caulfield12

"He’s not a runner, though he’s smart on the basepaths. That lack of pure speed won’t impact him as a defender; he uses what he has in short spaces very well. That, along with his plus instincts, allow him to get to most balls at shortstop, where he profiles as a plus defender with a plus arm. A leader who was a high school quarterback, he serves as the head of his infield in the same manner. His tools and makeup make him look like the kind of player who could be big league ready in a hurry." https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/2026/draft/

Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 60 | Run: 45 | Arm: 60 | Field: 60 | Overall: 65 Cholowsky, the son of former Minor Leaguer and long-time scout Dan Cholowsky, was a top 50 player as a two-sport athlete from the Hamilton High School program in Arizona that produced Cody Bellinger. His commitment to UCLA priced him out and he ended up the highest-ranked player not selected in the 2023 Draft. After a solid freshman year with the Bruins he vaulted himself to the top of 2026 Draft boards by posting a 1.190 OPS with 23 homers as a sophomore, and is considered by some to be the best all-around college shortstop prospect since Troy Tulowitzki. A 6-foot-2 right-handed hitter, Cholowsky has the chance to have four plus tools when all is said and done.

Burruss is just too small to risk with a #1-1 pick. Comes down to the two college SS's and prep LHB Colt Emerson at this point in time. Cholowsky and Justin LeBron are both very good or even great athletes but not pure speed burner. https://www.justbaseball.com/mlb-draft/roch-cholowsky-ucla-shortstop-2026-mlb-draft/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwi_pLiu57GRAxVjHjQIHSEAHcIQFnoECAIQAg&usg=AOvVaw35sWG9M_kqc8twG9Ndhu6I

Cholowsky makes a ton of contact with an 18.3% swing-miss rate in 2025 with an 11% mark in-zone. He’s great against breaking balls as well, with an 80% contact rate and .323 xwOBAcon vs. spin. There’s 60-grade swing decisions here, with a Z-Swing minus Chase% >45% and poor swing rate at 20%, which is a positive indicator for me. He’s got plus power with a 112 mph max EV and 106.5 mph 90th EV, with his spray being fully optimized for damage to his pull-side. He ran a 41.5% air pull rate this year with all 23 of his HRs being pulled and his xwOBA to the pull-side is .260 higher than it is to the opposite field, which is off note, but not an inherent concern for me. He’s also shown some weakness vs. velocity when elevated in the strike zone, with an 69.5% contact rate vs. pitches 92+ mph in the upper third, which was also present in a small sample with the USA College National Team this summer, which is more of a byproduct of late-trigger than anything else as he has good actions in the box with an adjustable VBA. The contact quality in the aggregate has been solid, though. He ran a 31.3% barrel rate with a 36% sweep spot rate in 2025, in addition to posting a .375 xwOBAcon. He’s a great athlete who projects to handle shortstop long-term. https://medium.com/@AE-Draft-Blog/early-analysis-2026-college-hitters-7b1a60fef61f

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ooFmnzV_gGI&pp=ygUbdWNsYSBiYXNlYmFsbCBTUyBoaWdobGlnaHRz0gcJCSUKAYcqIYzv

https://www.perfectgame.org/articles/View.aspx?article=23786 You have those three very well-known collegiate players in the Top 5. Two outfielders and Liam Peterson out of UFlorida. A lot of high schoolers.

Are they/we going to have Adopt A Sox prospect .... except one different person/poster responsible for each of the likely first five to six/seven/eight possible picks at the top of the 2026 amateur draft? Like PR/hype guys from the 70s and 80s glory days of boxing? Seems Harold has mostly played that role in recent years...and a few others that follow college/amateur baseball and the minors most closely.

Carlson will/should stay at SS throughout the minors unless they shift him to CF. That seems highly unlikely. But Jackson Merrill made a seamless tradition.

You don't remember Aiken and JR Drew? Not ending up with Aiken actually helped Houston in the long run, ironically.

Phillips and Johan the only ones smiling...Harold recalling his non existent agent from the phone booth story. Did that the same Baltimore/MD lawyer remain his agent over his entire baseball career?

Now only have Boras threats for top pick not to sign lol with Sox. But that has gotten much rarer since the signing pools were fixed and interconnected with bonus espn allocated across the draft.

At lesst they didnt need Hahn's son for luck. 17 years since something went right lol in this kind of situation.

Well...no excuses with missing here.

Can't feel bad if the Rays get it.

Huge jump up for SF...

Top 3 key here.

Thank god. No KC.

Also, Rick Hahn still sucks. Harold Baines hitting his yearly words spoken quota in December.

Don't be the Royals...please.

Where the f'hell did you write this supposed full package of players the Sox are receiving from the Phillies???????????????????????? How is that clear ????????? Nobody has been mentioned but Crawford. Don't say Bohm or something idiotic like that. Or taking back Castellanos for Benintendi. I'll save us both the trouble and put you on block. The first time I've had to do that in twenty years.

We don't even know for a fact that he has more shares right now than JR and sons. Regardless of that, JR is the official control person unto he dies or 2029, whether anyone actually likes it or not. That JR made it so ambiguous for some fans is clearly on him.

Why would you also need to include money AND Quero along with Robert for the likes of Crawford? That hardly makes sense. Benintendi, sure. But very few if any teams would bite on that one.

Friedman has no reason to be desperate to make a bad signing even worse. He'll be perfectly fine as a high leverage reliever like he was with Miami and SD. Tanner's just not a closer for a high profile contender. It is what it is. Same thing happened to Devin Williams in NY. Fwiw Robert Suarez will be absolutely eviscerated in NY Boston Philly.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/free-agents/_/year/2026/position/c/level/mlb Can't open this site with or without VPN in China for some weird reason. There has to be someone AFTER Realmuto. Otherwise just take a veteran contract like Jeffers or Higashioka in trade for mostly payroll relief. Campusano (SD) could be had for a lot less than Quero because he's currently third on the depth chart and hasn't met expectations matching his earlier prospect status.

Who is he replacing? Will Smith? Rushing? Just injury insurance/depth? Dodgers have already dumped a number of young catchers with higher profiles than Quero in the last 2-3 years.