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Many of our authors make a habit of speaking to scouts and other talent evaluators in order to bring you the best baseball information available. Not all of the tidbits gleaned from those conversations make it into our articles, but we don't want them to go to waste. Instead, we'll be collecting them in a regular feature called "What Scouts Are Saying," which will be open to participation from the entire BP staff and include quotes about minor leaguers and major leaguers alike.

Major Leagues

Diamondbacks 3B Matt Davidson: "This guy has a steady approach and he looks like he is in complete control of his ABs. I doubt he will scare off now that he is in the big leagues, and his power and approach should work in the majors. He might bring more offense to [the Diamondbacks] than some of their regulars."

Marlins RHP Nathan Eovaldi: “He might have the best fastball I have seen all year. The off-speed stuff is still a work in progress, but the slider is definitely useable. There's no doubt in my mind he would be an elite closer, but he may become a middle-of-the-rotation starting pitcher, and he was better than that on Saturday against the team with the best record in baseball.”

Pirates OF Andrew Lambo: “He shows pretty easy power, but it will be interesting to see how he handles major-league pitching. He doesn't shy away from the spotlight and plays the game with a chip on his shoulder, but he has a chance to impact their lineup right away. He can defend himself and impact games.”

Red Sox LHP Jon Lester: “Got to see him recently and, despite his lack of dominance compared to past years, he remains a personal favorite of mine. You hear a lot of guys commenting that he has fallen in love with his cutter and that is why he hasn't been as dominant as he has in years past, but the biggest difference I see is his curveball isn't the same. It looks more like a sweepy, get-me-over pitch that he just flips into the zone, and in the past it was more of a bastard 1-7 hammer. It's always going to give lefties trouble, but the downward action on it used to give righties serious issues and I'm not seeing that anymore now that it has more side-to-side action. Still, there aren't many pitchers who can take a plus pitch out of their arsenal and still have a lot of success. ”

Marlins OF Giancarlo Stanton: “I don't know if he's still hurt or if he is upset he's still in Miami or if he just doesn't care, but he was a non-factor all weekend against the Braves—unless you count the ball he misplayed from a pop up into a two-run double on Sunday. He's still very young and has loud tools and a huge upside, but the Marlins probably aren't going to get exactly what they want for him when—not if—they trade him.”

Minor Leagues

Rangers Low-A OF Lewis Brinson: “Brinson is the total package. Good power and will eventually be a better-than-average hitter. Has really good instincts and catches and cradles the ball so smoothly and easily. Reminds me of the way a young Lee Mazzilli used to do it while playing outfield for the Mets. He almost caresses the ball into his glove. Just an off-the-charts athlete.”

Rangers Low-A 3B Joey Gallo: “One of the best power bats I've ever seen at this age, and that includes Bryce Harper and Manny Ramirez. When he extends his hands, he launches the ball and uses his whole body so smoothly and easily. On the scale of 20-80, his power is a 90. And don't underestimate his defense either. He's a better defensive third baseman than people give him credit for.”

White Sox Triple-A SS Leury Garcia: “I'm a huge fan of the way he plays the game and think he is a great acquisition for the White Sox. He's got well above average speed and range and a 60 or 65 arm, and he has played all over the infield and outfield this season. He's got a long way to go with the bat, but given that he has barely 650 plate appearances in Double-A and Triple-A combined and he's 22 years old, he's more than holding his own. His floor is a Swiss Army utility player who can play solid defense all over the place, and if he hits he can be a solid everyday shortstop.”

Blue Jays Double-A RHP Marcus Stroman: "One of the most inspiring minor league pitching performances I’ve seen this year. He’s very athletic on the mound and attacks hitters, shows three plus pitches and plus command. The concerns over the durability are legitimate…go back the last 25 years and you won’t find a right-hander his size that’s been a starter in the league for longer than three years. That said, he seems to feed off those questions and I love guys with a chip on their shoulder. He could compete in the big leagues right now."

Thank you for reading

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redsoxin2004
8/15
I love reading the comments and perspective from scouts and GMs. Keep it up. Only criticsm is that when I get to the end of the article I wish there was more. But that really has to do with my thirst for this stuff and not because of anything lacking in the article.
TGT969
8/15
Pirate fans have put way too much faith in Lambo-1 day at time folks.
I think he will figure more at 1st next year; Jones just got too expensive
for his diminishing returns.
briankopec
8/15
Is this the Lake Wobegon report this week?

Just kidding. Good stuff.
davescottofakron
8/15
But Brian raises a good point. It's also good to hear about players who are shaping up to be mediocre or worse. It gives perspective.
Still, this is a great feature.
briankopec
8/15
I think they usually do mix in some negative reports. I just found it a bit funny that if someone who knew absolutely nothing about these players read this article, they'd come away thinking Giancarlo Stanton was the worst player on this list. Which is the exact opposite of reality.

I do love this feature though, especially the mixing in of major league scouting reports. Too often we focus on the prospects and forget that even established major leaguers are quite malleable.
carligula
8/15
Does Marcus Stroman really wear a suit while pitching? Impressive...
Clemente
8/15
Cool hair, too.

Pedro has him by two inches but about the same weight.
sahmed
8/15
Has BP discarded On the Beat, by John Perrotto? It strikes me as odd to not see an announcement after he was a regular contributor for many, many years (and, you know, the inspiration for this new column). His columns always showed a lot of hard work and were great weekly updates on teams I may not follow. I'm hoping BP brings him back if it was their choice.
bugbear
8/15
I don't think I saw anything posted by BP about it, but John posted on Twitter on July 7th saying they put him on "hiatus." I agree it'd be nice to have announcements when these kinds of things happen--strikes me as odd that a guy would write a column for 7 years and then disappear into thin air, and I liked his work.
mhmosher
8/15
Wow....you're right. OTB hasn't been around. That sucks.
Behemoth
8/16
That's a shame. Keeping subscribers informed of changes like this is something that BP could generally be much better at. People seem to just vanish into cyberspace without letting us know or having a chance to comment or say goodbye.
AWBenkert
3/13
Probably because he doesn't use the phrase "hit tool".
3FingerTimm
8/16
I saw Leury Garcia when Round Rock played Fresno a couple weeks ago. My note on him just said "The only major leaguer on the field right now."