Quick Additions

    I got the chance to take a quick look into the LCS a couple days ago. Time was limited to just a few minutes, so I had minimal time to poke around. The store had finished their expansion since the last time I had been there, and now had two separate parts of the building; one for Pokemon and gaming cards, and the other for sports cards. The latter is more in my wheelhouse.

    I took a look in one of the many quarter boxes (which they have many more of now) and pulled out four cards. These were the only cards of the whole trip. I forgot my wallet anyway, so a dollar ended up working out just fine.

    I also forgot that the same day was the day of the new Topps flagship release. I didn't know it at the time, and I think I may wait a little bit to actually purchase some of the new cards. They were selling at almost fifty cents a card in some of the packs.

    Anyway, the four cards I acquired were all part of 2024 Bowman Chrome.

    Why not start with Brandon Sproat? I scouted him out in a post earlier this year, and since then I have become very interested in him. I was not at all expecting to find his card, so it ended up being a pretty nice addition. I hope to see Sproat pitch in the majors this year. The Mets are looking pretty good for 2025, but maybe they could use a little bit of help on the starting pitching side.

    Honestly, I don't think it's a very good shot of a player (especially a prospect) when you can't even see his face. Anyway, Bryce Eldridge is another guy I hope to see in the big leagues in 2025. At 20 years of age, he has a lot of time to improve, and he has already shown a lot of talent in the minor leagues. The Giants (who I am still loyal to) could use a sturdy first baseman, and hopefully Eldridge can be that guy.

    I am very interested to see what happens to Sam Basallo as he hits the majors. He's shown a lot of talent and is expected to debut this year. However, Baltimore already has one of the best catchers in the game (if not the best), and Ryan Mountcastle is a pretty good option at first. I guess that's what DH is for.

    So all four of the cards were of pretty high-profile prospects. Roman Anthony is the #2 prospect for 2025 via MLB.com, and of all the prospects here, I think he's the one I'm most excited to see play. He possesses the skills to become a superstar in the near future, and should provide a boost to an already good Red Sox team. 

    That wraps up the grabs from the last LCS stop. I like these cards a lot -- I've always liked Bowman as I have said before, and think the design works very well with the chrome aspect of the cards. The photos do not do them justice; these cards are very nice. I will be paying attention to each of these guys in Spring Training and rooting for them to make the Opening Day roster. 

    Thanks for stopping by the blog, have a great rest of the week (we're so close to weekend guys), and happy collecting!

Personal Thoughts on a Prospect

     I wrote his scouting report on another blog about a week ago, and I liked it, so I'm doing it again.

    This is Brandon Sproat, a minor league starting pitcher in the New York Mets organization. He was drafted in 2022 at the age of 21. The end of the 2024 season saw a brief stint of his in AAA.

    My first intrigue of this player came from a YouTube video I had seen claiming that he threw a pitch 135 miles an hour. What they did to that video I don't know, but my brief research led me to the discovery that he throws in the upper-90s, occasionally hitting 100. It's not to say that 100 is unimpressive, but 135? Come on guys.

    

    Brandon Sproat was born on September 17th, 2000, in Pensacola, Florida. He pitched for the Florida Gators (obviously), and went 19-8 with a 4.27 ERA in his four seasons with the team. 

    Sproat made his professional debut in 2024, starting in high-A. He needed only 25 1/3 innings with a 1.07 ERA to gain a promotion. Sproat didn't slow down in AA either, posting a 2.45 ERA across 62 1/3 innings and striking out 11.1 batters per nine innings.

    

    He finally reached trouble with his promotion to AAA. In seven starts and 28 2/3 innings in Syracuse, Brandon Sproat went 1-2 with an ERA of 7.53. 

    All in all, Sproat's first minor league season looked pretty good - in 116 1/3 innings his record was 7-4, and he had a 3.40 ERA. Obviously he'll need to prove himself in AAA before being able to move on to the majors, but he looks like he can be a threat to major league hitters in the future.

    Research on how effecitve Sproat's secondary pitches are took me to Baseball Savant:

The 6-foot-3 right-hander can touch triple-digits, as he's done a few times on the pro side, and he'll typically sit in the 95-97 mph range. He'll get some armside run on the heater too, so batters have to worry about more than just the velocity. His upper-80s changeup shows decent enough separation and good fade to give him another weapon that's worked in both college and the pros. He'll show a mid-80s slider and an upper-80s cutter -- two different pitches with varying amounts of horizontal break that have given upper-level hitters fits. There is also a 78-81 mph curveball that ranks behind the rest of the group in usage.

    The scouting report also speaks of Sproat's high walk rate, something that absolutely must be dialed down a bit in order for him to be good at the next level. 

    He'll be in his age 24 season in 2025, so he has time. However, I would like to see him pitch either in 2025 or 2026, while he's still young and fresh. Sproat is ranked #40 on MLB's top prospect list. According to the website, his estimated time of arrival in the big leagues is this coming season, so maybe we will get a taste of Sproat in the near future.

    The whole reason I first found interest in Brandon Sproat is due to the ridiculous video I saw, but in the end, it caused me to learn about a prospect I had never heard of, so it's a pretty good outcome.

    I'm definitely paying attention to Brandon Sproat as 2025 progresses, and would be stoked to see a call-up sometime early in the year. After all, these young prospects always interest me.

    Thank y'all for reading my little scouting report, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!