Eric Longenhangman’s Spooky Prospect Chat: 10/31

Eric A Longenhagen: BWAH HA HA HA HA! Jump Scare!

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s Halloween, and you know what that means; running back to the store once you realize the amount of candy you’ve eaten necessitates another bag. Bah haaaa haaaa!

Eric A Longenhagen: James and my write-up on Asian pros will be live momentarily, though all the reports are already available on The Board.

Eric A Longenhagen: Okay, let’s hit your questions.

Insert Witty Name Here: Gotta ask the obvious: what’s the 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, and 20 grade halloween candy?

Eric A Longenhagen: I have a 70 on Reese’s and Almond Joy, a 60 on Kit Kat, Twix, Reese’s Pumpkins and Snickers, 50 on Hershey’s anything, 40 and below on all fruit-related candies

e: Did you get any looks at Parks Harber in the AFL? Do you think his swing will play against highest level pitching

Eric A Longenhagen: I have seen him four times in AFL and once or twice during instructs prior to. He has real physicality and strength, his swing does play like the “inside out” variety which might make him vulnerable to big league velocity, but that hasn’t manifested yet. He runs well for his size… there’s something there.

Jackson: Where do the Phillies put Crawford in 2026? Maybe in LF and they sign a CF? Hopefully Crawford will break the Phillies outfield curse

Eric A Longenhagen: See who you sign first, then decide how to mix Crawford’s time. He should keep playing CF (for developmental reasons) a lot of the time.

Michael McDermott: Should I be concerned about Jansel Luis’ Arizona Fall League performance? He’s hit a lot of ground balls, especially to the right side and has struggled to drive anything to his pull field from the left side of the plate.

Eric A Longenhagen: He’s definitely blended into the background here, my notes on him have been blasé, but I still like how explosive his hands are.

Greg: I was intrigued by your Sinnard write up. Is he in discussion for your top 100? Is he about a #3 ceiling?

Greg: One Sinnard follow up – I saw some notes about how his spin rates have increased significantly because of some adjustments by AFL coaches. As a Braves fan, my first thought was wondering why the Braves staff wasn’t able to unlock that. How often does an AFL staff find something new, or am I overreacting with my frustrations about the Braves pitching dev teams?

Eric A Longenhagen: He’s in the top 100 mix, I’d say, more like a no. 4. On the spin rate thing: lemme cross reference his in-season data with an AFL game real quick.

Eric A Longenhagen: Solar Sox vs. Desert Dogs – 10/18/2025 – Savant Gamefeed

Eric A Longenhagen: Those are up 200-300 rpm compared to regular season

beanbong: Gotten any chances to see Nacho Alvarez in the AFL? Does he show any hope of meaningfully improving his inability to lift-and-pull to the point he’s a major league regular or is the concrete dry there?

Eric A Longenhagen: Four looks, some doubles damage but not big juice. Not a big long term piece for them, I don’t think. Loved how he stuck up for Sam Antonacci last night, though, was jawing with the entire Scottsdale dugout.

Jeremy: How are you liking the WS?

Eric A Longenhagen: (thumbs up) Game 3 alone makes this a pretty good year.

Lars: How would you rank the five tools in terms of what teams covet most —> least? Is that consistent with all front offices or would some have vastly different preferences?

Eric A Longenhagen: Power, Contact, Defense, Speed, Arm

Eric A Longenhagen: Some FOs (or even individual people) might put contact first because it’s needed to unlock power.

Eric A Longenhagen: At a certain point it is, anyway.

Space Case: Gmornin Sir! Strange question maybe, but I was wondering if any cactus league teams, or ACL, AFL etc have radio broadcasts? I was thinking about pursuing a job down there for the spring each year. Cheers

Eric A Longenhagen: Some of the cactus league games have a radio broadcasts but they’re usually the team’s home radio booth. Many AFL games are broadcast (go to the MLB App or AFL website today at 1:30 PT, you’ll see them) but it tends to be AFL employees and maybe some up-and-comers who MLB wants to hear call games (not your boy, though). Complex level is not broadcast.

Cubs fan: Hey Eric, assuming the Cubs don’t resign Kyle Tucker, who do you see taking over for him in RF? If that person is Owen Caissie, how would you predict his season to go?

Eric A Longenhagen: I have no idea how they’re going to maneuver their talent around but they probably have to do some of it, right? The current set-up is Happ, PCA, Suzuki starting OF, Caissie and Alcantara as bench. It’s not a great way to develop the young talent to do it like that. They’ve tried Triantos in the OF, too. Need to make a move, I think Alcantara is the likeliest to trade as it will probably take him some time to adjust to big league velo anyway.

Eric A Longenhagen: Caissie I like as the strong side of a platoon, he’ll mash and be good if put in favorable positions versus righties often enough.

E: Thoughts on Carter Jensen? Seemed like the bat performed above expectations in the majors and was mostly backed up by statcast ev and plate discipline.

Eric A Longenhagen: He’s been on the hondo for a couple years, has primary catcher projection for me. Real lefty power.

