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Brendan Gawlowski Prospects Chat: 1/13/2026
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Brendan Gawlowski
2:58
You should be hoping that, wherever he is, he's making plenty of hard contact and driving the ball to some degree. One thing to sniff out: Is there any sign that there's more power than he showed as an amateur?
Commie
2:59
Whither Ethan Salas?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:59
Another good one for the "which prospect do you want to be healthy?"
Decoy San
2:59
Are prospects, in general, starting to be overvalued? I believe a couple of higher-end prospects from the Dodgers (Hope and, say, Casparius) could pry Duran out of Boston. But others on this site suggest Duran is "meh." I'm not trying to tell anybody their jobs, but Duran posted a 4.5 WAR in a "down" season, which doesn't feel very meh to me. And as much as I (a huge Dodgers honk) love Hope, I'm guessing a 4.5 season from him would be close to the top end of his potential value. Thoughts?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:59
Who's suggesting Duran is meh?
wheelhouse
2:59
wait, this means there's a new guy to bother with questions about spencer jones
Brendan Gawlowski
3:00
From what I can tell, this seems to be a parlor game in the public space. To lay my cards on the table: He's obviously boom/bust but I would want to be the one giving him the chance to go 'boom'
PurpleandTeal
3:00
Welcome, Brendan! Can we expect to hear some good stories from your time as a scout?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:01
If people want to hear them. I've got plenty. The best one that I can't go into super specific detail about would be the time I encountered a Rockies scout who thought he was seeing a Rockies affiliate; he was not.
PurpleandTeal
3:01
What is the future of the analytics vs scouts? Are teams going to stop canning their pro scout departments?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:03
I hope so; there's a lot of value in approaching player valuation from both perspectives. You cannot possibly listen to a good scout break down a player and think "eh, we don't need this, just look at the numbers."
Jonathan
3:04
How would you feel if/when analysts from the FO asked to learn more about scouting?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:05
I can only speak for my experience, but analysts within Pit's group were always engaging and respectful. And I sure hope they felt it was a two-way street from me.
Billy G
3:05
re: improvements in A's system. What do you see as the drivers? Change in dev philosophy for hitting and / or pitching? Drafting well? The Miller and other trades?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:06
The Miller trade helped a lot, of course, that was a haul. He's not part of the system anymore, technically, but the Morales slingshot helped a bunch too.
3:07
I apologize for not getting to everything here, I can't possibly keep up. We'll go another 20 minutes and I'll do the best I can.
Maddoning
3:07
Why would the Cubs, who are trying to contend, trade Nico Hoerner to the Giants for a bag of prospects?  I don't see the fit at all, or am I missing something?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:08
I can see a path on their end if they also tap into some of SFG's younger big leaguers but making the math work on both sides is... tricky.
Beano
3:08
B  Crim on Colorado- will he be their 1b?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:09
A rare nice story for them last year... Everyday 1B feels like a little much but I think he can help.
Jonathan
3:09
Are you going to miss any team-side tools you had access to?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:10
Rest assured, I miss them already. My old reports more than anything. Statistically speaking, I can still get a lot of the info I need but it takes longer, sometimes significantly.
Kate
3:10
Any of the 2025 draft guys that will be moving up significantly once that whole set of names gets the 2026 list treatment?  There are several guys there Eric's 2025 reports seem low on compared to others.
Brendan Gawlowski
3:12
I'm sure there will be. Some will be from lower-round guys who may make us go 'hey wait a minute' when we have a little longer to poke around. Hugus with Seattle maybe didn't move on their list a ton, but provoked a lot of discussions/thoughts. And for the lists that come out later, when we have spring looks, that'll change the equation too.
Greg
3:12
Another Pirates note but... Paul Skenes pickoff move to 1B is insane. I love that he seems to work at every part of his craft
Brendan Gawlowski
3:13
Elite worker. He was getting better at so many little things all throughout 2025.
Billy Ocean
3:13
What would be your scouting summary for a 20 yo Brendan Gawlowski in D3 ball?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:13
"Hope he can read"
Lord Thunder
3:14
Which classification will Leodalis DeVries be playing at on opening day 2026? 2027?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:14
AA; AAA
Okra
3:14
Lets assume two 50FV SP prospects are pretty evenly ranked and well liked.  Everything is the same b/t them (stats, age, injury/draft history, etc) except one has a 70 fastball and lacking secondaries while the other has four 50 grade pitches.  Wouldn't you rather the elite fastball since it translates to RP better if needed?  thoughts?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:16
I hate to say "it depends" but it does. How bad are the secondaries? How healthy are we talking?
I always think it's helpful to scout the player, not the demographic/heuristics
Billy Ocean
3:17
As an opposing scout watching another organization, how can you discern if a club is having a guy work on a particular skill to the detriment of some aspect of his game and not underrate him overall as a prospect? Like, a guy just trying to pull everything, take extra pitches to develop eye, only throw fastball, etc.
Brendan Gawlowski
3:18
Talk to people around the team. Oftentimes you can infer from what you're seeing, and then you check that instinct with others
Out of Dodge
3:18
Is Alex Freeland a full-time starter at 2B in LAD this season?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:18
I suspect they'll mix and match
Guest
3:19
Are we all overreacting to Ethan Holliday’s K rate in his debut or is his fall down a lot of FYPD’s the right move?
Brendan Gawlowski
3:21
I don't know, are people reacting very strongly? Obviously you'd rather he hit .500 and homer every five at bats. Realistically, you knew there would be swing and miss risk and that bore out in his debut. Those end-of-year cameos are really, really tough on HS picks. "Here, young man with a ton of money all of the sudden: Take a two month break from your relentless baseball schedule and then come face way better pitching than you're used to seeing in a totally unfamiliar environment with high expectations coming at you from all directions."
Barry M.
3:22
Is Jordan Lawlar ever going to get a chance?
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