JotCast | Eric Longenhagen Prospects Chat

Eric Longenhagen Prospects Chat

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Eric A Longenhagen

12:58

Trying to think about who the three-quarters slot supinators are...

12:59

like sort the trackman data by fastball axis and find the guys hovering around 12:30, then which of them can really spin a breaking ball but has a cambio malo?

I think about Baumeister and Ty Johnson but they're front of mind from recent list

Baumeister ight already have one for all i know

1:00

Josh Knoth?

Ben Schneider

1:00

Hi Eric, when you right a team list with someone else, how do the two of you divide up the work?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:01

Depends, just trying to onboard James means assigning him guys I think will be relevant to his other work, and who I think he can best contextualize right now. Not asking him to sift thru DSL guys at the moment.

We'll kinda divy up affiliates

Rob

1:01

Is there anything to be concerned about with Kristian Campbell's start to spring? Or is it just small sample size?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:02

Not concerned, we're just getting started, he's played serious baseball for two years

TV deals

1:02

More profitable for a team to have their own network or sign on with a RSN/pay per view?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:03

You're talking to a guy who writes hundreds of thousands of words every year rather than just do a podcast. Seth Keller's Driveline pull down video has 5x the views as my Roki video from Tuesday. I'm an idiot except for scouting, cooking, and sex.

Jim

1:03

Thoughts on the Lawrence Butler deal?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:04

He's my 2025 AL MVP pick

David

1:04

Not a top hundred guy, but it really feels like defense alone could carry Ben Williamson to a 2 war season at third even if that would mean a 80-85 WRC+. Am I overestimating his defense or bat?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:04

His bat, but I like him

just not *that* much

Rick

1:04

Can we get some love for Payton Eeles? One of the best stories in the minors. What do you think is the realistic upside for him in the majors?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:04

I do, he's a 45 for me, was almost on the 100

lemme post his report in here, Twins list is soon but I have him done already

1:05

Eeles is a 5-foot-5 outlier who had no Division-I offers coming out of high school and ended up at Division-II Cedarville, where he spent four seasons. He used his extra year of college eligibility after the pandemic to transfer to Coastal Carolina in 2023, where Eeles (who was listed at 5-foot-7 at the time) posted a .500 OBP as a fifth-year senior. Undrafted, he went to Indy Ball and raked in the American Association before the Twins finally signed him in May of 2024. I saw Eeles in Fort Myers at the end of May/early June when his affiliated pro career was just a couple of weeks old, and though he was perfoming at a superlative level, he was still just a 24-year-old dominating kids in A-ball. The Twins promoted him to High-A Cedar Rapids, where Eelse struck out just five times in 55 PA before Minnesota skipped him over Double-A and sent him straight to Triple-A St. Paul for the second half of the season. He never stopped hitting, and slashed .299/.419/.500 with 12 HR in 64 games at hitter-friendly St. Paul

At 5-foot-5, Eeles needs to be an athletic freak and outlier in order to succeed as an everyday player at the big league level. I think he is. This guy epitomizes the "short but not small" maxim. His lower body is incredibly strong and athletic, and after joining the Twins (certainly when you compare his swing to the 2023 version at Coastal), Eeles was hiting from a deeper courch that took better advantage of his burly trunk. The way he's able to adjust his lower body to help move the bat around the zone (especially against low pitches) is very exciting. There's some risk that his hit tool bottoms out a bit against big league velocity because Eeles' swing is a little long, but I think that's countered by a super compact body that allows him to push the ball just inside the third base and left field line.

Do Eeles' surface-level minor league numbers need to be contextualized because of his age and the hitting environment at St. Paul? Yes. Readers should not expect Eeles to hit for the kind of power he did in the 2024 minor leagues. His contact and hard-hit rates (the latter of which is more of an isolated variable) are in line with that of a Brice Turang, or a more patient Mauricio Dubón. That's not quite enough impact to call Eeles a foundational everyday second baseman (and he isn't nearly as good a defender as Turang), but it is enough to consider him a second division regular there.

1:06

If I felt better about him at SS he would have just been on there

BrewCrew

1:06

Craig Yoho?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:06

Fun reliever

1:07

Ridiculous changeup and sweeper, below avg fastball

171

1:07

I know the O's list is coming soon, but can I get your quick and dirty on pitcher Nestor German? I have dreams of him terrorizing NYY fans on the mound in Yankee stadium.

Eric A Longenhagen

1:07

Every time I see his name I think of the scene in movie within PeeWee's Big Adventure where his voice is over-dubbed. "Paging Nestor German"

1:09

Big tall-and-fall delivery guy with 6-foot-7 release ht, sits about 93..love the way the slider plays against LH and RH, great back foot angle and finish, commands it, curveball is more of an in-zone strike stealer.. I dig him, one plus pitch, other stuff is about avg, solid member of the big league staff

Jim

1:10

When do you think we'll learn if MLB and ESPN come to a new deal for broadcasting games? Would NBC or CBS have any interest in broadcasting MLB games?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:10

I think ESPN has kinda shown us what they think about baseball over there

1:12

and they're fine moving on. Remember when they didn't charge the generator for the draft broadcast and just went dark? They don't care. They'll cover college softball as much as they cover baseball now, same as they did to hockey when they were no longer a rights holder. MLB has been direct to consumer for a very long time and will be fine.

The Prospector

1:12

Anything interesting on Ching-Hsien Ko? IFA kid who kinda signed at an odd time a la Rainiel Rodriguez

Eric A Longenhagen

1:14

Saw him Tuesday, physical guy. Family is Taiwanese and South African, only saw a couple at-bats but can see why they were interested in him. Power corner OF type

The Prospector

1:14

How close was Eduardo Quintero to remaining on the top 100?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:14

Wish the CF D looked better at Rancho, that was all

He homered for me Tuesday, was def in the weight room this offseason

The Prospector

1:14

Not having anything to do with results or future projection, who is your favorite prospect right now?

Eric A Longenhagen

1:14