→ June 7, 2025
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Stick to baseball, 6/7/25.

For subscribers to the Athletic, I wrote about three prospects who’ve really seen their stock rise this year and three who’ve seen theirs fall as a follow-up to last week’s top 50 ranking. I also wrote a news story (which I think is free to read) on Wake Forest baseball coach Tom Walter using a homophobic slur during a game, and his weak apology after he got caught on camera. And I held a Klawchat here on Thursday.

Over at Paste, I reviewed Zenith, an outstanding new two-player game where you fight your opponent for control of five planets, playing cards from your hand to three different areas to try to pull planets your way. You win by getting the same planet to your end of the table three times, or four different planets to your side, or five planets in any combination at all.

I sent out another issue of my free email newsletter on Friday, my third in four weeks, which for me constitutes some sort of hot streak.

I appeared on Marty Caswell’s Youtube channel to talk about the Padres’ farm system, potential trades if they stay in the race, and what to do with Xander Bogaerts; and on 92.3 the Fan in Cleveland to talk about Travis Bazzana and Cleveland’s struggling offense.

And now, the links:

  • Longreads first: This undated story on the main suspect in the Tylenol poisonings and how he slipped through multiple murder investigations is the best thing I read all week. At least part of the basis of a new Netflix documentary series, this story is at least two years old, as James Lewis, the suspect in that case and at least one other murder, died in July 2023.
  • WIRED has the story of a study on the keto diet and arterial plaque that keto proponents claim validates their position – but one of the study’s authors left the project and has called for its retraction, due to conflicts of interest and shoddy work. There’s an underlying theme here on how peer review can break down and how bad actors are increasingly trying to exploit the academic-research system.
  • NBC News interviewed several families who are leaving the U.S. because of the increasingly anti-transgender climate. I’ve assumed we’ll see, or even already are seeing, migration out of red states for LGBTQ+ families because of hate laws passed there, but adding this to the brain drain from the Administration’s war on academia is going to further erode our economic position for decades to come.
  • The New York Times reports on WelcomeFest, a gathering of so-called “centrist” Democrats who are mad that we’re all yelling at them online. The story notes on politicians taking shots at Indivisible, an important voter mobilization group with hard-left ideas like “don’t cut aid to the poor.” These people are only centrist if you ignore how much the Overton window has lurched to the right in the last decade.
  • Talking Heads enlisted director Mike Mills (the C’mon C’mon guy, not the REM bassist) to film a music video for “Psycho Killer,” starring Saoirse Ronan. It’s excellent, and Ronan is both hilarious and unsettlingly weird in it.

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→ June 5, 2025
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→ 6 Comments

Klawchat 6/5/25.

My latest piece at the Athletic looks at six prospects who’ve seen their stock rise or fall in the small sample of the 2025 season to date.

Keith Law: No phone in the phone booth. Klawchat.

Mike: With the reduced size of the minors, what do teams do when they have a situation like the Dodgers outfield in A+, where they have three guys who could all move up and Quintero behind them who also could? In this case it seems like their AA OF isn’t that amazing and maybe it’s okay to push them aside, but in general what happens when there’s a traffic jam at a particular position?
Keith Law: In their case, it’s easy – move Sirota up. He’s looked like the player he was in 2023 again; I learned recently that he lost a lot of weight before the 2024 spring began and the loss of strength led him to overcompensate at the plate, which wrecked his spring. He’s 22 and belongs in AA by now. In general, though, you move guys around – 1b, DH, wherever someone will fit – and maybe you have to work in some days off here and there.

Boston: You are all over Franklin Arias. His hard hit and exit velocities aren’t very good, and there is little physical projection, as he’s small and stocky and not a fast runner. I get that not whiffing is great, but isn’t this a dink and dunk hitter that’s not explosive?
Keith Law: I’ve been puzzling over this question since you sent it two+ hours ago, and my only conclusion is that you are thinking of someone else. His batted-ball data is good (he’s hit 110 mph), he has some physical projection, and as you can see in this video he is not small or stocky. You’re right that he’s not a runner, but that’s it. Otherwise you are describing another player.

Aaron C.: Considering all the traveling you do, have you ever had a really good meal (even grading on a curve) in an American airport?
Keith Law: Yes – big fan of airports that have local restaurants come establish outposts there. Tortas Frontera in ORD. Matt’s Big Breakfast in PHX (probably the best airport for local food). Bud & Marilyn’s here in PHL, although I wish their menu were a little broader. Silver Diner at BWI.

James: Thoughts on Cade Horton so far?
Keith Law: Too soon.

Chris: If you had to bet on Zyhir Hope or Josue De Paula becoming an MLB All-Star, who are you picking?
Keith Law: Hope. More defensive value there. Not a CF but RF should work, maybe even above-average there. De Paula has more offensive potential but it might be 1B.

Alex: What is wrong with Atlanta’s offense? The offense is underperforming for the second year in a row but is mostly locked into long-term extensions, and the farm is thin. I’m concerned that the team has fallen behind in its analytics, and its players are getting overmatched by savvier organizations. What can they do, short of cleaning house?
Keith Law: Well one thing would be to improve their drafting – I don’t think they’ve drafted well at all of late, and they’ve gone so heavily for HS arms that it’s depleted the system.

Eddie V.: You’ve mentioned before you lost interest in Pearl Jam after the Vitalogy record. What was it in the change between Vs. to Vitalogy that soured you on the band?
Keith Law: That’s a hard question to answer because it’s a subjective thing. I thought they became less of a grunge band after Vs., and the Neil Young influence became much more pronounced. But the bottom line is Vitalogy had fewer memorable hooks, and the album after that had almost none for me.

James: Although it would be a PR nightmare, wouldn’t it make sense for the Pirates to sell high on Skenes now? If they could get Rushing, De Paula, Freeland and Ferris or Anthony, Mayer, Fitts or some similar combo, wouldn’t that be a better long term plan?
Dana: Should the Pirates trade Skenes now for 4-5 pieces that could reasonably become the core of their next playoff team?
Keith Law: I really wonder if they could get enough to make up for both the PR disaster they’d have and for the fact that Skenes is almost irreplaceable in their rotation. Nutting should have let the front office spend this winter to boost the offense, and he didn’t. Trading Skenes is going to turn them into the 2024 White Sox.

Chris: Has Ian Happ become the player you expected?
Keith Law: Over the course of his career, yes, although I thought he’d end up at 3b.

Aaron C.: I don’t want you to name names because that’s all that anyone will focus on, but in all the years you’ve been doing this, has there ever been the son of an MLB player drafted in, say, the top 5 rounds who might otherwise not even be a top 10 round guy is not for his last name?
Keith Law: Oh yes. Tony Gwynn Jr. comes to mind. Kenny Williams’ son might be the most egregious case.

Tom Walter: Are you as surprised as I am that I still have a job?
Keith Law: Surprised, no. Dismayed, yes. That’s a firing offense – you can not lead a team if that word is in your vocabulary because of what the use of that word says about your feelings. How could any queer player or staffer ever feel comfortable in that clubhouse?
Keith Law: I promise you there will be no consequences here. My conversations with the NCAA have strongly implied that they want this to go away.

Dave: Lots of speculation that MLB is down to Apple TV and NBC for Sunday Night Baseball rights starting next year. It seems like even if Apple is offering more money, that hiding the marquee game of the week on Apple rather than making it very accessible on NBC would be a marketing disaster for MLB. So of course I fully expect the owners to take the short term cash over the long term health of the game.
Keith Law: I completely agree that they will take the most money, period.

ck: If Skenes is available for trade, would you not give your top 5 prospects to get him?
Keith Law: Depends on who those five are. You have to factor in the chance that Skenes gets hurt and misses some significant time in the next four years – not that I ever want this, but that is simply the nature of pitching today (which is a byproduct of our industry attitude that they are disposable assets).

Caleb: Was Jordan Walker rushed to the big leagues too soon? Or is there another reason to explain his struggles the past couple years?
Keith Law: He’s needed swing help and hasn’t gotten it. I’m hopeful that as they add to their major and minor league staffs that it won’t be too late to help him. They’ve seen some upticks on the pitching side already.

