Great piece, thanks JP. Reading it almost makes it seem like his issues should have been more predictable from the start, but I guess hindsight is always 20/20.

Do scouts too easily fall in love with power and impressive stats at the lower levels to recognize this? Is it the small sample size each of them likely had when making their predictions / ranking him so high? Or is it just impossible to tell that early whether or not a young prospect is able to make the necessary adjustments to succeed against higher quality stuff later on in their development?

My favorite prospect piece on BP so far. I was talking myself into Wood even last season.

Great article. As an Angels fan who is more than a casual observer but not paid to watch/write about baseball, it seemed pretty obvious that pitch recognition and inability to adjust was his biggest problem about a month into the 2010 season.

Coincidentally, I think Mark Trumbo might be a good comparison of someone who has, thus far, been able to overcome weaknesses in his skill-set that are similar to Wood's weaknesses.

With the exception of Trumbo's 2012 first-half, his pitch recognition and reaction seems to be pretty terrible too at times. He's done a better job at going the other way with pitches this year but still wildly swings a la Vladimir Guerrero at balls seemingly 6 inches + out of the zone.

Shouldn't the fact that he is a Texan allow him to eventually overcome this?

This was definitely the best article in this series. Wood is such a fascinating study. I always assumed that a player with fast hands and good hand-eye coordination would be able to hit "enough" even if their recognition skills were poor. Wood clearly demonstrates that that isn't the case.

Of note, he was 18 years, 3 months when he was drafted... old enough that it matters, or not really?

"Succumbed to the curve ball" is the career epitaph of scores of otherwise brightly heralded prospects. What gets me is how long it took for this to become evident in Wood's case.

Great article, and Brandon Wood seems like the poster child for the, "Bring Me the Head of…" series.

The 2006 Baseball American Handbook had the following quote, "(Wood) can drive balls to all fields but because of his bat speed and set-up, he opts to pull everything. That approach makes him vulnerable to pitches on the outer half. He had trouble with swinging and missing against good changeups, and he could tighten his strike zone in general."

Did all of the home runs he hits 2005 inhibit his ability to make adjustments, as kept swinging for the fences in the upper levels against better pitching? Or was it more pitch recognition issues? Or are those issues intertwined?

From a "just for fun" perspective I always wanted to see Wily Mo Pena get 600 PAs in a season just to see what his stat line would be. Reading this just put visions of Pena in my head.

Along those lines-- in a hypothetical dream world where a team that just didn't care about winning-- (C'mon Astros, you know you want it) what do you think a Brandon Wood stat line would look like? Could he be a Mark Reynolds-type? .230, 30 HR, 200Ks? Again, kind of wondering just for fun. Thanks!

"Each guy has some sort of ceiling when it comes to reaction time or time it takes for pitch recognition.”

I think anyone that has ever watched or played baseball subtly realizes that fact about hitting. But many of us have always believed that more practicing and coaching could overcome that inability to recognize and react to different pitches. Jason, as a scout how difficult is it to determine this ceiling for hitting, in terms of pitch recognition and reaction?

Is Wood's skill set the kind that might translate well to baseball in Japan, where he could put up big numbers? Or are the kind of pitchers you typically see in Japan likely to give Wood fits?

Good stuff. But who is this Kevin Goldstein you are quoting?

I seem to remember that PECOTA was not so rosy about Wood as evaluators. Is that recollection correct?

Maa...classic BP. Information here you'd never get anywhere else.

Interesting note in your article about Wood's success in the AFL, Professor. Seven years after his terrific run in Arizona, how much stock should MLB scouts and pro personnel, as well as baseball junkies like me, place in a player's performance in the AFL? Don't we get overly excited about a A/AA player's performance in Arizona, and shouldn't fans simply say to themselves: "I'm a Cardinals fan, and I'm happy Kolten Wong is playing in the AFL, but I need to restrain my expectations until he produces at AAA, then I can dream about him playing second base in St. Louis?"

As an aside, a good friend of mine is putting together a road rally next summer through the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Recommendations on stops to sample product and car to rent to compliment the experience of savoring said liquor? Or, is this question more apropos for your advice column?

Who is in line next for the "Bring me the Head of" Series? I would like to see a Josh Vitters.