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Brendan Gawlowski Prospects Chat: 5/19/26
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CC AFC
5:22
Malcolm Moore is suddenly on a ridiculous tear and now his year long numbers look good after everything looked terrible (at least superficially) for a year and a half.  Any insight into whether this could be a delayed pop from a guy who's a) a catcher and b) had injuries?  Or possibly just a hot streak and it's so early that the year long numbers are noisy still?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:22
First: Be very, very, very skeptical of anybody's numbers the week after they roll through Asheville this year.
5:23
The Tourists are allowing nine runs per game. They play at altitude in a tiny park and in a league where the homer rate has just about doubled year over year.
5:24
Moore may have turned a corner, and I hope he has. But we need to see more before getting too excited.
5:25
But also, look at these results: https://www.milb.com/asheville/schedule/2026-05
Asheville just had a 12 game home stand and gave up 145 runs.
espresso
5:26
What's your rapid ELO? Also, thoughts re Aaron Walton and Bryan Rincon recently?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:27
I just got over 1500 for the first time in Blitz, which is what I've mostly done lately. Walton is one where I need to source the power data b/c the glove was always promising so if there's something to the pop here, that'd be exciting. I'm going to try to do that now...
lmb2020
5:28
How different are the baseballs league to league?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:28
fantastic question
CC AFC
5:28
I see Mike Sirota was just promoted to AA.  Any idea if this took so long because of any concerns on the Dodgers' part or just that they have eleventy billion OF prospects and it was easier to get everyone full PT by not promoting him?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:28
I'm assuming the latter, they've got the luxury of waiting
onemanwolfpack
5:28
Can Laz Montes be a viable starting OF in MLB - especially with a 31% K-rate that he currently has in AA?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:29
I think he can, he's obviously on the tight rope. But I see paths to keep the swing and miss in the stratosphere while maintaining the power.
Daron
5:29
Since you're working on the Red Sox list curious if you view Eduardo Rivera as having much of a chance to develop as a starter longer term?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:30
I am too (sorry, haven't gotten to him just yet).
Cromulent
5:30
Thinking about a Cal League roadie. Favorite parks?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:30
That's a tough league for ballparks/travel. If you've never been, it's Steinbeck California, not beach California
5:31
That said, the new park in Ontario looks really nice on tv... Fresno's facility is Triple-A quality, good place to watch a game if you can get some shade.
5:34
RE: Aaron Walton, apparently his measurable raw power is now above average per a source. That's.. exciting.
Uncle Spike
5:34
Follow up on the contact % question.  Are there certain guys that you see and feel they'll get exploited as they progress and others that you feel will improve their bat to ball skills?  How do you differentiate those types?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:37
There are definitely things that give me pause. None of it is definitive -- it's not 'Aron Estrada won't hit because of THIS ONE SECRET THING' -- but a few markers to watch for: steep swing, long/slow swing, pronounced front side leak, huge head movement, long load...
5:40
Henry Godbout is a good example here. Unassailable contact data. Basically never missed fastballs in college. Does it a little differently at the plate, it's a challenge to untangle whether his odd setup and swing are an orange flag or if 'hitter's hit' is the order of the day.
McSnoozy
5:40
You're the Mariners GM. What do you do to turn things around?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:41
You can never have enough bats, so I'd be open for business on just about everybody on the system.
5:42
Arroyo has always felt like a particularly good trade candidate. Not a clear role for him, skillset doesn't play all that well in the park, he does things that light up a model... Probably more valuable to someone else.
By and large though, the team has a lot of good veteran players, many of whom aren't performing their best. You gotta wait that one out.
canderson20
5:43
Now that conference tournaments are starting, do you have a favorite draft prospect you're looking forward to seeing play?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:43
Looking forward to seeing TCU's bats. I'm behind on amateur stuff so I don't have a great answer on favorites at this point
CC AFC
5:43
Any data on Kayson Cunningham's batted balls?  I can see that he has zero HR and his scouting report didn't indicate big power, but is there any indication that he can develop modest power or is this a zero power making him non-viable as an everyday player situation?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:43
I'll try to source that too
He's not a real big guy, it's hit>power
5:44
He could play everyday but he's going to need to max out on the bat to do it, particularly since he's not a good defender.
2-out walk
5:44
Was your food poisoning a) threw up a couple times but now you're good, or b) one moment you're scared you're gonna die, the next you're scared you won't die?
Brendan Gawlowski
5:44
The first half of A and then all of B
CC AFC
5:44
How much weight do you put on things like a college player's conference performance, particularly where the conference clearly stronger than the out of conference schedule?  I see it discussed a lot but I do wonder if that slices the data so thin that it's vulnerable to SSS noise
Brendan Gawlowski
5:45
Personally, I'm going to put more value on my visual observations and then use the data to shore up or challenge those impressions
5:46
The college game is in a spot where the surface, and even first order peripherals can be pretty misleading
5:47
All those guys putting up big power numbers to the opposite field are going to struggle to replicate that production with a wood bat.
(Well, maybe not in Asheville)
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