Brendan Gawlowski Prospects Chat: 6/9/26

Brendan Gawlowski: Hello everybody

Brendan Gawlowski: As you all undoubtedly saw, I published the Giants list last week.

Brendan Gawlowski: Eric and James are working furiously on the Twins. I’m about 20 players into the Marlins system, that’s gonna be a long one. I see a path for us to have TB and Miami done next week and be finished with the whole kit and kaboodle but those are both deep systems so we’ll see.

Brendan Gawlowski: I’ve Isotopes/Rainiers fired up in the background

Brendan Gawlowski: Let’s go

Phillip Denny: What’s your 2/5 of the way through the season evaluation of the DePodesta regime in CO?

Brendan Gawlowski: That we’re going to need more than 2/5 of a season to figure out how they’re doing. Cautiously optimistic that the pitching dev is better.

Ray Darwin: How high should I be on the Yordany de los Santos breakout?

Brendan Gawlowski: Not especially

Brendan Gawlowski: 30% strikeout rate

Brendan Gawlowski: Seven of his 11 dingers are in maybe the two easiest parks to put one out right now.

fujiwhite: hey Brendan! saw that 18-year-old August Cuneo (HOU, C) got called up to Double-A after ~25 CPX appearances. seemed like an unusual leap to me — wondered your thoughts on whether it was an injury/depth/emergency thing or an actual promotion

Brendan Gawlowski: Don’t know for sure but that has all the markers of an emergency depth move

dan norman lear: It is the year 2032. Someone new is hopefully up for re-election. The SF Giants have Josuar Gonzalez, Jhonny Level, and Luis Hernandez are on the MLB roster. Who is playing where?

Brendan Gawlowski: Josuar is at short, Hernandez is at third, Level at second.

Phillip Denny: Keith Law still has the only mock with the White Sox not taking Roch 1.1. Do you think he has specific dope or is just planting a flag on Emerson?

Brendan Gawlowski: You’d have to ask him.

Brendan Gawlowski: I don’t think Roch is a Harper/Strasburg/Adley ‘1:1 duh’ type

lavarnway: Any thoughts on Eric Hartman? Fast riser in the Braves system. Is he a top 100 guy for you now?

Brendan Gawlowski: Yeah I think so

Cromulent: Did you get any feedback on Tanner Thach when putting together the Rockies list?

Brendan Gawlowski: I saw him last year, 1B w/average power, aggressive hitter

Brendan Gawlowski: Not impossible he’s a big leaguer but looked and looks to me like a guy taking advantage of bad pitching

higginsford: Being reductive, are Vaughn Grissom and Jacob Gonzalez improvements mostly about elevate (to the pull side) and celebrate?

Brendan Gawlowski: Gonzalez’s raw power is up significantly

Brendan Gawlowski: EV90 is up four mph

Brendan Gawlowski: He’s gone from ~40 to 55 power overnight

OddBall Herrera: I get the whole age to level thing, but I also think that the true generational talents blow up the age to level calculus.  In that context what are your thoughts on Made’s AA year so far?  He’s holding his own, but given the assessments of the player even that feels underwhelming.

Brendan Gawlowski: He’s doing very well. Plenty of generational talents “merely” hold their own at Double-A as teenagers

Brendan Gawlowski: Harper was ~league average in AA and AAA

Brendan Gawlowski: Machado was below league average as an 18 year old in High-A

Brendan Gawlowski: Those are just the first two guys I looked at but you get the point

ImKeithHernandez: Has Benge exceeded your expectations? It was rough for a while, but the Mets have to be pleased with his overall numbers, right?

Brendan Gawlowski: on a heater right now obviously, he’s done a speedrun on my general expectations for him

michekn: I know there are leagues that are great for hitters in the minors. What are the top 3 for hitters and pitchers?

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s a little outta whack this year, but in general the PCL, Cal League, and ACL are awesome for hitters. The FSL, Midwest, and Northwest are great for pitchers.

scottsjunk1981: I know you and Eric get intermittent access to non-public  data, but does that include anything on the defensive side of things? Obviously public defensive stats for MiLB are terrible, but what the teams are collecting? And how does it get incorporated into your scouting?