Matt: Am I crazy for thinking Judge is the best hitter in history? Dude is on pace for 13.7 WAR. The only player to do that was Babe Ruth and he was playing against farmers and plumbers.
Keith Law: No, that’s not crazy. He’s in Bonds territory.

Will: Do you have a feel for how the House settlement (assuming it’s approved or schools just use state laws to provide the benefits) will affect which draftees will choose to enroll/return to school over signing? Will more scholarship dollars plus NIL and revenue sharing make enrolling a more attractive option than it currently is?
Keith Law: I truly don’t have a feel for this, sorry.

Ryan: I know you’ve said that in the past the best way for young players is through the draft, because even if they flunk out in the minors MLB (?) will pay for them to get their degree after, and get developed by big league coaches is way better than being told to throw 120 pitches one night and then 40 more less than 48 hours later… but with the changing landscape of NIL and possibility -depending on which side you ask owners/players – about a worldwide draft … is it possible college is becoming a better option?
Keith Law: College has always been a better option for certain players. It’s not the better option for, say, the kid throwing 95 now who has a $2 million offer from pro ball, because the odds of him still throwing 95 and being healthy in 3 years aren’t that high. It’s the better option for the projectable kid throwing 90 now, or someone like Hagen Smith, who had TJ and missed his senior year of HS, then saw his velocity increase every year at Arkansas.

Ryan: One thing I never get about the draft is why can a JUCO freshman be drafted and not an NCAA freshman? Why hasn’t someone sued the NCAA for that yet (or is that an MLB rule)?
Keith Law: A longstanding agreement between MLB and the NCAA, enshrined in the MLB rules. It’s anti-player and I would hope it would lose a challenge in a labor court (well, not right now).

Matt K: Thanks for doing this, Keith – always love your takes and information.  Question about Brock Wilken.  My feel is that he is mostly back, or at least back to what he is going to be.  That is a good sign for him, so happy about that.  He does not seem to be at the level I personally had anticipated, though. Tons of walks, good power. The Ks are still higher, it seems.  Is he a guy the Crew could rely on to play 3B/1B for a few seasons at this level?  I had some early hope he showed some Jeff Bagwell signs, but have given up on that – am I wrong?
Keith Law: I’m afraid this is probably who he is – this was within the range of possible outcomes even when he was drafted, a guy who just didn’t have the pitch recognition or swing decisions to get to the power. I was willing to let last year slide after he got hit in the face and came back so quickly but I think we’re seeing evidence that this is it.

Justin: The statline seems to indicate that Josue de Paula is starting to turn his raw into some game power (HR at a higher rate, higher ISO, etc).  Do you think he’s taken real steps (in physical or baseball or mental development) and is now one of the great hitters in the minors, or is this still just small sample theatre?
Keith Law: I worry he’s still more passive than patient, but the power is real – it’s always been there, and he’s getting to it more in games.

Guest: Keith. Thank you for all of your excellent content. I really look forward to your Music Updates every month.  Are you a fan of the late Scott Miller and his bands Game Theory and The Loud Family?
Keith Law: I am not, sorry.

Justin: Do you have any personal heuristic on how you project 2 way prospects who suddenly start focusing on one thing? It had to have helped Skenes turn into SKENES at LSU, right?   Does the switch to only pitching impact your thoughts on Nolan McLean?
Keith Law: No heuristic but I do agree that those players can improve more in a shorter period of time because being a two-way player is so much more work.
Keith Law: And McLean went from the bullpen to the rotation after giving up hitting, like Shaun Marcum and Spencer Schwellenbach.

Cora Breslow: The Red Sox are 6-17 in one-run games. Is that something that evens out over a full season, or is it indicative of fundamental problems with the team?
Keith Law: It’s mostly randomness. Joe Sheehan has harped on that a ton.

JJ: So, why is Roman Anthony still in Worcester?
Keith Law: I do think there are some swing decision things he could work on before bringing him up. It’s not like Mayer, who still has a real mechanical issue with his front leg to fix, has blown the doors off.

Ben (MN): With Pablo Lopez out, it looks like Zebby Matthews will get a chance to stick in the majors. What would you expect from him if he keeps the rotation spot the rest of the year?
Keith Law: I’m bad at those questions – predicting any rookie/young player’s performance in a short window feels like rolling the many, many dice I have in this house and then figuring out which four to keep. I like Zebby, I think he’s better than a 5 ERA guy, I don’t know why he’s been materially worse with men on base.

Alek: Brady house has shown incremental improvement but still too much chase. I could see a paul dejong-ish offensive career from him. What are your thoughts on him at this juncture?
Keith Law: Right now, he’s not going to hit big league pitching enough for that. I need to see exponential improvement rather than incremental.

Alek: Has seaver king figured it out a little after that tough start to the season?
Keith Law: A lot. I think his swing is back to 2024.

Alek: Any updated 1/1 news? All other things equal, i think Doyle fits the nats window better, though being a SP hes much riskier than Holliday.
Keith Law: I’ll do a mock either next week or the week after, have to check the schedule. Personally I am still wide open. If Doyle hadn’t been overused last weekend, I probably would flip him back up to #1 on my own list over Holliday. Now I’m torn.

Nick: Could the Red Sox fine Devers for refusing to play an assigned position?
Keith Law: Come on.

Frank: Michael Lombardi started the season as a two way player mostly as a reliever but was turned into a starter and has now moved quickly up the draft lists.  Where do you see his future in the MLB?  Thanks.
Keith Law: He’s legit, #51 on my Big Board (full scouting report there).

Jhonny: If you could pick one current team for a season of The Clubhouse to be filmed, who would it be?
Keith Law: I’ve never seen that show.

jimmy johnson: too many holes in montes swing to not make your top 50?
Keith Law: more or less, yeah. Lot of in-zone miss, and I don’t think he’s really that disciplined. That’s on top of questions about defense & the body.
Keith Law: He’s an old man for 20, just looking at his build and how he moves.

JR: Have you heard any whispers or industry talk on the Mets success with pitchers lately? They seem to have an uncanny ability to turn 4s and 5s into 2s and 3s, and keep them mostly healthy. Severino and Manaea last year. This year it’s Canning and converting Holmes to a starter, which is going well so far. Blackburn might be on the list too. Is this just random luck, or have they figured something out?
Keith Law: It’s happening in the majors, but less so in the minors, where I feel like everyone has to throw six different pitches and it’s holding some guys back.
Keith Law: Maybe they’ve got different voices on the two sides? I’m not very plugged in to the major-league staff.

Jackie: I watch the Red Sox every night, and every night for the last five years, it’s the same mistakes:  dumb baserunning, bad fielding, no clue on situational hitting.  Is that on Alex Cora and the Major League staff, the lack of development/teaching in the minors for guys like Rafaela and Campbell, or am I just an old woman lamenting a bygone era?
Keith Law: I can’t speak to the observations, but they have had a lot of guys reach the majors who weren’t fully formed as players – Rafaela especially, I think I’ve raved about the CF defense forever while also pointing out the guy is an inveterate hacker and hasn’t adjusted.

George: Hey Keith! I’m interested in your view of how the Nats dev/draft reputation has changed over the course of their rebuild. Their ‘23/‘24 drafts are showing much better signs than their drafts early in their rebuild, and they’ve seemed to have more recent dev success stories (Parker, Herz, Irvin etc). I know their reputation on pitching development and drafting has generally been pretty bad, but do you think that’s changing? Or is it just a broken clock situation?
Keith Law: Any reputation they had is out of date; they’ve turned over most of their decision-makers in scouting and PD the last two years. I think their 2024 draft looks outstanding already; King’s back to himself and in AA now, Dickerson gets raves, and I think Kent, Lomavita, and Cranz are all going to be big leaguers. Bazzell is the one disappointment to me – thought he’d hit, and maybe have trouble on defense.

Andy: I understand it’s short season defensive data, but Betts is looking above average as a SS. Can we marvel at this a bit, an elite RF becomes a middle infielder at age 30.
Keith Law: I don’t buy it. His metrics were so poor before this year.

Brenden: My son and I are visiting Minneapolis for a Twins game. Can food recs for the area?
Keith Law: Here’s my 2023 roundup from there. Also Lola Pizzeria is outstanding.

