaluate

Brendan Gawlowski: Sal Stewart looked like a 70 over his first 30 games; then he slumped

Brendan Gawlowski: Chase Delauter was on pace for 743 homers; he’s been good but hasn’t been that kind of hitter since March

Brendan Gawlowski: The league will make its adjustments

Brendan Gawlowski: Doesn’t mean we/I were 100% on the money with that eval; certainly a chance he’s a better hitter than that, and I’ll own it if he is. But let’s let it play out for a while

Davy Andrews: Hey Brendan!

Brendan Gawlowski: Davy! How’s the family?

lmb2020: My older brother is a Brendan and got called Brandon all the time. I never understood why Brandon was the assumption there

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s definitely the coke to Brendan’s RC

Wexlerrules: Before your time as a scout but have you ever encountered a Toe Nash situation/loch ness situation? Rumors/buzz of an untapped monster raw talent or is that impossible with the internet today

Brendan Gawlowski: Much harder to hide it these days but I like to believe it still happens

warpath: Kevin Alcantara and Pedro Ramirez have been up for ~10 days; Alcantara has 6 plate appearances and Ramirez has 8.

I’ve asked before on the weirdness with the Cubs about playing their top guys, but any further thoughts with this new stint? Ramirez is pretty blocked in the outfield but surprised Alcantara hasn’t gotten a bit more run.

Brendan Gawlowski: Veteran group, win-now situation. If the regulars are healthy, they’re going to play. Alcantara in particular seems like a surefire trade chip, I’d be very surprised if he’s still a Cub in two months.

Daron: Early returns for Mike Sirota at Double-A have been positive. Is he still a grade behind the top three outfielders in the Dodgers system (De Paula, Hope, Quintero) in your opinion?

Brendan Gawlowski: I really like him.

johncarroll31: Veen has quietly been pretty good after a slow start. Any post-prospect hype on him?

Brendan Gawlowski: Yes, following intently. No real update to the Rockies list, still think the length of the path is a risk, high end outcomes more likely than they were 12 months ago

johncarroll31: Seems like all mets prospects have taken a major step back this year.  Suggests a change in organizational approach/philosophy? Or were they just overhyped coming into the year off some good single season results and the media market?

Brendan Gawlowski: I’d push back a little. Wenninger has been pretty good… Elian Pena is hitting… Ewing raced to the big leagues… They really challenged Benge with the Opening Day assignment and after a tough start he was good in May.

Brendan Gawlowski: So, I don’t see anything systemic

Brendan Gawlowski: Some of the guys who have not played as well were volatile prospects in the first place. Tong had stuff he needed to improve… Reimer is a divisive guy, he’s not really my flavor

ED44: Thoughts on Cam Cannarella’s future? Hoping the injuries are behind him and he’s a future solid MLB leadoff guy with great defense in CF. Is that realistic?

Brendan Gawlowski: Realistic

Daron: If the 2025 draft class was redrafted today do you think Seth Hernandez would be the clear choice to go 1-1?

Brendan Gawlowski: Not necessarily. Anderson and Willits have been really good too. Holliday every bit as toolsy as he looked too, shame about the injury, he could have used the AB’s.

mike sixel: How important is health? At what point does Mendez pass Emma Rodriguez as a prospect for the Twins? Also, would be cool if they just cut Outman and gave anyone a chance…. Thanks. Also, hi from Scotland.

Brendan Gawlowski: Scotland, very cool. Health is vital, can’t make the club if you’re stuck in the tub and all that.

Chuck Slothower: Do you notice more bunting in amateur/MiLB ball? I sure do. Are lower-level managers trying to be too cute, or is it a development thing; i.e., they want to teach players how to bunt under pressure? It seems suboptimal for winning games, anyway.

Brendan Gawlowski: Amateur, yes. There were a bunch of bunts at the B12 tournament and it was baffling.

Brendan Gawlowski: The run environment was so high, why waste an out?

goinggoinggone: The Braves farm wasn’t highly thought of coming into the year, but its had several guys jump this year: Hartman, Gil, Southisene, Guanipa, Isaiah Drake looks pretty good. It seems recently they have a couple guys fly under the radar until they’re about to be promoted and make a legit impact (Baldwin most recently). What gives with the eval of their farm?