Brendan Gawlowski: I’ll glance at minor league fielding data but I don’t think it’s very good on the team side either.

WesleyB21: Loved reading the Giants list. Would appreciate some insight into where you and Eric were most aligned on evals and where you guys disagreed. Anyone you were especially high on?

Brendan Gawlowski: We talked over the 50’s and a few other guys on the fringes. With Keyner Martinez, we had a repeat of the Yolfran Castillo experience, in which I wanted to 50 him but assumed Eric wouldn’t want to… and then discovered he felt the same way.

Brendan Gawlowski: As far as differences… He thinks Tidwell is very likely a reliever, I see more of a chance to start… I was a little excited about Joe Whitman’s velo uptick, I was on the 45/45+ line and in hindsight I think he correctly steered me toward the lower grade.

bluejayprospectus: Thoughts on Juan Sanchez’s season so far. Tough start but the surface stats seem to be turning it around

Brendan Gawlowski: He’s been impressive. Got his ass kicked early on, which was no surprise for a guy essentially jumping from the DSL.

Brendan Gawlowski: .321/.376/.564 over his last 28 days

Brendan Gawlowski: Really encouraging

Woody1937: Do you know what Taitn Gray hit the IL with?

Brendan Gawlowski: Let me see if I can find out

Person: is it too early to consider CHW a top dev org? say top 1/3 for now?

Brendan Gawlowski: Yes but the arrow is very clearly up here

Woody1937: Who is the 3rd most interesting player on the complex?

Brendan Gawlowski: What an endearingly specific question

Brendan Gawlowski: Johnny Slawinski

Sammy Sooser: did you see the report that Melvin Hernandez (Brewers #36 prospect) chose to stay home in Nicaragua due to the bullying he received last year? any thoughts?

Brendan Gawlowski: I did, concerning obviously but don’t want to speculate/comment until we learn more.

leoneforthird: Montes is abusing AA to the tune of a 138 WRC even with playing half his games in a pitchers park.  The K rate is stubbornly high do you think the Mariners keep him in AA or push him to AAA to see if the results hold against better pitching?

Brendan Gawlowski: Well, the 138 factors in the park effects. He’s doing well, I don’t see a reason to push him yet

Daron: You were fairly high on Angels catcher Juan Flores coming into the season and now his bat is coming around at High-A (162 wRC+ over the past six weeks) to pair with his already well developed defensive abilities. He just turned 20 this spring, but already seems like a high probability future major leaguer. Are we looking at a FV 45+ or 50 at this point?

Brendan Gawlowski: Cautiously excited here, chance he jumps onto the Top 100 at the next update, need to dive deeper into his AB’s before I commit to that though.

rossredcay: JD Dix has been on fire at the plate recently.  This is basically what we wanted to see from him in terms of offensive progression this year, right?  Actualizing more of the pop while not compromising the hit tool.

Brendan Gawlowski: Sort of, his raw power numbers aren’t up, which surprised me a bit. Holding pattern for him.

leoneforthird: Given its your home stadium how excited are you about the new stadium that was approved for the Aqua Sox.  Looking at the proposed dimensions it seems like it should play a little more neutral than the current park.

Brendan Gawlowski: If it keeps them in affiliated ball, great. I have a lot of nostalgic attachment to the old barn though, in a lot of ways it’s what a minor league park should be

rossredcay: Not sure which of you / Eric is doing the Twins list, but how high are you all going to be on Jhomnardo Reyes?  The reports and data both sound pretty loud.

Brendan Gawlowski: It’ll be an Eric/James special

rossredcay: How would you read TGA’s season so far?  Is this the progression we want to see?

Brendan Gawlowski: Positively, likely a T100 next year

Matthew: Bryce Eldridge is currently rocking a contact rate over 80% in the Majors after living much closer to 70% his entire minor league career. Is there anything to indicate this could be sustainable? Or just a small sample blip?

