You are viewing the chat in desktop mode. Click here to switch to mobile view.
X
Eric Longenhagen Chat
powered byJotCast
Eric A Longenhagen
12:01
Good morning, chat. hope everyone's well, let's talk some ball
Mark
12:02
Will Ryan Pepiot rise in the prospect rankings for the Dodgers? Reports are of an extremely successful summer camp.
Eric A Longenhagen
12:04
Hmm, I've already got him stuffed pretty good. He'll be reconsidered like everyone else during the offseason, but I already considered him a highly-ranked prospect entering the season. https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2020-in-season-prospect-...
Guest
12:04
Do you think Stiever is more likely to hang on as a starter beyond this season or is his stuff better suited as a reliever?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:05
Still probably a starter long term. Tough to see him enjoying enough of a velo bump out of the bullpen to be a late-inning weapon, and unless he's a late-inning weapon he'd be more valuable as a 4/5th starter than any other kind of reliever
Larry Jones
12:05
What's your opinion on  Padres number 8 prospect Yeison Santana? Do you believe his bat will be able to play at the major league level?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:05
Yeah I'm pretty enthused about him which is why he's ranked so high.
shortstoppin_
12:05
Is Marsh a good enough centerfielder to justify moving Trout to left field as soon as he's up?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:08
In my opinion, yes. Not that he's an elite defender or anything, just that he's slightly better than Trout is at this point. But I can also see the Angels doing what NYY did with Jeter and just leaving him there rather than deal with "has our star lost a step, is this a passing of the baton?" media histrionics.
Billy G
12:08
Lew Brinson...doesn't suck?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:08
Actually hitting for power during the last month or so. Still swinging a lot, though. I'm encouraged but not letting my guard down yet.
Guest
12:09
So if Adell were qualified he would be the worst player in MLB this year. I know he’s young and learning, but is being this bad a little worrisome?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:10
A little bit, sure. Guys who bust often do so in this way, but I'm still betting on him making adjustments and being a really good player, eventually. This is, after all, a small sample season and Adell is the age of a college draftee. It's ridiculous to expect him to be great immediately.
Neesy
12:11
Any cheaper J2 signings from 2019 that have good reports on them. Patino and Espinal seemed to come out of nowhere for Arizona last year.
Eric A Longenhagen
12:13
Patino was '17, Espinal was '18. Maybe this will help: https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board?sort=18,-1&filter=statfi...
B
12:13
Jonathan Stievers is pitching for the White Sox against the Reds tonight.  Any updates to his scouting report?  How has he looked in jumping from high A all the way to the majors?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:14
This will be in the AL Central prospect update coming Monday: "Jonathan Stiever’s promotion was instructive because we got to see his velocity coming off of forearm soreness that ended his spring. He sat 91-94, which is a little below his peak 2019 breakout when he would touch 6’s and 7’s. His changeup looked good, though, and it was a stabilizing force during a jittery first start. He’ll need to locate his slider more consistently for it to be effective, and the same goes for his heater if it’s going to live around 93."
TF Fredrik
12:15
Curious if you have still been hearing from team officials about player X or player Y looking amazing or leveling up even though they aren't playing competitive games. Would teams be able to notice large improvements with the setup they have for player development this year? Or do you need real games to trust what you see at training sites?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:16
Prospect writing rule of thumb is to discount the opinions of team personnel regarding their own players for reasons that I hope are obvious to everyone reading this chat. I think the campsite environment is bad for evaluating players, especially hitters who are seeing the same pitchers over and over and over.
Joe
12:16
Have you heard any names that the Braves let go from their baseball ops?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:17
Yes, I'm aware of some on the scouting side.
Brandon J.
12:17
Now that the sample is getting a little larger in the bigs, what are your impressions on Tony Gonsolin?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:18
It looks to me like his arm slot is not as extremely north/south as before and that it's maybe hurt the quality of his splitter but helped his slider, and I'm not sure how, on balance, that impacts his profile. Would still 50 him at this point.
BarryBondsJuicedForOurSins
12:19
DeMarcus Evans got the call up and I saw some blurb say he's gonna be the next Karinchak...and that seems unlikely.  Thoughts on that comparison?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:22
It's possible. Of the minor league TM data I sourced last year, Evans' fastball had the most vertical break, but six of the top eight fastballs in my data set were from the Texas org, which seemed fishy (as in, maybe they had a miscalibrated unit?)
But if it's true then his fastball is like Karinchak's fastball
JJ
12:23
Hey Eric, as a fellow Arizonian, curious to get your take on what spring training could or should look like for fans in the spring. Might be too early to say but with schedules get ceremoniously released this past week it got me thinking.
Eric A Longenhagen
12:23
I think if they can do on-site rapid reagent testing or if there's a way you can show you've been vaccinated, great. If not, nope.
YardGoat
12:24
Have any initial thoughts on Hayes so far or are you saving that for the NL Central rundown? Seems like he's hitting the ball hard and just needs some lift to get to a 25 HR type player
Eric A Longenhagen
12:24
Agreed but that has been the case for a while now. I don't expect it will change but I think he'll be a very good player anyway.
Jason
12:24
Any intel on Mackeznie Gore? Figured he would be up by now.
Eric A Longenhagen
12:25
None, and SD's campsite isn't producing data so I have almost no way of knowing.
Justin
12:25
Do you think given the historical trajectory of hard throwing prep arms like Daniel Espino, that Cleveland should attempt to fast track him a little to extract the most value from that arm? He should have the polish to move somewhat quicker than most in his situation anyway?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:26
I think this is the approach teams should take with pitchers, generally. HS pitchers who are brought along more slowly than their stuff/execution would otherwise allow (for service time considerations, mostly) are basically hoping for no TJ whammies for four or five years, and that's scary.
Nate
12:27
Are you buying that Framber Valdez is a viable starter now for Houston?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:27
yes
Guest
12:27
You had a "45 equivalent" grade on Dustin fowler heading into the year. The As have not been interested in even seeing him on the major league bench. Since he is out of options next year, is he destined for a DFA? Does Oakland try to trade him to a rebuilding club this off-season?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:30
Yeah I was wondering exactly this earlier this week. It's possible he gets an opportunity in Oakland next year with Robbie Grossman hitting free agency but he probably needs to beat out Brown, Barrera, Bolt and whomever they bring in. He's perhaps a buy low/change of scenery type for SF or BAL or Rebuilding Club X to try out.
Guest
12:31
Are Jose Garcia and Jazz Chisholm simply not ready for MLB pitching? Do you see either as their team’s starting SS on Opening Day 2021?
Eric A Longenhagen
12:31
Yes to both.
Load More Messages
Connecting…