Brendan Gawlowski: The way they promote means that some guys are going to fly to the big leagues faster than we can account for sometimes. Inevitable with an FV model.

Brendan Gawlowski: I think some of those guys have jumped more than others — Hartman and Southistene especially — but clearly a good year on the farm for ATL.

reyrh: Have your thoughts on the Tugboat changed since the Guardians list went up in January? The AA results look pretty good

Brendan Gawlowski: Not substantially, we still like him, same risks apply.

InsertWittyNameHere: Been on an Evans Gambit kick since you mentioned it a few weeks back, give me another one that you like!

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m trying to get the Vienna gambit going but opponents haven’t been cooperating lately.

tmcgowan: Isn’t that typical Yankee media posturing of everyone is untouchable that is good?

Brendan Gawlowski: I don’t know if it’s posturing, they seem to legitimately have a high price on their best guys.

JoshCleveland: Maybe i’m crazy but the team here at Fangraphs seemingly always has lower hit grades attributed to players across the board vs other big prospect grader brands. Any notion to why that might be? Harder grading scale? Pessimistic approach?

Brendan Gawlowski: I don’t know enough about how the others do it to make a comparison but it’s really hard to be an average hitter in the big leagues and that should be reflected in our grades.

Vampire Weekend at Bernie’s: Steele Hall is off to a great start in the AZL. Has he helped alleviate his hit tool doubts?

Brendan Gawlowski: To a small extent. When he got left on the complex, I think there was some understandable concern that he might not hit at all, and that worry has been alleviated somewhat. But the jump from the complex to even A ball is pretty large.

doink000: I don’t recall the last time the Giants had 3 or 4 consensus top 100 hitting prospects…Any correlation with recent front office shakeup? Different approach to scouting? It’s not like they haven’t taken big swings during the international drat before..

Brendan Gawlowski: They’re getting the right guys internationally, certainly. As part of the overview, I’ll poke around on what’s been going on down there.

lmb2020: Is minor league defense on the whole trending down?

Brendan Gawlowski: I’d buy that there’s less emphasis on the fundamentals/basics relative to 15 years ago. That, plus the way players are pushed faster now means that guys are getting to the upper levels without the same level of polish that they did in the past. But they’re also rangier and more athletic on the whole than they used to be.

Sonny L: I complained about a college coach forcing his 3 hitter to bunt against an erratic reliever when he had the platoon advantage. College ball is cool because turns out the kids dad was sitting behind me and let out a very loud sigh + ‘Yup’ in response

Brendan Gawlowski: My college coach would pinch run for our cleanup hitter in the sixth inning when we were down 11-9. We joked that we/he’d be better off making an out if there was nobody on base than walking or singling.

higginsford: If Brandon is Coke and Brendan is RC, then what is the Pepsi name here??

Brendan Gawlowski: Maybe I can be Pepsi and Brennen/Brannon can be RC?

kleborp: Blaine Bullard’s Bugaboo was a severe lack of power. Has he shown enough juice to warrant a slight bump up or is he a juiced ball merchant?

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s well below average raw presently

Brendan Gawlowski: The swing and miss is a little scary, if anything

Brendan Gawlowski: Wouldn’t move off the eval yet

higginsford: I get why people are excited about LDV and it seems very warranted that he’s a top 10 prospect…but like, where’s the power? He’s obviously still quite young but the stats and reports from before this season had power as part of his game. Especially considering the run environment

Brendan Gawlowski: Above average hitter as a 19 year old in Low-A. He’s doing great.

John Church: How many looks do you need on a player to make a scouting report? Is one enough? And once that initial report is made, how many looks until you arrive at a different conclusion?  If

Brendan Gawlowski: For a position player, we needed at least three games. Even in cases where I had 5-6 I’d usually look at a little video to supplement that.

Brendan Gawlowski: For FanGraphs, obviously we don’t have that luxury

Brendan Gawlowski: Going from evaluating 30 guys in a week to an entire farm system in a week has been jarring. Different challenge.

tdmoc: re: lower minor league defense, iirc Russell Carleton did some research on the rise of utility guys in the minor leagues – I’m sure being asked to try 2+ roles (some of which are both INF and OF) while being pushed rapidly through the minors can depress the defensive environment

Brendan Gawlowski: Possibly, although the guys doing it are often the good defenders.

ED44: Murf Gray a guy? Have to wonder about the ball a bit, no?