Brendan Gawlowski: I think he’s taking flight

rossredcay: Has Ching-Hsien Ko made any progress on getting to his pop in games?  Preseason report sounded pretty pessimistic on this based on his swing / approach.

Brendan Gawlowski: Not much change to report

wiguy94: Thoughts on Luis Lara’s extension?

Brendan Gawlowski: Happy for the kid, life changing money. Interesting to see MIL do this with a second guy who isn’t a no shit top prospect

Farbsy15: Curious how you handle a situation where you come across a character/personality that you strongly dislike in a prospect. How do you keep that out of your judgement of their talent? Any interesting anecdotes (with names anonymous) you can share?

Brendan Gawlowski: I have and in certain cases it’s perfectly appropriate to make it part of the report

Brendan Gawlowski: Locker room thief? Yeah, that’s going in the report.

Brendan Gawlowski: Whiny attitude on and off the field that clearly has coaches frustrated? That’s going in the report

Brendan Gawlowski: Hothead who gets in fights with teammates? In the report.

Brendan Gawlowski: Different political values and beliefs? Don’t really care.

Andre Mouchard: I know the industry pays attention to a prospect’s age, and will deem most players ready somewhere between 21 and 24 years old.  But could minor league experience matter as much, or more? And are there thresholds (say 1,500 ABs or 500 innings pitched, or whatever) that are considered milestones in terms of player development?

Brendan Gawlowski: Those thresholds used to be a lot more important. For a variety of reasons, they’re not to the same degree anymore. Players are getting more high quality reps when they’re younger, they’re able to do relevant training away from the field, teams are more tolerant of on the job learning, etc.

_David_: Josuar Gonzalez hasn’t played apparently since May 23, anything up with him?

Brendan Gawlowski: Tweaked his hammy

rossredcay: Thoughts on Luinder Avila so far this year?  Does he have the goods to be an MLB starter?

Brendan Gawlowski: Still think he’s a reliever, among other things, no history of sustaining length

Brendan Gawlowski: Doesn’t mean he can’t start

Brendan Gawlowski: Wrote this in the offseason and think it holds: “He’s a good athlete and is generally around the plate, but he isn’t a marksman and he likely won’t become one. He’s also rarely thrown 90 pitches in an outing and hasn’t often seen the fifth inning. Just as he was starting to do that a little bit last year, he got hurt. So, while there’s a path to starting, he’ll need to work deeper into games, with better execution, and ideally a command uptick. Not impossible, but it feels like we’re asking for a lot.”

Brendan Gawlowski: Hey the Tacoma game finally started

Phillip Denny: Let’s assume the A’s complete the relocation to LV, and SLC actually gets an expansion team. Would the presence of 3 insane run environments be good, bad, or indifferent for the league at large?

Brendan Gawlowski: LV is supposed to be inside, right?

Brendan Gawlowski: That should mitigate the issue a little bit

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m not opposed to extreme environments. I actually really like the PCL parks that are huge and give you a fair number of homers but also a ton of hustle doubles

Tristan: Tired: Mason Miller for Leo De Vries.
Wired: Louis Varland (and Ty France!) for Alan Roden and Kendry Rojas.

Brendan Gawlowski: Pretty good piece of business

Phillip Denny: The Dodgers have to know something about River Ryan that we don’t, right? Like there’s no way the combination of Lauer/Jonathan Hernandez is better for the big league club?

Brendan Gawlowski: The Dodgers have the luxury of doing whatever they want here. If they see a modicum of value in letting Ryan fully build up in AAA, they can take their time.

John: Is it too early to start on talking extension with Jesus Made?

Brendan Gawlowski: Not with this crew, apparently

maximus74: Out of Celesten/Hammond/Nimmala who do you think has the best bat?

Brendan Gawlowski: Nimmala

aldrinbatistarocks: Tristan peters – another Getz masterclass or just a guy swinging a big stick right now

Brendan Gawlowski: A quality bench guy on a good run

Fangraphs Man: Are you a chess dot com or lichess guy?