Lars: Where would Yesavage have been drafted if not for the medical concerns?

Eric A Longenhagen: He was cleared enough to travel in the lead up to the draft, I don’t think it had a meaningful impact on his stock. There was a point where he couldn’t travel due to the lung, but by the Combine he was cleared and people felt comfortable with it as far as I knew.

George: Hey Eric! Are you as fascinated by the Butera hire as I am? I know he has minor league managing experience, but it does seem like Toboni is really leaning into the player dev focus.

Eric A Longenhagen: I mostly shrug at managerial hires. I think the way they’re leaning hard into almost entirely young people is the fascinating thing about what’s happening there.

Justin: Biased dynasty fantasy owner here. Why can’t Trey Yesavage be a top 30 pitcher in 2026?

Eric A Longenhagen: Because he randomly gets hurt? Because he’s tired coming off the longest season of his life? Just the chaos of being a pitcher? He’s great. I don’t know what you’re angling at here. You should keep him or draft him or whatever.

Eric A Longenhagen: People who think he’s some christlike perennial cy young contender should ask themselves how they felt about Evan Carter two years ago.

Jeremy: Which prospect has the spookiest name?

Eric A Longenhagen: J.D. Murders – Stats – Batting | FanGraphs Baseball

Eric A Longenhagen: Jake Slaughter – Stats – Batting | FanGraphs Baseball

Eric A Longenhagen: John Kilichowski – Stats – Pitching | FanGraphs Baseball

Justin: The Dodgers have one of the best set of outfield prospects in baseball. But it will be hard to crack their loaded lineup. Do you think any of De Paula, Quintero, Hope or Sirota make the show in 26?

Eric A Longenhagen: No

NFP: What caveats should we put on AFL performances? My impression is that the altitude juices distances but not EVs. Does it mess with movement like Coors? It seems like teams also generally try to match the level of quality (better guys up front like spring training).

Eric A Longenhagen: Pitching here has become more wild and less nasty since the middle of week two. It’s generally not a very talented group, and while this year I think is actually better than the mean from a stuff standpoint, guys can’t throw strikes. You should not take any hitter’s performance at face value based on their stats. Their look is way more important.

Guest: My league swims at the high end of the minors.  Are either Jesus Made or Emmanuel Rodriguez with the big club from the jump?

Eric A Longenhagen: Emmanuel Rodriguez might be if he’s healthy and they lean hard into rebuilding. Made is more a September possibility as we sit here right now.

Sad Mariners fan: What do you think about Cole Young for next season?

Eric A Longenhagen: Everyday MIF

Ryan: What do you make of Jordan Lawlar playing centerfield in winter ball? Was his infield defense really looking THAT bad?

Eric A Longenhagen: It’s a great experiment, though I haven’t pulled the tape on him out there yet, and probably won’t until he’s had some more reps. Yes, it was that bad.

Lord Thunder: Who has seen their stock dinged the most at the fall league?

Eric A Longenhagen: Morlando

Jim: Tommy White. Will he hit? Chance he learns to play cromulent 3B defense?

Eric A Longenhagen: Think he could be Ty France. Plus 1B D, don’t think his bat is on time to do a ton of damage, too long into the zone. 40

Mike: Sort of a prospect question…. Should Twins fans be concerned no one developed with Pittsburgh under Shelton? How much difference does a manager make?

Eric A Longenhagen: The manager doesn’t have a ton to do with player dev until the big league level.

Pat: Eric- Thanks for all the hard work, really enjoy it! What do make of Max Anderson’s AFL? Does he look like could play 2B/3B for Detroit next year?

Eric A Longenhagen: He swings at everything but is still skilled and strong enough to make lots of hard contact, he’s been better timing and spraying got all fields than some of the other guys out here (though Morabito turned on a cutter last night, which was nice to see). I don’t know where Anderson plays defense and he might need to go to LF, but he’s crazy strong and has some feel, so I think he’ll be something.

Eric A Longenhagen: Last night while he was in the on deck circle you could hear the barrel whistle through the air just as he was taking warmup hacks.

TheDodger: is Denzel Clarke gonna hit enough to stay a regular for the A’s?

Eric A Longenhagen: He might have a good peak season or two, but he’ll play a long term role because of the defense

Kelly Yost: Has Josh Adamczewski looked capable of being an OF at fall league? nice to see some power he trending up as a prospect?

Eric A Longenhagen: Super limited looks out there, he’s played some 2B when I’ve caught Surprise. Looks like Corey Dickerson to me.

Donowiecz: Is Tyson Lewis’ approach as bad as it looks on the statline?  Is there a reason to think he can improve other than just being young?

Eric A Longenhagen: His underlying data is concerning in some ways (contact, chase) and knock your socks off exciting in others (power)

Donowiecz: Do you think LuJames Groover has a role in Arizona or is he going to need a trade?

Eric A Longenhagen: Let’s see what they do at 1B ths offseason.

Guest: This question’s probably five years too late, but I have to ask: was Daulton Varsho ever really a legitimate catching prospect? Or was it sort of a “eh, he’s shaped like a catcher so he’s a catcher” sort of situation?