Andy: Exit velocities are clearly being tracked much more at minors and amateur levels. Are launch angles as well? The Dodgers have had success changing launch angles, but that’s at the major league level. Are there teams doing that for lower level players too?
Keith Law: Yes, it’s all measured by the same equipment.

MarkH: Thanks for doing the chat. What to make of Noelvi Marte? If healthy, an occasional All-Star?
Keith Law: I could see that.

Heather: Still picking Atlanta over Boston this fall?
Keith Law: ? of course not

Jivas: I noticed Thomas White did not make your updated top-50 prospects.  What improvements do you need to see him make for him to rise up your rankings?  Thank you!
Keith Law: How about strikes? Strikes are good. Let’s try throwing strikes and see what happens.

Miller: Any love for The Rehearsal?
Keith Law: Never watched.

Miller: Esmerlyn Valdez a guy?
Keith Law: Not really. Corner only bat who’s taking advantage of a great hitter’s park.

Chuck: Keith, you mentioned the Arizona Complex League. Basic question, but how does it work? Do prospects play against other teams, or just Complex guys from their own MLB franchise? 9 inning games or nah?
Keith Law: It’s a league, every team that trains in AZ has an affiliate there and they play a proper schedule against other clubs. You can find schedules and stats on milb.com.

Finnegan: Kristian Campbell has been terrible for a month and a half.  What should the Red Sox do with him?  Back to the minors, or let him figure it out in the Majors (it’s not like he’s going to hurt their playoff chances).  But I look at their coaching staff, and I really don’t see them helping anyone get better, so perhaps Campbell would be better off far away from Pete Fatse, who seems to deny the very existence of the slider.
Keith Law: I don’t love demoting guys unless you think it’s hurting them psychologically to stay up and struggle, and I can’t answer that last part for any player, really.

Drake Baldwin: Is he good enough now to justify trading Sean Murphy or would you need to see more to justify such a move? Does he have more upside offensively?
Keith Law: I would explore trading Murphy because Baldwin looks like he can handle the job, Murphy is already kind of injury-prone at 30, and they have a lot of other needs.

Andy: Will the stupid ban on Venezuelans make a difference to any MLB teams?
Keith Law: Probably.

Santaspirt: Re: Your newsletter about food. I have a very limited palate, and don’t venture outside my comfort zone. You love food and your taste is pretty vast. We pitch this TV show idea where we travel around to different cities, you pick the restaurant and order for me, and I have to eat whatever you order. All of it. You get to talk about the food you ordered, the flavors, why you picked it, etc. and I get to talk about the absolute hell I’m going through. I’m sure you know more producers than I do.
Keith Law: Hey, I’m sold. As long as I don’t have to clean up after you.

Aaron C.: Hey, Keith. I may or may not be a Sacramento A’s fan under this paper bag. Any new scouting intel on Colby Thomas and Henry Bolte or is the former still making mostly soft contact and the latter still “a great athlete, but…”?
Keith Law: I’ll give Bolte credit – he’s hitting much better in pro ball than I ever expected. He’s also still punching out too much, even as a sort-of AA repeater, but he’s done more than enough to change to show he wasn’t as bad a pick as it first seemed (and it seemed awful, he couldn’t really hit in HS for a second-rounder).

Adam D.: I’m curious how often you chat with your peers like Eric Longenhagen, Kiley McDaniel, etc. about prospects during the season. Is there an open dialogue about what you’re seeing or hearing as a way to verify things, or do you guys tend to keep that info to yourselves?
Keith Law: I talk to lots of those guys, mostly in person, but I don’t hold info back. We’re probably all going to hear the same stuff at some point, and even if I don’t, say, text Eric to tell him something (which he and I have definitely done with info), it’s going to appear on the site anyway.
Keith Law: There are a very small number of us who do prospect writing full time. I prefer to see us all as members of the same small circle than as competitors or enemies. I don’t think I take audience away from them or them from me … seems like most of you want to read more than one prospect writer and that’s great.

Matt K: Brewer question, Keith.  Could Dinges be a “guy”?  Between his bat looking so good, his good-enough athleticism behind the dish, and the Brewer system being so good at developing/tweaking catcher defense, I have a lot of optimism for him.  Am I way off?  Thanks!
Keith Law: I’m buying. Got a *great* report on him from a scout who saw him in low A, so just bear in mind he was old for the level, but he’s a guy.

Turd Fergison: Keith, I know this is pedantic, but the search capability at your employer is HORRIBLE. When I look up a player – say Chase Burns –  it returns more results from other sports than it does baseball. And nowhere in the results would you find any of your articles on Reds Prospects, or Top 100. Am I using search the wrong way, or is it really as bad as I’m making it out to be? I know you don’t control this – is there any place or person I can give feedback?
Keith Law: I actually agree. I have other ways to find my own archived columns because I can’t find them through our search function.

Joshua: Do you have any more intel on who the Nats may draft at 1.1, or who they may have truly narrowed their board down to? Any “surprise” names that may be there due to the uncertainty at the top of the draft this year? Thanks.
Keith Law: I don’t think we’re going to know who they’re taking until the afternoon or evening of the draft. It’s still wide open. I’ve heard at least 5 names still in the mix.

Braydon: If the Nationals pick someone other than Holliday is he a real possibility for the Cardinals at 5 or is that still highly unlikely?
Keith Law: The scenario where that happens is that the first four picks, in some order, are the three college LHP (Doyle, Anderson, Arnold), and either Aiva Arquette or Ike Irish. Then Holliday’s there at 5. Seemed outlandish a month ago; with Anderson almost a lock to go top 4 right now, I think it’s possible.

JBC: Is Druw Jones officially a bust?
Keith Law: Uncomfortably close to yes.

Sam G: When do you believe the Reds will call up Chase Burns? I don’t think he is learning anything in the minors and needs to learn at the big league level. Thoughts?
Keith Law: Absolute nonsense. You’re definitely just scouting the stat line here. His four-seamer is very straight and he needs to throw his changeup a lot more. I wouldn’t even consider AAA for him until we see some real adjustments.

romorr: I’m more amused by Elias’ not taking pitchers highly. 2023 draft arms are looking good at least. But with 19, 30, and 31, is this the year he takes one in the first round? Has to be, right? Or do I just have to take it that 3 college left-handed hitters are incoming?
Keith Law: After their 2024 draft, which looks really bad right now – Honeycutt was a foreseeable disaster, but even Griff O’Ferrall, probably the most advanced hitter of the group, isn’t hitting – I would hope they’d at least open up their approach and consider other sorts of players.
Keith Law: Will they take a pitcher? I’m not betting my 401k on it.

Guest: What are your thoughts on the recent moves of sending Colson Montgomery and Elijah Green to the complex to work on their swing mechanics? Should more teams be doing this? Seems like every org has guys who would benefit more from a month or so of supervised development instead of trying to stay afloat at an affiliate?
Keith Law: Right move for Montgomery even if it hasn’t helped. Green’s issue isn’t his swing, but that he can’t hit a lick. It is 20 everything – pitch recognition, swing decisions. I want him to go play in Australia or the Netherlands or somewhere else where he can go be anonymous and try to rebuild his confidence at the plate.

Jonathan: Matthew Liberatore has been really good to start the year. I know it’s a small sample but I’m curious if you’ve heard anything about a change he has made like a new pitch or different pitch selection that would make you think this could be real?
Keith Law: The part I do understand is that he’s finally become the plus command guy he looked like he’d be in HS. The part I don’t understand is how his four-seam fastball seems to be basically the same pitch, but now it’s much more effective than ever. I had resigned myself to him being a reliever or swingman because the fastball just wouldn’t play.

Brian in NoVA: Obviously, Harris has his own timeline but is this the time for Detroit to trade some of their mid to low level prospects to help them this year given the depth of the farm system?
Keith Law: Yes. Keep Clark and McGonigle. Anyone else is available in the right deal.

JR: In your recent newsletter, you noted that you’ll eat at Panera on occasion. Usually out of necessity as it’s the best available option. What’s your go to order? I think their salads are fine, it’s what I get. Do you ever go to Chipotle over Panera, or is that on the banned list?
Keith Law: Panera is for salads. Sometimes I just need to eat vegetables. I have no objection to Chipotle but their food has never really agreed with me (especially when we talk about swing decisions).