Brendan Gawlowski: chess.com

Maurice Lepouttre: any concern with Luis De Leon’s walk rate in AA this season?

Brendan Gawlowski: He does this sometimes. So, yes, but not in a way that’s new.

Aaron Weets: To piggyback off of the unlikable personality traits question. How does the likable personality traits bleed into your scouting of players?

Brendan Gawlowski: You can justify rounding up on guys with good makeup

MyBloodyBallantine: Is Kristian Campbell broken or was he just overrated? Strikeouts and power have all trended in the wrong direction since he broke out in 2024.

Brendan Gawlowski: Whatever they’re having him try to do isn’t working

Biscuit: Why on earth are the Guardians leaving Ingle in AAA in favor of a guy with an OPS of .440

Brendan Gawlowski: Because the guy with the .440 OPS is an elite defensive catcher whom they went out of their way to acquire

bluejayprospectus: Wondering if this recent stretch from Brandon Valenzuela is anything, has his FV changed at all? Also are the Blue Jays one of the better teams at developing and identifying catchers?

Brendan Gawlowski: On my radar to dive into

Brendan Gawlowski: When the lists are done I want to write a piece (or a couple) on the guys whose performance has surprised me most

Brendan Gawlowski: He’s on the short list there

Rhetoric Flair: The 2026 Guardians prospect write-up had Ralphy Velazquez pegged for a potential 2026 debut. Do you still see that as a possibility and has your opinion of the player changed at all?

Brendan Gawlowski: Definitely in play, no change to the report. He looks like a really good bat, intrigued that he’s still getting some run in left.

lbowman1: Where does Sirota jump to on the next 100?

Brendan Gawlowski: Onto it, certainly. I’m a fan.

tmcgowan: Luis Lara between his defense, walks, and base running will be enough to have an unsexy [insert WAR] annually

Brendan Gawlowski: 1.5?

ankoalec: Is there a general benchmark you see within minor leaguers that tells you they may have earned a promotion or have at least proven they’re ready for an increase in difficulty and may be waiting for a roster spot to open up? My VERY amateur box-score hunting for minor league hitters is typically something like .800 OPS, sub-30% K rate (can fluctuate depending on how much power that’s trading off), and some arbitrary at-bat count.

Brendan Gawlowski: Totally depends on the player and what skills you’re looking for him to improve, what KPI’s you have for him. The needs of the parent club are a factor too

ankoalec: Farmelo looks to be back to his pre-injury A production at high-A, maybe with an increase in power trading off for some speed (stolen base rate way down, ISO fairly increased). Is he a promotion candidate in the near future, or do you suspect Seattle paces themselves given his injury history?

Brendan Gawlowski: He’s swinging and missing enough that I’d be patient

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s going to be part of the profile, he has a long bat path

Brendan Gawlowski: But low-70s contact rate. Maybe we can shoot for mid-70s first?

maximus74: I’d love to see a modern Polo Grounds, let some of these super athletic CFs really show us what they can do

Brendan Gawlowski: Yes.

Brendan Gawlowski: More big outfields, please.

JayGray007: Hello!  Last chat youd mentioned that you’d dig into Carrigg’s performance.  Anything interesting to indicate hes suddenly like *good* good?

Brendan Gawlowski: Thanks for following up

Brendan Gawlowski: I like him, I think he’s grown into a tick more power

Brendan Gawlowski: But I don’t think he’s a vastly different hitter

Brendan Gawlowski: Some of the rate stat improvements seem environmental

dirtypuer: Was doing some scouting in Everett and saw the M’s new switch hitting catcher with an 80 grade posterior. Is this guy any good?

Brendan Gawlowski: Might sneak his way onto next year’s T100 himself

astususudillo: Who is TGA? 🙂

Brendan Gawlowski: Trey Gregory-Alford

F0gel: Some media in Pittsburgh were upset with how the Pirates handled Mlodzinski post bullpen demotion. Do you think they handled it fairly?

