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Brendan Gawlowski Prospects Chat: 3/31/26
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Brendan Gawlowski
2:38
They have the pieces to acquire Ryan; Cubs list I'm not sure, it's either on Eric's docket after the A's or it'll slide behind some of the Florida teams he's heading out to see. It'll be him and James, I believe
Oaktown Blues
2:38
I know Eric is handling the A's prospect list, but do you know when it's coming? Is it up next?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:39
He's shooting for a Friday publish
Sometimes these come out a day or two later than we're targeting for a variety of reasons but it should be next regardless
Astros Fan
2:39
In the past, you mentioned that you and Eric sort of have ownership of the prospect lists you each do, using the other as a sort of cross-checker. Is the process/dynamic different for the systems James reviews?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:40
Just depends
2:41
Almost every list has a couple guys we want a second opinion on
Confused
2:41
I know it has already been written but help me understand the Pratt extension.
Brendan Gawlowski
2:42
Brewers see a regular, $ figure isn't so high that they can't stomach it if he busts, and even if he's just ok they make out about even.
Jorge
2:42
Who are the three Braves position player prospects you are looking forward to watching most this year?  The high draft picks like Southesiene and Lodise or the intriguing later round guys like Cody Miller and Connor Essenburg?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:42
Essenburg hit the sweet spot for me of a toolsy/interesting guy with so little on tape that I'm really curious to see what this looks like
2:43
Gil is fascinating too right now
Kate
2:43
I know it's only one game, but if Zach Root can hold the stuff he showed in the futures game into the season, is he a Top 100 add?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:43
I know he threw strikes in college but that delivery scares me and I want to see him do it for awhile before we put the Big Numbers on him
Syndergaardengnomes
2:43
JONAH TONG DAY!
Brendan Gawlowski
2:43
CJ Edwards day
Your Name
2:44
RE Abolishing Drafts: I don't think roster size limits would be nearly enough. Alabama football pre transfer portal had the #1 class for like a decade straight (even though there are roster limits) and won a bunch of titles because of it. I don't know why MLB would turn out any differently.
Brendan Gawlowski
2:45
It's interesting to me how talent has spread more evenly now that we've gotten rid of the salary cap
Rankings
2:45
Re: the Sal Stewart obsessive, don't you guys usually say ordinal rankings matter little compared to future value on The Board? And position and ability to play it affects value, too?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:45
The ordinal ranking is just more sensitive in some spots than others
2:46
16 v 6 is pretty big; 86 vs 106 not so much
Billy G
2:46
Any ideas why it seems baseball is so much bigger in Taiwan than China? Relatedly, excited to see where the A's Taiwanese pitchers land on their list!
Brendan Gawlowski
2:46
Let's crowdsource this; I don't know but am interested
Andy
2:47
The Top 100 writeup for Ralphy Velazquez suggested he could be up by spring. Is it fair to say he might be a slightly more athletic version of Sal Stewart? Is his bat as advanced as Stewart's seems to be?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:48
Minor point -- I wrote "could be up as soon as this summer," just want to level set that expectation a little bit.
2:49
They're not the first two hitters I'd think to link together but I'm expecting them both to be very good
Tacoby Bellsbury
2:50
Sal Stewart or a bowl of Skyline Chili?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:50
This is officially the Sal Stewart chat. Tongian levels of questions about the guy today
Guest
2:52
"You know I can see you IP address" as if I said something out of line or insulted you. I simply called you out for being dismissive honestly kind of a jerk. "I reject that premise" as if you've always had glowing reports on him when clearly something changed over the last year to change your opinion on him.
Brendan Gawlowski
2:52
I wasn't even here last year, man.
Mr. Burrito
2:52
When scouts see a player grow in talent -- or, if not talent, the clear results -- from one year to the next, how big an impact does that make on the overall ranking, etc.? If I were a GM I'd rank that "skill" -- the ability to improve from year to year -- as a super valuable asset.
Brendan Gawlowski
2:53
you're talking about aptitude, and it's huge
A tangible way to say someone has good makeup
E
2:53
Do you still have hope bryce eldridge can improve his in zone contact rate enough to be a force?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:53
Absolutely
Bruin
2:53
What does this colt emerson extension do for cole young's outlook? Prepping for JP Crawford walking and an infield alignment of Donovan-emerson-young-naylor or a sign that young could be getting moved? If latter, for what?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:54
Well, Crawford and Donovan aren't signed for the long haul and Young still needs to prove he can hit.
Emerson was going to be part of the equation regardless so the extension doesn't really change much
RWFTF
2:54
From the unassailable Wikipedia:

Baseball in Taiwan is a major sport that is often characterized as the national sport (Chinese: 國球). It was introduced during the Japanese rule era around 1897 and gained popularity over time, culminating in some successes of Taiwanese teams in the Japanese system. The sport remained popular following the retreat of the Republic of China to Taiwan despite the Kuomintang (KMT) government's deliberate policy of removing cultural links to Japan.

In the shifting international environment that eventually led to the ROC's departure from the United Nations, the KMT government used baseball as a tool for nation-building, pouring massive resources into the sport in the hopes of forging a stronger national identity. 
Big Buckston
2:55
I watched Ryan Johnson's first start yesterday, and my Cubs fan wife raised her eyebrows as I explained his path to the Angel's rotation (MLB bullpen straight after draft to domination as a starter in A+, to now an MLB rotation). The only thing more herky-jerky than how the Angels have handled his development is Johnson's delivery. Can you think of a prospect who's had this much role/level whiplash so soon after being drafted? Just a bizarre sequence of events
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