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Brendan Gawlowski Prospects Chat: 9/8/26
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Brendan Gawlowski
2:01
Allllright, a prospect chat. After a long trip, maybe I should ask the questions and you all can tell me happened these last few weeks.
Kidding. I dutifully prepared by watching Jonah Tong exhaust his rookie eligibility, thank God, last night.
rainingmozzarella
2:01
Hi Brendan! How was your time off?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:02
I missed baseball but Italy was amazing, thank you.
WonderWall
2:02
Hi Brendan, hope you had a great trip!  I was wondering what resources you used when you were learning Italian?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:02
Started with Duo but things only really took off when I found some friends on Tandem and started talking with them regularly. Supplement with podcasts, books/newspapers, and some tv.
Chuck Berry
2:03
How close is Enddy Azocar to breaking in 55 FV territory
Brendan Gawlowski
2:03
He might always be a little too risky for that
riibett
2:04
Hey Brendan, as a fellow Davis Polo enjoyer, what are some wish list things he could (realistically) improve with his repertoire next season?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:04
A little extra gas would go a long way here
booneyO
2:04
Padres 2nd rounder Elliot Lascelles seems to be acclimating quite nicely at low A, hitting .321/.406/.429 thru 15 games. Is the hit tool looking better than advertised? It was his carrying card but there was a lot of uncertainty given the level of competition he faced as a Canadian high schooler
Brendan Gawlowski
2:05
Too early to say better but it's a very encouraging start. Hope to catch him in instructs soon.
tdmoc
2:05
Welcome back! What (if anything) do teams do to prepare their pitching prospects for the jump from the minor league ball to the MLB/AAA ball? If a guy is shredding AA to end the year, does he practice exclusively with the big league ball over the winter to start fast in AAA in the spring? Would he do that regardless of level?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:06
A lot of different approaches. Seattle, by all evidence, basically doesn't care, they let their top farmhand go straight from the AA ball to the big leagues even though he'd long since thoroughly outclassed the level.
2:07
As far as the offseason work goes, good question, I'll ask around.
2:08
In general, it's not usually a huge adjustment. The ball may behave a little differently, but most of the pitchers themselves don't seem to need a ton of time to get comfortably.
crossedup
2:08
For players like Ace Reese, Drew Burress, and other SEC draftees with strong A level starts. How meaningful (Meaningless?) are their starts? Their average pitching competition has to be a step down from their SEC schedule or at best comparable right?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:08
The topline numbers are not especially meaningful, I don't think, for most post-draft debutantes.
2:10
It's nice that these guys are hitting, but it's a weird enough transition/environment that it's (usually) not alarming even if they struggle
If they physically don't look the part, that's a different story.
lmb2020
2:10
Ask away, I'll answer what I can. To start, yes Joshua Baez has been as volatile as advertised.
Brendan Gawlowski
2:10
My goodness
2:11
Anybody asked Eric lately if he thinks Baez will hit?
oaktownblues
2:11
Do you have any insight on Ali Camarillo of the A's? Has risen several levels this season without missing a beat
Brendan Gawlowski
2:11
Up-down guy
Jeremy Fox
2:12
Thoughts on the recent CBS Sports piece on Driveline's influence on how hitting is taught in professional baseball? Has the emphasis on developing bat speed and a lift & pull approach broken just as many hitters as it's helped? Or conversely, if you're a hitter who isn't well-suited to adopting a high bat speed, lift-and-pull approach, does that mean you're no longer as valuable to your team because your ceiling is lower? Is a fast swing, lift and pull approach for hitters becoming what 97 mph and a slider is becoming for pitchers--table stakes? As a player, do you try to develop that (and take the risk that you can't, whether due to injury or because the approach doesn't suit you), because the alternative is that you don't develop into a good major leaguer at all?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:12
For those who haven't seen it, I liked Julian McWilliams's story, which you can read here.
2:13
Lot of questions, so I think I'll just kind of riff on the vibe of your paragraph and the story itself for a second
2:17
I don't know if it's broken more hitters than it's helped, but there are tradeoffs at play here
2:18
The more you try to pull/lift, the more vulnerable you make yourself to a swing and a miss. It's often worth it to sacrifice some contact for power, but what the story does a good job of showing is that, on an individual level, you can't just pull up your spread sheet and shave your contact rate by 8.7% and add 12 homers to your season total
2:20
And as a hitter, there are some potential consequences to straying too far from what works for you
2:21
fwiw, I also really liked Kyle Boddy's quotes from that piece.
Charles Bengal Tiger
2:21
How far behind the Giants' young shortstop trio of Josuar, Luis Hernandez, and Jhonny Level is Joniel Hernandez in prospect value?
Brendan Gawlowski
2:21
Eric and I may be split on this one, I really like Hernandez, I think he's a little more skeptical of the bat
matt
2:22
Do you think we will soon get to a place to where statcast data for all games in full season affiliates will be available to the public? And not just FSL/AAA+a select few CPX stadiums
Brendan Gawlowski
2:22
I assume we'll get there eventually, no clue on the timetable
ajleff
2:22
Both NYM and MIL lost the Peralta trade??
Brendan Gawlowski
2:23
Too early to write off Sproat
matt
2:23
"In general, it's not usually a huge adjustment. The ball may behave a little differently, but most of the pitchers themselves don't seem to need a ton of time to get comfortably." Maybe this is true for majority but if you look at the walk rates of guys like Hopkins/Milbrandt/perales it has significantly effected some
Brendan Gawlowski
2:24
note the "most"
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