Brendan Gawlowski: “Some media in Pittsburgh are upset with the Pirates” is a default state

jus24: Hi Brendan, how do you feel about Dillon Lewis of the Marlins? Seems to be holding his own in AA this year.

Brendan Gawlowski: He’ll be in the 40+ section

Brendan Gawlowski: Looking forward to turning on the tape of him in center

Brendan Gawlowski: Last summer he looked like a fringy fit there

mopete12: Has Jaison Chourio made any noticeable changes to his swing and/or swing decisions that explain his success this year? His ISO and slugging are way up, pull % is up, but his FB rate is still very low. Swinging slightly more at AA but small sample size and the player pages don’t show Z-swing at AA or below.

Brendan Gawlowski: Swing decisions are better, gap between chase% and chase% with two strikes has improved in a big way. Not seeing much jump in his pop, would guess — it’s a guess, I don’t know for sure — the extra power is at least somewhat environmental

nebravesfan33: Conor Essenburg and Michael Martinez have some of the highest EV’s in Low-A as 19 year olds. Do you think either of these guys can make enough contact?

Brendan Gawlowski: Essenburg in particular is one to stay patient with

Phillip Denny: It appears tovar just can’t hit….is that fair or unfair?

Brendan Gawlowski: Approach seems to have caught up to him

Alex Remington: Does your thinking about present value/FV change depending on the organization in which a prospect finds himself? E.g.: this raw toolsy kid is in the Angels system, and is a lot less likely to reach his potential than he would be in the Bronx, or Chavez Ravine, or the Mistake on the Lake. If not, why not?

Brendan Gawlowski: It does not, I try to be agnostic of where he’s developing. There are a bunch of reasons for that, one of which is that I’m going to look pretty silly if I ding a guy for his environment and then he gets traded (or if the club overhauls its dev system in a positive way or if I’ve misidentified the developmental environment, etc.)

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s a little trickier for me when a player with a specific deficiency ends up in the perfect spot to address it.

Brendan Gawlowski: Blaine Bullard’s power, for instance. Maybe he grows into some, maybe he doesn’t. But he’s in the perfect place to do it and it’s hard not to be a little bullish there.

Brendan Gawlowski: Comparatively easy for me to project agnostically on, I don’t know, Kash Mayfield or Kendry Chourio, even if their orgs don’t have a great history of developing arms.

Ray Darwin: What holds back Kyler Fedko from an MLB trial?

Brendan Gawlowski: Don’t think it’s gonna be long now.

aviaries: Zach Root hasn’t given up a run in nearly two months in A+, any idea why he might still be in Michigan and do you think he could be a major league contributor as soon as next year?

Brendan Gawlowski: Seems like he’s building arm strength. Pitch count has gone up in six straight starts.

Brendan Gawlowski: Perfectly reasonable to keep him in one spot while stretching him out

Brendan Gawlowski: Even if he’s dominating

lbowman1: What are your thoughts on Wyatt Sanford? The hit tool is still a question, but has there been a mechanical shift to cause the very low K rate over the last week or two?

Brendan Gawlowski: There was a geographical shift to Asheville — altitude, awful pitching staff — that seems relevant here

JasonT: Is Kayson Cunningham legit or are his stats inflated based on league/ballpark?

Brendan Gawlowski: He’s a good hitter with an aggressive hit tool projection having a good year in a hitter friendly environment

Brendan Gawlowski: Holding serve for me

jnunger: Will Berry be a prospect for the Marlins system after getting dropped off last year? Thoughts on Martorella?

Brendan Gawlowski: Berry will get an HM; Martorella got cut but wasn’t in line for the list.

Phillip Denny: off the top of your head, what percentage of switch hitters would genuinely be better off just sticking with their dominant side?

Brendan Gawlowski: 10-20%?

Brendan Gawlowski: Really soft lines on that estimate

lbowman1: Is there something to be said about guys with big power who just don’t chase? It seems that archetype fits a lot of current MLB stars (Wood, Kurtz, to name a few), and getting to enough contact, regardless of the K’s, is the only question. Dean Curley is an example in the minors I see now

Brendan Gawlowski: I’d need to watch him more to have a better feel for his game. I see he has a 26% swing rate, which looks like a misprint

rhawe: Before Holliday’s season ended, did you see anything to suggest that he’s addressing the hit tool/long swing issues folks were concerned about?