Matt: Any info on Jaxon Wiggins of the Cubs? Seems to be taking a step forward, though walks are still a little high and may be a bullpen arm. Wondering if there might be another step towards a starter projection. Thanks!
Keith Law: He has a good enough delivery to start, but it’s below-average command and he barely has a third pitch.

JR: How did the Rockies get soooo bad? I finally watched them last weekend. McMahon is pretty smooth at 3rd. There CF is good on defense, but they’re like a AAAA team. How do you get bad and have no young, exciting players to watch?
Keith Law: They lagged behind other front offices in so many ways that they’re still catching up … the result is a lot of good players didn’t develop as they might have, pitching and hitting.

J: I’m almost scared to ask, but what the heck is up with Brayden Taylor?
Keith Law: Wrote about him in the piece I linked up top.

Jonathan: Was Brendan Donovan ever a top prospect or someone with much hype? I don’t remember ever hearing much about him coming up but all he’s done since is get on base and play good defense all over the field.
Keith Law: Never. I’m not even sure I laid eyes on him in the minors.

Michael: I know it’s only 2 starts. Very small sample size and whatnot. But any thoughts on Mick Abel? He certainly passes the eye test (to my non-scout eyes at least).
Keith Law: Hasn’t looked anything like that in AAA, unfortunately. Stuff is above-average. I can’t believe that two big league starts outweigh 34 minor-league ones.

J: Leaving aside how badly the Angels screwed the pooch on him last year, any feelings about Nelson Rada/steps forward?
Keith Law: I think he’s going to survive this and end up a good player, maybe an everyday guy.

Chris P: I know you’ve said you’re not a huge fan of Gage Jump’s mechanics, so would it make sense for the A’s to fast track him as much as possible before he blows out?
Keith Law: Already blew out once, so yes.

Kevin: Thoughts on the password? Good potential trade chip for the Red Sox since they have no where to play him, or a guy you wouldn’t sell high on?
Keith Law: He’s on the top 50, linked above.

Chris: Kristian Campbell was awful in May, but seems to have possibly had bad BABIP luck. He’s also showing how much harder MLB is than AAA. Would you just leave him in the big leagues to figure it out all year or send him down?
Keith Law: I answered some of this above, but you make a good point: Hitting MLB pitching is really, really hard. We have to stop expecting prospects who raked in AA/AAA to just keep rolling in the majors. Lots of great prospects struggled in their debuts, and I think that’s happening even more now because MLB pitching is better than ever.

Chuck: Good call out a while back on Elbow’s “Audio Vertigo” album. They’re touring the U.S. this fall. Great live band if you get a chance.
Keith Law: I’ll check that out. Their new EP sounds great so far.

JJ: So, what’s your prediction on Shoeless Joe?  Does he ever go into the HOF?   Considering everyone who ever met him died off 50+ years ago, who would be there for the photo op in Cooperstown?
Keith Law: I think people who watched the dumb movie  will put him in. He broke the cardinal rule. And he’s dead. What on earth is the point of putting him in now?

Will: Re: the airport dining question. SLC has great, local options. And they’re required to charge the same price at the airport as they do at their regular restaurants. Not sure how likely it is you’d ever get there for scouting, but the new airport is great.
Keith Law: I actually haven’t been to SLC for baseball. Went there once for a job interview in the 1990s, and been to southern Utah for work, but that’s it.

Eric: Keith, given the somewhat recent uptick in 2 player only board game releases, any plans to do a top 10 ranking for those types of games?
Keith Law: I’ve done a few such rankings over the years, including one this March on the best Duel games (spinoffs of larger games).

MikeM: Carlos Lagrange recently got promoted to AA.  He has really cut his walk rate so far this year.  Have you heard anything about the changes he has made?  Has he meaningfully improved his outlook?
Keith Law: He hasn’t changed so much as stayed healthy.
Keith Law: He’s pretty good, I’d take him over ERC, behind Cunningham and Hess though.

Geoff: Any thoughts on Ryan Ritter in ABQ? I never had much hope for him but maybe he’s made some adjustments that could be sustainable?  I get he’s playing on the surface of the moon and it’s small sample size but us Rockies fans need something to be excited about….
Keith Law: I don’t buy it.

Andy: There’s no way Jacob Wilson can continue right? I mean a TTO of 15% of PA is neat and all, but a guy like Arraez and Wilson is only valuable if they hit .320. Going down to .275 means he’s unplayable.
Keith Law: His batted-ball data doesn’t support the performance – and the eye test doesn’t either. To say nothing of whether teams start playing him or pitching him differently since there’s so little power there.

Lara: Will Masataka Yoshida ever appear in another MLB for the Red Sox?  Should he?
Keith Law: I think he will, and should he, sure, he should play somewhere, even if it was a bad signing. (Where are all the Red Sox fans who said I was wrong for writing that they should have signed Willson Contreras instead?)

Teddy: Are you Team Trump or Team Musk?  It reminds me of the tagline for Alien vs. Predator — “Whoever wins, we lose.”
Keith Law: let them fight dot gif

MikeE: Thoughts on the Mets Brooklyn bats? who’s your favorite: Ewing, Benge, Reimer or Baez?
Keith Law: I’m out on Baez. I only saw Benge and Baro the last time I caught brooklyn, but I’ll see them again this week vs Wilmington so stand by for news!

Justin: Do you think there will be an openly gay MLB player in the next 5 years?  Or are clubhouses just still too toxic / conservative?
Keith Law: I actually think MLB is the best place for a player to come out. It’s the least insular environment, by far. And the support available to such a player would be highest in the big leagues. The question is whether any closeted players keep playing through HS, college, and the minors where they’re in smaller towns and playing for smaller minds like Tom Walter.

JoeRo: Speaking of two player games, have you heard anything about Dracula vs Van Helsing?
Keith Law: It’s awesome. I reviewed it in November.

Tracy: If a player who’s owed a boatload of money over multiple years is physically unable to perform due to a chronic condition, what actions can an organization make to terminate his contract? Obviously they can’t force him to retire. Are they on the hook for the remainder of what he’s owed?
Keith Law: That’s when insurance typically comes into play.

UGW: Travis Sykora is absolutely crushing the minors.   Still a mid rotation guy for you?  K rate is insane
Keith Law: He was in low A last year, then had hip surgery, returning to rip through the complex and low A. It’s been all of two starts so far at an appopriate level.

Jason: I hope it’s Field of Dreams that’s dumb not Eight men out!
Keith Law: Well that one too. 8MO completely revises history.

James: With Skenes isn’t there such a high risk he’s a TJ candidate that it makes sense to move him?
Keith Law: I agree, but in that case, you should trade every pitcher the moment they get good, right?
Keith Law: Someone has to pitch.

Alex: On Kristian Campbell — he’s sort of learning second base on the fly, except when Cora plays him in the outfield for no apparent reason.  Does bouncing around the field like that hurt a young player’s mental development?  In other words, are they putting too much of Campbell’s plate?
Keith Law: Depends on the player, but I do think asking a guy to learn a new position, or adapt to a position he hasn’t played much, in the majors is a lot to ask of most guys.

JR: Mets fans were up in arms about the Kelenic trade, but there was almost no outrage over PCA for Diaz/Williams.

With benefit of hindsight, the Kelenic trade worked out and PCA is the one that everyone should’ve been upset about lol
Keith Law: He was traded for Baez, not Diaz. I went back to what I wrote and the only real opinion I offered on the trade was saying PCA was high floor (yes) but low ceiling (nope). I didn’t say if I thought it was too much or too little.

Ken: would you agree that any politician (on either side of the aisle) if they opening admit to voting a bill that they havent read should be immediately removed from office
Keith Law: Yes. You have one job.

Brett: In a previous chat, I believe you mentioned you were bullish on Charlee Soto and Santiago Suarez long term.  Still feel that way?
Keith Law: They’re both hurt – is that why you’re asking?

Geoff: You mentioned earlier the Rockies are playing catch up. Anything they’re doing that could lead us to believe they may eventually catch up?  Every time Monfort opens his mouth it seems he and the FO still believe in all of their processes and people that led us here in the first place.
Keith Law: They’ve made a lot of changes on the development side. It’s just going to take some time to see it produce big-league results.
Keith Law: That’s all for this week. Thanks as always for all of your questions and for reading. I’ll be back somewhere next week with a chat or Q&A once I figure out what I’m writing …

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→ June 4, 2025
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Assumption.