Brendan Gawlowski: shaky hit tool, big power. Interesting prospect, he’ll be fairly high on the PIT list

Chuck Slothower: I was at the Everett-Hillsboro High-A game on Saturday, and the Hops manager had two hitters bunt in runners-on situations. Both times, they bunted straight up in the air for easy outs.

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m fine with it in certain spots and think bunting for a hit is fun/great.

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m not reflexively anti bunt. But, you know, time and a place

SlightlyOff: The Giants seem to have a bit of a paucity of velocity and stuff in their minor leagues at the moment. Is that more attributable to just allocating less draft capital to pitchers lately, something with their dev priorities, or something else/random variance?

Brendan Gawlowski: They’ve got guys who throw hard but it doesn’t seem to be as much of an emphasis here as with some other clubs. Still, Tidwell and Keyner are hanging around.

doughboy: Max Clark not driving the ball much at all this year. Could last year be more than anomaly and his power tool is rounded down a bit?

Brendan Gawlowski: Give him time.

doink000: What can you gather from in person scouting that no amount of video tape can provide?

Brendan Gawlowski: A lot. Early work, batting practice, bullpens, talking with people around the club. Sometimes that stuff is more valuable than anything that happens during a game.

Brendan Gawlowski: And then there’s the stuff that you can do on video but you can do better in person, defense especially

Brendan Gawlowski: On the flip side there are plenty of things that are just fine to do on video. Pitching mechanics if you have the right camera angles, catcher framing, etc.

__AL: Is the ability to “spoil” or foul off a pitch – as opposed to hitting it weakly in play – a skill? Guardians broadcasters recently suggested Kwan is struggling because he’s doing the former where he used to do the latter.

Brendan Gawlowski: For Kwan in particular I think we’re all grasping for answers

Brendan Gawlowski: To your main question: maybe a little bit?

vladsmyman: Which pitcher in the minors has the best chance to pull a Misiorowski (incredible stuff, but command is bad enough a relief role is likely, but still could figure out the control enough to make it as a SP)?

Brendan Gawlowski: I don’t know if there’s a great analog, Miz’s stuff was just so loud. Juan Valera is the name that first sprung to mind.

NicklePickers: David Sandlin seems to have improved a lot with his change of sox. Do you think he can exceed that 45 FV from before?

Brendan Gawlowski: He could be a no. 4. He’s using his cutter as a chase pitch for RHB’s. It didn’t work yesterday and I sorta wonder if there’s a better slider in him. His feel for spin gives him a shot to find one.

Cosmo: It’s early, but have you seen anything out of Colt Emerson that you really like? Is the ISO real?

Brendan Gawlowski: I gushed about the guy over the winter, I like him a lot. This level of power would surprise but not completely shock me.

doink000: Please give this depressed Giants fan something to look forward to: In 2027, Giants will have X number of shortstops in the top 100 prospects list…(let’s count Klein as a SS for now).  Top 50?

Brendan Gawlowski: Three; two.

Anonymous Member #46: Baseball is seemingly putting a greater value on multi-sport athletes. Obviously, athleticism in general is a desired quality, but is there a part of that logic that if players have fewer reps, they’re less grooved and therefore more malleable?

Brendan Gawlowski: There’s just more runway ahead if you’ve had fewer reps/baseball specific training

pdunes: Spoiling pitches – see Wade Boggs. Need to verify but seemed like foul versus seats area was a big reason why his batting average dropped from Boston to TB.

Brendan Gawlowski: He was also 40 by that point

smoothio: How much of Ethan Salas’ (2nd) breakout is juiced ball vs sample size vs he’s really good again?  Exact percentages please.

Brendan Gawlowski: I just think he’s good

rsimmons07: I’m certainly no expert, but at a passing glance it seems like it’s been a bit of a rough time for the DBacks farm system this year, no real notable breakouts and a few guys, pitchers in particular, not performing as well as you would like. Is that a pretty accurate read of the situation? Any under-the-radar breakouts or positive developments that I’m missing?

Brendan Gawlowski: I think you can find positives but broadly agree.

vladsmyman: Raudi Rodriguez is crushing it in AA. His K-BB% has really improved too. Does he look like a top 100 prospect soonish?