Brendan Gawlowski: Still long, bat looked really fast. Sometimes you can get away with that but I still think he’s going to hit a point in his career where he’ll be forced to try to shorten up a tick.

Brendan Gawlowski: Clearly that point is not going to be in the Cal League

yumo22: Hi Brendan, the Brendan Sorsby news has caused incredible amounts of chaos in the college football world. Have you heard of or share any concern regarding it with college baseball?

Brendan Gawlowski: I have not. I would assume any college baseball betting scandal would get sussed out pretty quickly, as with the Alabama situation a few years back.

Brendan Gawlowski: Frustrating that we’re in a moment where we just have to wait for the inevitable massive gambling scandal before we have a hope of addressing something that’s pretty obviously detrimental for our society and sport.

bluejayprospectus: Wondering if you could pass along some rising names in the Jays system

Brendan Gawlowski: Nolan Perry is the big one, never could have seen this coming but still frustrated with myself that I didn’t throw him onto the pile of injured pitchers in the HM section.

Brendan Gawlowski: Someone had asked about Sean Keys several weeks ago, and as he’s now ascended to Triple-A I still think this is a case of a guy being more likely to become what I projected than anything new… but it’s still a very positive development.

Brendan Gawlowski: And his odds of exceeding expectations are up

Michael Stone: If you’re the Braves, who are you willing to give up for a Skubal rental?  (Or even a Mize rental?)

Brendan Gawlowski: I’d be working furiously to determine if any of my positional player breakouts should be untouchable. My instinct is no, and that if Skubal comes back healthy I’d be willing to deal anyone in the system.

themjs: Thoughts on Juan Matheus’ season so far?

Brendan Gawlowski: Rolling along nicely from Eric’s report last year, don’t anticipate a major change unless I spot something defensively

rgberthelot: Anyone in the Padres system that have taken you by surprise since the list came out?

Brendan Gawlowski: Nothing jumps out. Little bummed that Mayfield’s had a couple clunkers.

rgberthelot: r.e. Kruz Schoolcraft – you mentioned in his writeup that evaluators had mixed feelings on his upside – what were their lowest projections for him?

Brendan Gawlowski: Middle reliever

theman22: Kyler Murray $170m in career earnings. Safe to say football was the right choice?

Brendan Gawlowski: Ya

Brendan Gawlowski: Always seemed like that was where his heart was anyway.

Phillip Denny: I’m gonna ask a dumb question … do teams internally use wOBA, wRC+, OPS+, or their own proprietary blend?

Brendan Gawlowski: Can’t speak for everybody but imagine most have their own wRC+ equivalent that tracks pretty closely with wRC+

leftyo: Any hesitation on Cal Raleigh returning to full strength?

Brendan Gawlowski: No, but I think his 2025 is going to be this generation’s Brady Anderson

nebravesfan33: What more do you need to see from Tate Southisene to consider him a Top 100/50 FV guy?

Brendan Gawlowski: Lot of questions like this today… Another case where I need to dig a little bit to have higher conviction but based on the little I’ve seen him play this year and what he’s put on the spreadsheet, I’d be surprised if he hasn’t reached that point

Brendan Gawlowski: The swing adjustments look like they’ve helped him get on time, he’s correspondingly making a lot more contact, he’s a great athlete with a middle of the diamond projection… Good prospect

Biscuit: RE: Ingle – but isn’t that just foolishly throwing good money after bad?

Brendan Gawlowski: Foolishly seems strong

Brendan Gawlowski: I get that playing a zero bat is frustrating

Brendan Gawlowski: There are times I wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze, too

Brendan Gawlowski: But prioritizing the elite defender is defensible

Brendan Gawlowski: Bringing a rookie up to play every day and manage a whole new pitching staff amidst a playoff push is pretty risky

Brendan Gawlowski: Is there a path to bring Ingle up and have him catch a little, DH a little, and get a few other AB’s where he can? Probably. And maybe Cleveland pulls that trigger at some point.