Percival Everett’s Assumption is a triptych of a novel, three neo-noir detective stories featuring the same character, Ogden Walker, a deputy in a small town in New Mexico who’s confronted with three murders in fairly short succession, each of which seems to revolve around at least one person who isn’t who they claim to be. The first two proceed almost traditionally, although Everett is still playing around within the confines of the genre; the third, however, slides into a hallucinatory haze where Walker’s reality is suddenly open to question.

Walker is a Black man in a town that’s largely not Black, with its share of white racists, but also plenty of Latino and indigenous residents, and as you might expect in a small-town mystery or detective story, he kind of knows everyone and has his usual haunts where everyone knows him. He’s got good enough relationships with his boss and his co-workers, even though it becomes clear that Walker is a reluctant cop, and is close to his mother, who lives in the same town and whose house he visits several times in each story.

The first case starts when the possibly-racist Mrs. Bickers turns up dead just a few minutes after Walker visits her to take away her gun, turning into a larger mystery when her estranged daughter shows up unannounced. The second involves a couple of sex workers who end up dead in not-so-rapid succession, again tapping into a bigger story as Walker investigates it. The third starts out innocuously enough, as Walker stumbles on a field & game warden catching a poacher, with Walker taking the poacher’s nephew – maybe – to try to find the kid’s home while the warden takes in the poacher. The warden turns up dead and the kid disappears, making Walker a suspect and causing him to question everything around him.

Everett can’t help but allude to some of the masters of the form, with a line about “the postman ringing only once,” paying homage to the greats even as he upends and inverts the very genre he’s mimicking. The first two stories read like great works from Cain, Chandler, and Thompson, with the same stoic tone and grim imagery, right down to the matter-of-fact descriptions of corpses and gunfights. The third is where Everett gets imaginative, as the story quickly turns into a fever dream of sorts, with Walker trying to solve the crime to keep himself out of jail, while a second strand follows the cops investigating him, and the two stories seem to diverge in impossible ways.

Walker is a typical Everett protagonist – a stolid Black man experiencing some existential doubts, in a job he doesn’t love, either a bachelor (as Walker is) or someone who has distant relationships with women. He’s an outsider in this town in multiple ways, even though he has cordial relationships with most of the locals; he doesn’t have close friends, and he is keenly aware of his status as one of the few Black people there. The pointlessness of the killings he sees wears on him, as he questions the utility of his job and the meaning of any of what’s happening in front of him, including the scourge of meth and the cycles of poverty and violence. What begins as a traditional detective novel – even the triptych format has a history in the genre, as Rex Stout authored several Nero Wolfe books that comprised three semi-related cases – ends up flipped on its head as a story of deep existential despair.

The contemporary review in the New York Times compared Assumption to the Inspector Maigret detective novels by the French writer Georges Simenon, which also have an existentialist bent, a clear line of descent from Sartre and Camus in style and substance. Maigret has more panache than Walker, though; he’s a gentleman detective in many ways, a French Roderick Alleyn, while Simenon’s stories end with far less bloodshed. The similarity is philosophical, rather than stylistic, although I appreciated the reference to another of my favorites.

Next up: I’m about three-quarters done with Lois McMaster Bujold’s Brothers in Arms.

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→ June 3, 2025
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The Unicorn Woman.

Gayl Jones was a major figure in 20th century Black literature, publishing her first novel, Corregidora, in 1975, and continuing to write novels and short stories until her husband, who was a fugitive from justice for over a decade, sent a bomb threat to a local hospital and then killed himself in a standoff with police. Jones then withdrew from public life and writing for 23 years before returning with the 2021 novel Palmares, which was one of the finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, losing to one of the worst winners in the award’s history (The Netanyahus).

Jones returned last year with a short novel, The Unicorn Woman, that also made the list of finalists for the Pulitzer, losing out this time to one of the best winners in the award’s history (Percival Everett’s James). The Unicorn Woman is a wisp of a tale that isn’t about the title character at all, if she even exists, but follows a Black WWII veteran named Buddy Ray Guy who becomes obsessed with the woman after seeing her at a carnival freak show, altering the course of his life.

Buddy can’t get the image of the woman, whom he finds unspeakably beautiful to the point of questioning not whether her horn is real, but whether she is a real person, out of his head, and spends much of his itinerant life afterwards chasing her, either literally or just metaphorically. His relationships with other women do not last, in large part because he is still obsessed with her – or the idea of her, of some sort of unrealistic, unattainable perfection that lodges in his mind and doesn’t leave enough room for a real romantic relationship. He repairs tractors as an irregular job, but moves around the country, sometimes chasing word that the Unicorn Woman is appearing in this city or that one, but more often seeming to move without purpose.

There’s just so little to this novel – aside from some dense prose that contradicts the wispiness of the story – that it lacks the tangible hooks to connect you to the story. There are side characters here and there, but none has much depth or even exposition time; there’s mention of one, a woman named Kate who worked on the tractors during the war but lost her job when the soldiers returned, and who refused to take a clerical or other lesser job. Her story might have made a better novel, and it certainly would have added some depth to this one.

Instead, it’s a work of metaphor and symbol more than it is a conventional novel, the sort of book that works better in a literature class than it does on your night stand, like Pedro Páramo or The Unconsoled, or maybe even The Vegetarian. The Unicorn Woman is on display to be seen, judged, and ogled by the world, but appears to have no agency or even an identity independent of her horn. Her value is what someone else can extract from her. She doesn’t exist as a character in the novel, so by default she must stand for something or someone; my interpretation is that she stands for all women, objectified, used, and discarded by the men in our society. Buddy doesn’t fare much better, though, as he’s returned from war to find a country that doesn’t have a place for him. Even is name is generic, as if Jones wanted to be sure we saw him as some sort of faceless everyman.

It’s probably clear that I wasn’t impressed by The Unicorn Woman, as it just seems like such a meager work to take the honor of one of the three (four) best American novels of its year. It’s possible this was just another way to honor Jones herself and her return to writing. I just don’t think of awards that way; this isn’t a lifetime achievement award, but an award for a specific book. There may be layers of meaning here I just didn’t get. The story itself wasn’t strong enough to sustain the rest of the book for me.

It’s still better than Mice 1961, though.

Next up: I’m reading one of the Miles Vorkosigan novels, Brothers in Arms, which I think is the only one I hadn’t read from the time period where his alter ego, Admiral Naismith, is part of the stories.

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→ June 2, 2025
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Sinners.

Twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, return from a few years in Chicago working for Al Capone to their hometown in rural Mississippi, where they plan to open a juke joint for their fellow Black Mississippians, with booze, gambling, and good old-fashioned Delta blues. It’s all good, profitable fun, at least until the white vampires show up, and the whole show turns into a battle royale.

Sinners, the latest film from director and writer Ryan Coogler, is that story – but a whole lot more, with layers upon layers of meaning below the surface of a film that starts out as a celebration and ends up a horror film, although it plays with the tropes of all of its genres. It’s imperfect, to be sure, but with some strong performances and incredible music, it’s an unusually good time at the theater among the sequels and the IP- and merchandise-driven pablum.

Michael B. Jordan stars as Smoke and Stack, oozing charm and panache, although the two characters are largely indistinguishable beyond their attire. They come home and buy a decrepit mill from the obviously racist (Boss) Hogwood, planning to turn it into their new juke joint. They ask their young cousin Sammy, also known as Preacher Boy (perhaps a nod to Samuel Sharpe?), to come play his guitar at opening night, only to discover that he’s become an exceptional blues guitarist with a deep, powerful voice – so powerful, in fact, that it calls out to the devil himself in the form of Remmick, an Irish immigrant and vampire who has already infected a married couple who are Klan members and who are more than happy to join him in an attempt to invade the joint and turn everyone inside.