Brendan Gawlowski: Some of the numbers under the hood aren’t as rosy — 27% in zone miss in particular. Arrow up, cautiously excited, not ready to commit to top 100

oaktownblues: I know you know this but LDV is in AA (you said low A). And he showed power in his AA stint last year

Brendan Gawlowski: Yes AA

marinercasey: Christian Moore has been real head scratcher for Angels – hitting well in AAA played him at some third and now some outfield.  Defence must be bad and even though Angels firmly in last continue to go with no future vets.  Any thoughts?

Brendan Gawlowski: He was pushed very fast and didn’t look ready in the big leagues last year. Think it’s totally fine to let him succeed at Triple-A for a while.

John: How has Jeferson Quero looked this year.

Brendan Gawlowski: Similar

jtrichey: The Dodgers starting outfield in 2029 will be______

Brendan Gawlowski: This is impossible for any team but the Dodgers in particular

Brendan Gawlowski: Anyone who had Teoscar-Pages-Tucker four years ago, claim your prize and stay outta colonial Salem

Cheeknbut: the top 3 pitchers are probably skenes, schlittler, and sanchez. They are all 6’6” tall

Brendan Gawlowski: Size helps a lot. the workhorses tend — tend! — to be big

mopete12: No questions, but wanted to say that your chat lengths are 80 grade. Much appreciated.

Brendan Gawlowski: You’re welcome. There’s an odd phenomenon where, as the chat goes on, more people show up and fewer of them ask questions.

riibett: How has Davis Polo’s stuff looked since injury return?

Brendan Gawlowski: You just happened to ask about a guy I just happened to turn on last week. Nice little coincidence. Looks good. 92-93, shape is okay but not special. Leans on his slider, adds/subtracts, chance it’s a 55. Average sinking change projection. He’ll be on the main section next year, probably as a high 40.

odin525: If you were the Brewers, would you dip into your prospects to lure Skubal for 2+ months? If so, who would be untouchable? Made, Pena, Lara, Pratt?

Brendan Gawlowski: I would absolutely try to do Sabathia 2.0

Brendan Gawlowski: Pratt you can’t move

Brendan Gawlowski: Made isn’t going anywhere. Peña probably isn’t either, everyone else in play.

jtrichey: Basically on the DOdger outfield question, assume no new free agent gets signed. Teo Hernandez will be out If Pages and Tucker are still around which one prospect gets the 3rd spot? Tucker has been extremely uninspiring to me this year as well. His swing is fugly.

Brendan Gawlowski: Sirota/De Paula

Brendan Gawlowski: Hope gets traded in a package for Gunnar Henderson in 2027

doink000: May be selective memory, but it SEEMS like Giants haven’t been total busts in identifying talent…more of developing it. Tibbs, Harrison…Luciano still has to prove it at the higher level but I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets the post-Giants glowup…

Brendan Gawlowski: They had some pretty bad picks early in drafts in the Farhan era.

Sonny L: How disruptive is a position change on a call up. Thinking Marcelo Meyers being asked to move around the diamond very late

Brendan Gawlowski: It can be disruptive at any time, a lot of big leaguers struggle when they change spots too

Brendan Gawlowski: The irrational 2010 Mariners fan in me wonders if flip flopping Figgins and Jose Lopez just killed both of them

Cromulent: Tell me what to think about Jhostynxon at this point. His being up but not playing seems like a write off.

Brendan Gawlowski: Not uncommon from the Pirates in recent years. Yorke/Cook did a lot of sitting too. I wasn’t really a Canario believer but he didn’t play much either for awhile.

David (formerly Sonoma State): Seems like after a certain point in the draft every team should be selecting physical freaks and seeing if they can develop them. Is that too simplistic of a viewpoint?

Brendan Gawlowski: Are you the guy who used to ask KG a bunch of stuff?

Brendan Gawlowski: I think you should always be looking for a trait or a path to value. Sometimes that’s a physical freak, sometimes it’s outlier spin. Sometimes it’s a guy with 80 instincts.

wentgin: Hi! Thanks for doing this — I’ve been reading all of them this year and learning a lot.

I’m curious the degree to which you calibrate your analysis with regard to fantasy baseball? Because I know I (and I’m going to go out on a limb and say a LOT of us) engage with prospect stuff that way — where things like defense don’t matter nearly as much.