Robert: How do you organize your notes for a chat?  There’s so many MiLB players that you can’t keep all of this in your head!  Appreciate it!

Brendan Gawlowski: There are definitely teams/systems I know less about and don’t answer many questions on, and fortunately enough Q’s on everything else. But I’ll also glance at my spreadsheets and put on some video at times

Ray Darwin: Do we have a timeline on a mid-season update to the Hondo?

Brendan Gawlowski: Probably before the draft but don’t quote me on that.

rgberthelot: The one minor league park I should definitely visit for my passport?

Brendan Gawlowski: Asheville

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s not my favorite town but Hartford’s is cool too

JMKUHNER: What changes have you seen, or been told about, has Zac Veen made this year? The slash line looks like it should play for COL this year. Post deadline call-up?

Brendan Gawlowski: All that extra strength has boosted the measurable bat speed and power

Brendan Gawlowski: I’m intrigued to see what it looks like in the big leagues, he’s decisively shaken off a very slow start

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s still a long swing, he’s still going to punch out. Might hit for enough power for it to not matter

John Church: At some point with all the questions of “will this guy make the top 100?” You end up with 150 guys in the top 100

Brendan Gawlowski: One of the things I always loved about Eric’s lists was that he didn’t really give a shit if he ended up with 100 or 125 guys

Baseball Learner: Article on ESPN today suggested the Yankees for example might need to throw in everyone who is Lombard Jr to get Skubal. ERD, Lagrange, Jones, Kilby. I think that might be too steep?

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s on the high end for a rental. But so is Skubal.

InsertWittyNameHere: Asked Jay in his chat if you saw: if the Phils traded Sanchez, what’s the best prospect they would be able to land?

Brendan Gawlowski: for an ace on ~$15 mil/year I don’t know if there’s a prospect I’d hang on to.

will5122: What aspect of scouting do you think has changed with modern training? Does Driveline make youthfulness less meaningful? Can everyone add a good CH? Curious your thoughts

Brendan Gawlowski: Projecting on players is less straightforward.

Brendan Gawlowski: Pitchers in particular have a really long runway

Phillip Denny: That Vegas game last night really should open the general public’s eyes about what a bang box the entirety of the PCL is, right?

Brendan Gawlowski: I like bang box as an expression

Brendan Gawlowski: most of the yards are pretty big, the ball just flies like crazy in the heat/altitude

Cromulent: You probably get asked a lot about breaking into scouting. What advice would you give to someone who wants an immersive grounding in the evaluation process but is not trying to break into the industry? You and Eric got time for a one day scout school at the Fall League?

Brendan Gawlowski: That could be fun. Maybe a better spring training idea since there would presumably be more interest

Brendan Gawlowski: Or maybe there wouldn’t be any interest at all! In that case you and I can just go to the bar for awhile

Phillip Denny: A little “what if” time warp for you – what if the Rays don’t swap Christopher Sanchez for Curtis Mead? You think he develops the same way with Tampa? Any other takeaways other than the Phillies being mega-cooked in 2026 without him?

Brendan Gawlowski: It’s wild that this happened in Philly which… is not the first team that pops to mind when I think of pitching factories

Brendan Gawlowski: In the same way that TB tends to win trades and SD tends to give up a lot of value, but it’s still possible for SD to win pretty big with them on a trade (Snell), there’s a chance that Sanchez develops six pitches with TB and looks filthy for a minute before he blows out.

Brendan Gawlowski: The butterfly effect is wild

michekn: What CWS matchup are you looking forward to see?

Brendan Gawlowski: Whoever Troy State is playing, good for them

Person: Johnny Slawinski? Is that not Jack Suwinski in disguise?

Brendan Gawlowski: Let’s see how much power he has.

Brendan Gawlowski: I think I’m going to shut it down here. Thanks as always for stopping by, we’ll do it again next week!