Eric A Longenhagen: There was a point when he was first drafted that it was worth trying but his arm strength was such that it was always unlikely. Once his bat was clearly going to profile in the OF it was fine to move on, the fact that he’s so good out there was a pleasant long term surprise.

ABS system before leg day: What have we learned from the change in minor leaguer’s listed heights to game the ABS system? Why won’t it happen in MLB?

Eric A Longenhagen: Everyone’s heights are updated from what I can tell, big leaguers too.

Eric A Longenhagen: There’s still some fine tuning that needs to take place, from me eavesdropping around the ABS folks training here in AFL there’s still this whole thing they’re trying to do with the batter’s stance rather than just their raw height that I might disagree with if I knew more about it.

Aldo Rayne: Is it off base to think that Okamoto will be better in MLB than Murakami given the latter’s contact issues?

Eric A Longenhagen: Not at all. If you told me both players would perform as is for the next three years, I’d rather have Okamoto.

Eric A Longenhagen: You can read the Murakami report here, it explains why….

Eric A Longenhagen: The Board | FanGraphs Baseball

Eric A Longenhagen: click the clipboard

Lowe Distribution System: I think some prospect tools can be taught (swing plane, pitch grips), some can be trained (power, speed), but is bat-to-ball contact ability just innate to the player?

Eric A Longenhagen: I think it’s less teachable, yeah. Maybe not entirely innate, though.

Eric A Longenhagen: Like if your swing is *so* messed up that I can fix this or that and get you in better position to hit.

spin rate queen: Why don’t reliever to SP conversion candidates like Mason Morris and Mike Lombardi end up pitching in affiliated ball their draft year. Wouldn’t it be ideal to stretch them out instead of shut them down?

Eric A Longenhagen: The process of getting guys throwing again after they’ve been shut down since he end of the college season takes longer than you might think. Lombardi I saw throw in instructional league. Morris I didn’t see but I’m pretty sure he threw. So some development is going on, just not in a space that generates a box score we can access at any time.

Injury dope: Looking to hear find out why both Ryan Forcucci and Justin Campbell didn’t pitch all year after they were expected to return by midseason

Eric A Longenhagen: Good question, lemme send a couple texts out real quick…

Jim: Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen a catcher come over from Japan. Would it be a significantly bigger transition than other positions?

Eric A Longenhagen: Yes, because of the language barrier.

Eric A Longenhagen: BTW….

Eric A Longenhagen: Euiji Yang – Stats – Batting | FanGraphs Baseball

Eric A Longenhagen: unreal

Bumpin Ugglas: Where does Seth Hernandez rank (at draft time) among recent prep arms? On par with Jobe/Painter?

Eric A Longenhagen: Better than those two at the time, I thought. In Hunter Greene territory.

Gegenpress: Putting Yesavage aside, Cijntje, Jump, Tolle, Stephen, Eagen, Sinnard. The common denominator I’m seeing in all the arrow up college arms 2024 class is they all had additional developmental meat on the bone for a college arm. You can even arguably put Benge and Cags in this category because of their 2 way college careers. And Dohm could be next to start shoving. So how do we scout for that moving forward?

Eric A Longenhagen: Ironically, focus on age-old things like athleticism, capacity for movement, raw stuff, aptitude. Some of that can be quantified now, obviously.

Guest: It sounds like Janek has done well in the AFL. What should Astros fans expect from him next year?

Eric A Longenhagen: Needs to improve as a receiver and ball blocker. He’s a handsome kid, which I know from him constantly running to the backstop with his mask off.

Lowe Distribution System: Kenji Johjima was one of the earlier Japanese players to come over and was pretty good for a couple years

Eric A Longenhagen: Oh yeah, that’s a good one.

Insert Witty Name Here: How good of a pitcher could Victor Wembanyama be with that kind of extension?

Eric A Longenhagen: NBA TV on X: “Wemby’s first pitch in New York ⚾️ 🎥: @NBA https://t.co/W8mi5VrjJU” / X

Eric A Longenhagen: I bet if he dropped everything and started training to be a pitcher right now, within three years he’d be something.

Guest: esmerlyn afl

Eric A Longenhagen: The thing that’s stuck out to me most is his vivaciousness. He’s a great teammate; he’s playing his ass off. Being courted by agents, btw. Boras people sitting out in the sun in RF to make sure he sees them there.

Holliday was out: To put it in perspective, how would you now compare Yesavage to Schlittler moving forward? Obviously a big age difference, but who is more valuable in their 6 years of control?

Eric A Longenhagen: I think I’d take Yesavage because of the splitter quality.

Nick: What are your thoughts on Kevin Alvarez. Think he can be a top 50 guy by year’s end?

Eric A Longenhagen: One of the few guys that young who have a shot

Eric A Longenhagen: Okay, time for me to depart. Thanks for coming again this week. Next’s weeks chat is going to be banged because I have to speak at First Pitch Arizona on Frida morning. See you in two Fridays, buds.