There’s so much story here that that alone would make it one of the most interesting American films of the last five years; so many movies work with less plot and equivalent run times, yet Sinners seems to abound with story and subplot, to the point that crucial characters, including Stack’s white-passing ex-girlfriend Mary (Hailee Steinfeld, in her first significant film role since 2018) and Smoke’s ex Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), get a fraction of the back story they deserve. There are multiple movies’ worth of material and strong characters here, and Coogler knows it, playing with genre and tropes, starting the film out as a glorious celebration of Black culture and music, then turning very hard into a neo-horror film with revenge-fantasy elements that pits its white vampires against the Black heroes, literally surrounding them and threatening to burn the place down.

You can watch Sinners as is, without even considering the subtext beyond the obvious racial stuff – one of the film’s few moments of outright humor is when the vampires start talking about their belief in racial equity, and act offended that they’re not invited into the club because they’re white – but there appear to be layers upon layers of meaning below the surface. My first thought as the film ended was that the entire story might be a metaphor for the Tulsa Race Massacre, a real-life atrocity where Black residents of Tulsa built businesses that were profitable and part of the community, and white supremacists burned it all down and murdered dozens of Black Tulsans. But it could apply to all of Black history in the U.S. after the abolition of slavery, right up to our modern moment of a white minority seizing power to reverse decades of gains in civil rights. The blood-suckers aren’t just coming for the Black lives in that juke joint, but to feed off of the culture inside it, to profit from Black music and dance and traditions and leave the Black progenitors poor, wounded, or dead.

Jordan is going to earn much of the praise for his twin performances here, and he’s very good, but the two characters aren’t distinguished by much beyond their clothes; there are some references early in the film that imply that one of them is the more responsible of the two, the better business mind. The story just doesn’t do much with this, and the main distinction between them becomes their women, not anything innate to their characters. Steinfeld and Mosaku are tremendous in their supporting roles, as is Delroy Lindo as the drunk harmonica player who just wants to be paid in beer but ends up a voice of wisdom when calamity strikes. Sammy is played by a newcomer, Miles Caton, who boasts an outstanding, deep singing voice and apparently learned to play a mean blues guitar in just two months, and who delivers in what turns out to be the movie’s most pivotal role.

Sinners is overly ambitious in the end; as much action as there is, by the time it hit the two-hour mark I was ready for the conclusion – which it sort of telegraphed in the opening scene, a gimmick many filmmakers use that I really don’t care for at all. Let the ending surprise me, or at least let me come to it on my own terms. The largest action scene is very hard to follow between all of the very fake blood spurting everywhere (vampires, you know) and the dim lighting; I missed the fate of one of the characters entirely in the melee because I just couldn’t see. There’s also a mid-credits scene that I would say only sort of works – it’s sentimental where the rest of the film is anything but, yet it’s also true to some of the broader themes of the story.

This one is going to show up in all of the awards talk later this year, as it was a resounding commercial success, hits on a lot of themes that the voters seem to love, and was made by an acclaimed director who only has two tangential Oscar nominations to date – one for producing Judas & the Black Messiah, the other for the original song from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. I would be very surprised if we get to January and it’s not nominated for Best Picture, with a smattering of other nods, definitely for Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score, maybe for Coogler’s directing or Jordan for playing two parts. Regardless, it’s the kind of movie that I love to see succeeding, because there’s at least some small chance that future projects like this, untethered to any IP or previous films, have a little more chance to secure funding. I liked Sinners a lot, but I doubt it’ll be my favorite movie of the year; that said, if it wins all the things, I won’t be upset in the least.

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→ June 1, 2025
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Music update, May 2025.

I believe this is my longest-ever monthly playlist, at 42 songs and 205 minutes, and I even cut a few tracks (like one from Nilüfer Yanya) before settling on this set. We had a ridiculous number of new albums of note come out last month, along with some big announcements of new records and/or tours, plus any month with five Fridays is going to have more new music by default. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the playlist here.

The Beths – Metal. For now, it’s a one-off single from The Beths ahead of a big tour this fall – and yes, I bought a ticket – with no word of a follow-up LP to their grade-80 album Expert in a Dying Field.

Suede – Disintegrate. Singer Brett Anderson (not the left-handed pitcher) has said Suede’s upcoming record will be their most post-punk album, and this lead single clearly leans that way. It’s amazing to me when a band can produce one of their best singles thirty years into their careers.

Wolf Alice – Bloom Baby Bloom. The Mercury Prize-winning London rockers are back, with this lead single ahead of their fourth album’s release on August 29th. The piano riff that drives this song is almost smooth-jazz, channeling Jethro Tull’s “Bourée” or something similar, before drifting into hard rock and back again, Wolf Alice at their unpredictable, imaginative selves just as they were on their last album, the magnificent Blue Weekend.

Obongjayar – Not In Surrender. Obongjayar’s latest album Paradise Now is about as genre-spanning an album as you’re likely to hear all year, which means it’s pretty inconsistent but has some incredible high points like this pulsing Afrobeat/rock track and the earlier single “Sweet Danger.” I actually can’t stand the collaboration with his frequent musical partner Little Simz, “Talk Olympics,” because … well, listen to the intro and you can probably guess why I find it so annoying.

Elbow – Sober. Elbow is releasing a five-song EP, Audio Vertigo Echo elbow EP5, including this track and last fall’s tremendous “Adrianna Again,” on June 6th; I believe this track is from the Audio Vertigo sessions, unlike the previous single, but whatever, it’s all great and I think Elbow is peaking.

The Itch – The Influencer. One side of a new single from this Georgia duo who’d previously released just a single track, last year’s “Ursula,” which is about one of my all-time favorite novels, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. This is straight-up ‘80s new wave with some goth influences – think Bauhaus, Heaven 17, mid-80s Depeche Mode – and as such couldn’t be more in my wheelhouse.

Peter Murphy – Hot Roy. “Cuts You Up” is Murphy’s peak; when I did a list of the best songs of the 1990s back in (gulp) 2010, it was at #118; I might have it higher now, honestly. This is the first thing he’s done in probably 20 years that recaptured even some of the glory of that song for me.

Sunday (1994) – Doomsday. It’s a bad commando name, I admit, but if you like dream pop at all, especially the 1990s version, this band and their new EP Devotion are for you.

Indigo de Souza – Heartthrob. I can’t figure out if I’d heard de Souza’s music before and didn’t care for it, or if this was the first track by the Asheville singer/songwriter I’d heard. I thought it was a new song by Weakened Friends given de Souza’s warbly delivery and overly earnest lyrics, but the hook won me over. Her fourth album, Precipice, comes out on July 25th.

Deep Sea Diver – Emergency. I’ve hadat least one Deep Sea Diver song on a previous playlist, and reader Brian in SoCal recommended I check out their newest LP; I found the album kind of uneven but when they let ‘er rip, as they do on this song, it’s fantastic, with a great pop hook in the chorus but enough roughness around the edges to keep a more authentic, almost college-radio sound.

TURNSTILE – BIRDS. I’m not sure what’s going on with TURNSTILE; they were a great punk band, and some of that is still evident on the new record, but they’ve gone well beyond that genre on this album, Never Enough, due out on June 6th, and the experimentation doesn’t work as well as it did for the comparable record from Fontaines D.C. “SEEIN’ STARS” is almost a pop song; “LOOK OUT FOR ME” is a six-minute opus where the first half sounds too much like early Helmet. Also please stop writing everything in all caps, I feel like you’re yelling at me.

Black Honey – Insulin. I’ve been a Black Honey fan since their first handful of singles in 2015-16, which is hard to believe now. They started out as more power-pop but they’ve had a harder edge between their last album and this single. Their fourth album, Soak, is due out in August.

Hotline TNT – Candle. This noise-rock band’s last single, “Julia’s War,” was my favorite track from them to date … and this might be my second-favorite. Their third album, Raspberry Moon, comes out on June 20th. I actually don’t like the third single, “Break Right.”

Jehnny Beth – Broken Rib. Beth was the lead singer of the short-lived post-punk band Savages, whose debut album Silence Yourself was #18 on my ranking of the best albums of the 2010s; she released a solo album in 2020, but has mostly appeared as a guest vocalist on other artists’ works, and even appeared in the film Anatomy of a Fall in a significant supporting role. Her second album, You Heartbreaker, You, is due out in August, and this lead single is a welcome return to that Silence Yourself form of raging feminist post-punk.

