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Brendan Gawlowski Prospects Chat: 1/27/2026
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Brendan Gawlowski
2:25
Early and Tolle. The level of depth here is Dodgers-esque though, so one or both may need to be patient
Klubot3000
2:25
What are your hobbies/interests outside of baseball?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:26
Speaking/reading/improving at Italian; I like other sports, go Dawgs; I play chess and a few other games; I spend a lot of time with family.
Tigahs
2:26
Hey Brendan, I’m a huge LSU and Marlins fan and after watching Jacob Berry I was sure that guy would hit his way to the majors in a hurry. He finally had an above average MiLB season, but only barely (104 wRC+).
what’s gone wrong with him?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:26
Divisive draft prospect, skeptics were right
2:27
Not much power for a corner bat
PinstripedPride
2:27
A lot of the top 100s coming out have dropped Spencer Jones, I presume because of hit tool risk. Do you agree he is not a top 100 prospect at this point?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:28
Eric and I haven't discussed him yet. Personally, I would give him a 50 but it's a collaborative list and there's some give and take with that; he's not a big Montes fan but gave his blessing on ranking him because he knows I feel strongly. I'm aware of the debate and respect the opinions of those who aren't buying it.
Guest
2:30
Apologies if this has been asked before, but what's the prospect you feel you're most out of sync with the industry on?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:31
Maybe Caden Favors? I think he's pretty good
Crabcakes
2:31
Is there any difference between pitch recognition and swing decisions?  Like, nobody looks at a pitch, says "I can drive that" and then doesn't swing, right?  Or vice versa says "I can't hit that" and swings anyway?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:32
Pitch recognition is a component of a swing decision. There are guys who recognize stuff just fine and chase it eight feet off the plate anyway. Vlad Sr. is maybe the most obvious example of this at work
2:33
Like, if you see a guy keep his hands back, successfully time up a pitch he's not looking for, and adjust his bat path to reach it, that's an example of good pitch recognition. It may or may not be a good swing decision
Carter
2:33
Who do you think is the top pitching prospect in the game
Brendan Gawlowski
2:33
Nolan McLean
Carter
2:34
Who is the most likely 2025 1st round pick to make it to the big leagues?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:35
Most of them will make it to the big leagues. If you had to bet on a single guy... Risky as it to take a pitcher for something like this, Anderson, Bremner, Arnold, and Doyle could all get there really quickly.
The Ghost of Billy Beane
2:36
The Rank column on the MLB Draft tab on the Board is defined as a character and not a number. That means that when sorting, 10 comes after one (ie the order is 1, 10, 100 instead if 1, 2, 3). It annoys me.
Brendan Gawlowski
2:36
I will pass this along
Deaf Deaf to the IDF
2:36
Should someone trade for Blake Mitchell?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:37
Yeah, he's a smart trade candidate I think. KC has a lot of catching depth, it's not just CJ
Matt
2:37
When you say you’re not looking forward to publishing the Angels list because it’s going to be pretty negative, are you concerned about people in the Angels org being upset with you or just don’t like being the bearer of bad news?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:37
The latter. It's not all that enjoyable to write about the ways prospects haven't stepped forward
Guest
2:38
Do you expect any (non-international) guys without any MLB ABs to break camp outside J Quero, J Crawford, Benge, Delauter? Typing those names reminded me how high the bar is for MLB bats: you got 3 ~top 50 guys and Crawford there
Brendan Gawlowski
2:39
Kinda think Emerson is going to. Just reading tea leaves, no info here, my opinion could change depending on acquisitions.
Jim
2:40
Is Trey Gregory-Alford a 50 FV? Do you like their 2025 draft pitching?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:41
He's going to be right below that with a clear path to the list in upcoming editions. Want to see a little more progress with the secondaries. He's a guy who kind of highlights the difference between scouting for a team and writing publicly
beanbong
2:41
How does projected peak play into a team's valuation of 40+/45 prospects? Would a prospect who fits into the Franmil Reyes/Justin Bour mold of projecting a few peak years of above average production then a swift dive off the cliff be seen differently than a player who produces similar value over their team control years but is more consistent year to year?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:44
It's a good question... With the caveat that a lot of the Bour/Reyes types you're thinking about are only Bour/Reyes types in retrospect, all else being equal you'd probably rather have that
2:45
Garrett Cooper was so old when he debuted that you could reasonably forecast a very short peak and early decline. But you wouldn't anticipate it with, like, Jack Suwinski, even though it looks like that's going to be his path, if that makes sense
Aldo Rayne
2:45
Who was a prospect you were really wrong about and why?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:46
Oh man, so many. First, you have to realize: Wrong is a default state. You have to like players, you have to be somewhat ambitious in your projections, you're going to be wrong in this environment. But, for specifics...
Orelvis Martinez: Thought he was tooled up and the skills would follow; they didn't, and in retrospect there were signs that he's not very instinctual.
2:48
Oscar Colas: Thought he'd hit, he didn't. Good lesson in the limitations of going nuts off of a grainy video
2:49
Dylan Lesko: Maybe there's a route back, but I loved him. Good lesson in not going crazy on two backfield innings just because someone is blowing up the Trackman
2:50
Case Williams: Good reminder that just because you saw one of the best outings of his life doesn't mean that it's a new normal
I could do this for awhile. Learning is great, can't wait to see what else I learn this year.
Tom
2:51
Once upon a time, a Mike Trout from a "cold weather state" was a true anomaly. Now, it seems like there are several high picks and highly-rated prospects from such states each year. There was even a recent reclassification from a real draft prospect from VERMONT. What do you think this shift is attributed to, possibly year-round training and single-sort dedication?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:52
Cold weather states have always produced stars; Washington ahas a couple hall of famers, if you wanna go waaay back, ya know? But travel ball/showcase gives kids up there more exposure than they may have had in previous generations, which, at the very least, gives teams more confidence in some of them.
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