Who are some T100 prospects who you think would take a massive jump if only considering fantasy upside and things like HR+SB? (*Crosses fingers De Paula is among the list*)

Brendan Gawlowski: I will occasionally write something like ‘better fantasy prospect than real life’ or vice versa. In general, I think if you’re consuming a lot of prospect content, you can probably make a pretty good inference more often than not.

Brendan Gawlowski: Ballesteros seems like a potential guy

Brendan Gawlowski: If he maintains catcher eligibility but DH’s a lot? You’d like that, yeah?

MilledgeReport: Any DSL guys you are intrigued to see debut?

Brendan Gawlowski: All the 40+’s Eric ranked

Brendan Gawlowski: Some will be 45’s next year, some will get the Cristopher Polanco/Kendry Martinez treatment. Let’s find out who!

opifijikl: I went to a Tides game on Friday and was impressed by Brody Hopkins! Less impressed by his opponents Nunez and Riley Cooper (mass doesn’t equal gas?). I also was surprised at how old some of the AAA players were. Is that usual? I thought teams wanted younger players than mid-late 20’s.

Brendan Gawlowski: Triple-A has a lot of vets on call.

Brendan Gawlowski: I suspect that teams will carry fewer insurance policies if we chop a level in the next CBA

odin525: Do the Brewers have too many prospects and need to deal some? Theoretically, in 2 years they could have an infield of Pratt, Made, Pena, leaving no room for Turang (or Jett, who has been playing mostly 3B at AAA).

Brendan Gawlowski: Nobody has too many prospects, the attrition rate is really high even among the 45/50 types.

Brendan Gawlowski: The odds that all three of Pratt/Made/Pena wind up as regulars are pretty slim. If it happens, you’ll figure it out, much like Byron Hadley managed to overcome his inheritance.

Cheeknbut: I forgot Miz, he’s also 6’6” !

Brendan Gawlowski: As David Foster Wallace once wrote as a way of explaining why tall players have an advantage: “get a protractor and figure it out”

Brendan Gawlowski: Also, String Theory: What a marvelous essay. Someone should’ve edited out some of the footnotes.

Sonny L: Triple A rules. An old teammate hung around till he was nearly 30y bc in his words, “I barely have a HS education. No one else is going to pay me $70k to do anything.”

Brendan Gawlowski: Slightly depressing but yes

tdmoc: >There’s an odd phenomenon where, as the chat goes on, more people show up and fewer of them ask questions.

when I show up to a chat late, I usually just read because in my experience you need to land a question within 10-20 minutes of the start and I assume you guys get annoyed if we ask a repeat question that didn’t get previously picked

Brendan Gawlowski: I try to read all the way through. I’ve answered a lot as they came in today, for instance. Including this one!

Uncle Spike: Got anything on Hector Ocasio?  Looks like he’s had strong plate discipline for awhile now and finally tapped into some power this year.

Brendan Gawlowski: Assuming this is Hector Osorio?

Brendan Gawlowski: 90th percentile EV is up from 98 to 101 and change. Some of that’s environmental but probably not all? Still 30/40 grade

Azizal: is it fair to say there’s a flaw with the year to year system evaluations? If teams excel at prospect graduation rates, for example, that would be massively valuable, but the FV system misses it entirely. Isn’t that an awfully big hole? Or does it just not matter?

Brendan Gawlowski: No perfect way to do it. When you factor proximity heavily, you’re inevitably going to encounter some asymmetry when teams promote at different rates, holding all other factors equal.

tdmoc: (that’s not meant to be snarky or a critique at all to be clear – I know you guys get a zillion questions and it’s a pain to sift through them – I’m just explaining my own rationale – thanks for holding these!)

Brendan Gawlowski: You guys are great.

Brendan Gawlowski: and gals

Brendan Gawlowski: and all non-binary folks too. Happy Pride Month.

ankoalec: Lots of discussions about some hot pitching prospects like Sloan, Hernandez, Anderson, etc. Any thoughts on Liam Doyle so far? Seemed like a slow start but improving of late, is there anything that really jumps out after 30ish innings in AA?

Brendan Gawlowski: Not overly worried but would slide him behind a few of the names just behind him on the 100 at this point

Brendan Gawlowski: Would prefer Eyanson, etc.

Brendan Gawlowski: On that note, think I’m going to end it here. Thanks all for hanging out, we’ll do it again next Tuesday!