Preoccupations – Panic. Ill at Ease, the latest record from one of the most authentic post-punk bands out there, is solid if a little familiar, very much in that Joy Division/The Sound/Bauhaus vein.

Siracuse – Chase the Morning. Kind of Oasis meets psychedelic rock, a little less Madchester-y than their 2023 song “Saviour,” which made my top 100 for that year, more like the music I hoped the DMA’s were going to keep making until they threw up their hands and started making electronica instead of rock.

Sleigh Bells – Badly. Another band that seems to be good for one great song per album, although I think there’s a bit of gimmickry in their lyrics and sometimes videos (“Comeback Kid”) that I think takes away from the music. This isn’t quite up to “Rill Rill” or “True Seekers” but it’s in my top 5.

We Are Scientists – Please Don’t Say It. This song sounds like someone merged Sparks with a math-rock band, so it’s catchy but also has this intensity that I find grabs me early in the track and doesn’t let up.

The Supernaturals – Don’t let the past catch up with you. The Supernaturals hung around the fringe of the Britpop movement without quite breaking through to commercial success, splitting up in 2002 after their third album came out. They returned in 2015 and have now put out four albums post-hiatus, with this latest one, Show Tunes, coming out in May. I was and still am a big fan of Britpop’s original era, but I’d never heard of these guys until this record.

Sports Team – Boys These Days. The title track from their follow-up to the tremendous Gulp! is a good indicator of their downshift in style; the record has plenty of solid tracks but doesn’t hit as hard as the last record did, still playful and snarky, just lacking the huge hooks this time around. I also liked “Bonnie” and “Bang Bang Bang.”

The Head and the Heart – After the Setting Sun. I like when they stomp. That’s really it – when their songs build to a big stompin’ finish, like “Shake” does, I’m in. This one does that.

The Minus 5 – Let the Rope Hold, Cassie Lee. That is Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows and, more importantly, The Baseball Project, along with his TBP bandmates Peter Buck and Linda Pitmon. The two bands will be touring together this September.

Peter Doherty – Felt Better Alive. Fresh off the triumphant return last year of his band The Libertines, Doherty followed it up with his first solo album in nine years last month. This is the title track from the record, which is a more subdued experience than the last Libertines record and which I at least interpreted as the work of a more mature, sober Doherty.

Natalie Bergman – Gunslinger. Bergman is a folk-pop singer from LA who is also half of the duo Wild Belle with her brother Elliot, and her second album, My Home Is Not in This World, is due out in July. Her previous record leaned towards some very religious material, but this song is secular and, I think not coincidentally, a real banger. Wikipedia says she’s the late Anne Heche’s niece.

Ty Segall – Possession. When Segall’s good, he’s very good – he crafts some really great rhythm-guitar hooks. He’s good for about one of them an album, which I guess is better than some artists.

Ezra Furman – Power of the Moon. Never been a fan of Furman’s music but this song is the best of hers I’ve heard, reminding me a lot of the Waterboys; I need to listen to the full abum, Goodbye Small Head, which came out on May 16th.

Blondshell – Thumbtack. As I feared, “Two Times” turned out to be far and away the best song on Blondshell’s new album If You Asked for a Picture, and the album overall is a mixed bag. Sabrina Teitelbaum’s earnest lyrics and delivery wear pretty thin for me, unfortunately.

Shamir – I Love My Friends. Almost every Shamir song leaves me wondering why I don’t like his music more, but more often than not there’s just one thing that turns me off a song. This is the best track from his latest album, Ten, and an example of how good he can be when everything clicks … if you can live with his creaky delivery on the verses that belies his strong singing voice.

Wu-Tang & Mathematics – Mandingo. I suppose it’s a matter of semantics whether Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman is a proper Wu-Tang release, but I would vote yes, as it features every living member of the Wu-Tang Clan on at least one track. It’s also pretty old-school, not exactly 36 Chambers level but in with similar music and, of course, a lot of snippets from kung fu movies.

Kae Tempest – Know Yourself. I still think of Tempest’s style as spoken word rather than hip-hop, although the chorus on this new track is at least more derived from the traditions of the Golden Age of the latter. I don’t think this is his strongest work lyrically – “I Saw Light” remains his best in my opinion – but it’s one of the best backing tracks he’s used to date.

Tune-Yards – How Big is the Rainbow. I used to hate “Water Fountain,” which I think is probably still Tune-Yards’ biggest hit, but it’s grown on me over time, probably because I’ve just become more open-minded about music that veers from what’s expected. Anyway, Tune-Yards’ latest album Better Dreaming dropped in May and I completely agree with Pitchfork’s comment that it’s their most melodic and accessible album to date. It’s almost poppy, at least within their typical framework of drum loops and globally-inspired beats.

Steve Queralt feat. Verity Susman – Messengers. Queralt is the bassist for Ride, the pioneering British shoegaze band, and here he teams up with Susman, the vocalist in Electrelane, for a spacey, time-out-of-joint sort of electronic rock track. It definitely seems like the sort of music you’d listen to while high, and I mean that in a good way.

deary – I Still Think About You. This dreampop duo has a couple of EPs under its belt, but this song, which reminds me a ton of early Lush (pre-“Ladykillers”), was my first exposure to them.

Nation of Language – Inept Apollo. This track is the new wave/synthpop trio’s first since signing with Sub Pop, and one of my favorite songs from them. No word yet on a new album, which would be their first since 2023’s Strange Disciple.

SENSES – Already Part of the Problem. I liked this Coventry-based quartet’s atmospheric rock track “Drifting” a couple of years ago; this one has a bit more energy and some more prominent synths, reminiscent of 1990s college radio rock.

The Chameleons – Saviours Are a Dangerous Thing. The Chameleons straddled the line between post-punk and new wave in the early 1980s but never found commercial success, even in their native UK, before breaking up for the first time in 1987. They reunited for one album in 2001, then broke up again, re-forming a second time in 2021 with two original members, singer/bassist Mark Burgess and lead guitarist Reg Smithies. They’re set to release their first new LP in 24 years, Arctic Moon, on September 12th.

Jorja Smith – The Way I Love You. Idon’t love the frenzied techno beat behind Smith’s vocals, but I love her voice enough that I put the song on here anyway.

James BKS – Assia. TheFrench-Cameroonian musician/producer and son of legendary Afrofunk saxophonist Manu Dibango released his latest EP See Us Rise last month, including this midtempo, lite-jazzy number.

Suzanne Vega – Witch. I’ve never been a huge fan of Vega’s and this is the first song of hers I’ve put on a playlist, although that’s probably because Flying with Angels is her first full-length album in eleven years. Her lyrics can still get a little wobbly but I attribute that to her trying to be more ambitious in her storytelling. This song really rocks in a way I don’t totally associate with her, although she certainly has flashed that in her career (including on my favorite song of hers, “Blood Makes Noise,” covered surprisingly well by British thrashers Acid Reign).

The Budos Band – Overlander. So I’d never heard of the Budos Band until now, even though VII is, as you might have guessed, their seventh album, and their first came out 20 years ago. The whole album is like this, although this track has the best riff, and every song sounds like it belongs in a trailer for a movie you will be 30% more likely to go see because of the music.

Pelican – Cascading Crescent. How have I not heard of Pelican before? It’s mostly instrumental doom and sludge metal, and it’s awesome. This is one of several great tracks on their latest album Flickering Resonance. There is just too much music out there, dammit.

Witchcraft – Idag. The title track from this longstanding Swedish doom metal band’s latest album, their first rock album in nine years, is also its strongest, although the tempo is a little faster than typical doom – and that’s indicative of the album as a whole, which bounces around various styles, including some 1970s-ish blues metal, and has tracks in Swedish and in English. Some of the English lyrics are really silly (“Burning Cross”), but there’s some fantastic riffing across most of the LP.

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→ May 31, 2025
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Stick to baseball, 5/31/25.

For subscribers to The Athletic this week, I re-ranked the top 50 prospects still in the minors, updating the list to reflect various graduations and some of the new information from the small sample of 2025 so far. I also did a Q&A on the site to answer questions about it.

I’m due for another newsletter but got a little caught up with the top 50; you can subscribe here for whenever I send the next one out, hopefully over the weekend.

And now, the links…

  • Elon Musk’s legacy in Washington is “disease, starvation, and death,” writes Michelle Goldberg (accurately) in The New York Times. Musk’s decision to unilaterally shut down USAID programs has killed thousands, and may end up killing many more, around the globe.
  • Sen. Jodi Ernst (R-Iowa), who is up for re-election next year, responded to a constituent’s question about SNAP and Medicaid cuts by saying “we’re all going to die.” This clip should appear in every Iowa Democrat’s campaign ad from now until November 2026, regardless of what office they’re running for.
  • Ohio State Rep. Rodney Creech (R) was accused by his own daughter of sexually abusing her, yet his Republican colleagues – who knew of the investigation – backed him for re-election last November. Let me repeat that: Ohio Republicans backed a candidate who may have molested his own daughter.
  • As a man who often eats alone in restaurants, I loved this Times piece on how weird people get when women dine alone. Some of it was familiar to me, but of course much of this never happens to me because I’m a man. People in restaurants or bars who serve me or sit next to me often just assume I’m traveling for work. Clearly that is not the assumption people make about women. Also, eating alone can be a wonderfully restorative experience.
  • Zohran Mamdani’s poll numbers are rising and he appears now to only trail the $60 million man Andrew Cuomo – who resigned as Governor after multiple women came forward to say he sexually harassed them in the race to be NYC’s next Mayor.

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→ May 26, 2025
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I Am Not Sidney Poitier.

I Am Not Sidney Poitier is the seventh of Percival Everett’s books that I’ve read, but the first for which I did some homework, watching four of Poitier’s movies to which I knew Everett alludes in the novel. This was hardly difficult, as only one of the movies (Lilies of the Field, for which Poitier won his sole non-honorary Academy Award) failed to hold up. I’m glad I went through the exercise, however, as it made reading Everett’s novel even more enjoyable. It’s a riot, and another incredible feat of imagination, and while it has its serious moments, it is Everett at his least serious among the books I’ve read.

The main character in I Am Not Sidney Poitier is named Not Sidney Poitier, which, as you may imagine, presents him with all manner of difficulties, including bullying in school. He is, however, quite rich, as his mother invested very early in shares of Ted Turner’s media company, making her one of its largest shareholders and, at her death, putting Not Sidney in Ted’s care, in a way. Turner himself becomes an amusing if caricatured side character, prone to rambling non sequiturs, but he makes for an entertaining conversationalist as Not Sidney tries to make his way through the world.

I Am Not Sidney Poitier proceeds into a sort of modern picaresque, as each chapter is a new adventure modeled after one or two of Poitier’s movies. Early in the book, for example, Not Sidney sets off for California in his car, choosing to avoid the interstates, and finds himself in a hick county in Georgia where he is arrested for the crime of being Black. He’s soon chained to a racist convict, and an accident gives them an opportunity to escape, which, if you haven’t seen it, is the plot of The Defiant Ones, which starred Poitier and Tony Curtis. Everett’s trick here is adhering very closely to the plots of several of these movies, often to the point of repeating key quotes (“They call me Not Sidney” might be the best), but then turning something inside out at the resolution.

Not Sidney drifts back and forth from his home on Ted Turner’s estates, including interactions with Jane Fonda, to these vignettes from films like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (but with a family of light-skinned Blacks prejudiced against darker-skinned people), In the Heat of the Night, and No Way Out, the last of which appears in a dream sequence.

Everett’s gift for comedy shows itself more in wordplay and in the humor he mines from absurd situations, rather than some of the more situational and highbrow humor in books like Dr. No. The protagonist’s name is obviously a source of repeated gags at his expense, and Everett creates all kinds of improbable interactions that allow him to poke fun at something, whether it’s the movies he’s referencing or Black literature or really anything that crosses his mind. Everett has referred to himself as “pathologically ironic,” and I have never felt that more in his writing than in his novel, even though I think it’s the least serious or thematic of any of the seven I’ve read.

I will say I think I enjoyed this novel the most of the seven, but that doesn’t make it the “best” or my favorite. It’s the funniest, it was probably the fastest to read, and it’s endlessly rewarding if you’ve seen any of the movies involved. I did notice that it was lighter in tone and subject, which isn’t a criticism, but it’s a change of pace from James or So Much Blue or Telephone. The guy still hasn’t missed for me, though, and there are very, very few authors about whom I could say that through even four books.

Next up: Another of this year’s Pulitzer finalists, The Unicorn Woman by Gayl Jones.

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→ May 24, 2025
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Stick to baseball, 5/24/25.

My first Big Board, ranking the top 100 prospects for this year’s draft, is now up for subscribers to The Athletic; I held a Q&A on Thursday to take questions about it and other prospects. I also posted a minor-league scouting notebook from my recent looks at Andrew Painter, George Lombard, Jr., Jhostynxon “The Password” Garcia, Mikey Romero, and others.

Over at Paste, I reviewed the game Diatoms, which has some incredible art and high-quality components, and almost plays too quickly – I wanted a few more rounds to keep building patterns.

I’ve now sent out two issues of my free email newsletter in the last two weeks, which I think counts as a streak.

And now, the links…

  • Longreads first: The best thing I’ve read this month is this San Francisco Chronicle story by their food critic, MacKenzie Chung Fegan, about her experience eating at The French Laundry and how chef-owner Thomas Keller treated her. It is nuanced, thoughtful, and ultimately allows the reader to draw their own conclusions.
  • Matthew Cherry won an Academy Award for his short film Hair Love, which then turned into a book and an animated series on HBO Max. He’s now working on a new short film, an animated musical project called Time Signature, and has a Kickstarter up for it.
  • My editor at Paste, Garrett Martin, reviewed a new video game called Despelote that is about sports but not specifically a sports video game. It sounds fascinating.
  • Two new boardgame Kickstarters this week: Tangerine Games has one for Sauros, a dinosaur-themed trick-taking and tile-laying game.
  • Board & Dice, which specializes in heavy Eurogames, has one for a new edition of Trismegistus, which is very highly rated on BGG but also has a game weight rating of 4.18/5.

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→ May 20, 2025
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Mice 1961.

Mice 1961 was one of the three finalists for this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which ended up going to a fourth book, Percival Everett’s James, causing a minor kerfuffle that I didn’t think was warranted, given how amazing James is and the awards it had already won. In the interest of completeness, however, I decided to read all three finalists to see if any had a reasonable case. Not only does Mice 1961 not have any argument that it should have won over James, it’s just a badly written, badly constructed book, one that never should have sniffed the final three (four).

Mice 1961 is built around two sisters, Jody and her albino sister nicknamed Mice, who you might have said at the time was a little off or perhaps “touched,” and today we might speculate was on the spectrum or something of the kind. The sisters are orphaned, their father long out of the picture, their mother recently deceased, and they live on their own in an apartment with the narrator, a peculiar woman named Girtle who was herself an orphan and ran away from some kind of institution. Mice, the younger of the two, is still in high school and is mercilessly taunted and bullied by the other girls because she’s different – she looks different, of course, and she tends to fixate on small things and ask the same questions repeatedly. The story takes place the night of a big party, to which their whole Miami-area town has been invited, and Jody’s efforts to get Mice to the party so she can socialize while also keeping an eye on her sister.

The fundamental problem with Mice 1961 is that these characters all suck. They’re not interesting, they’re not three-dimensional, and they’re certainly not sympathetic. Mice feels like a parody of an autistic person, and the fact that she’s an albino (Levine never uses the word, but I’m fairly sure that’s the case here) and also somewhat developmentally disabled feels particularly insulting; albinism is a recessive genetic condition unrelated to intelligence. Jody is constantly worried about her sister, but in the way you might worry about a valuable piece of jewelry, not another human; there’s no sense anywhere in the book that Jody cares about Mice, and she does almost nothing to addressing the bullying other than complain to the police officer who (I think) is sweet on Jody and humors her whining. I spent most of the book wondering if any of these characters weren’t really there, especially Girtle, because so much of what they say and do seemed nonsensical, and Girtle often describes things that she couldn’t have seen without becoming part of the scene. It might have been a better book if she were a ghost or spirit or something else unreal, because I couldn’t figure out what her purpose was other than to be a sort of third-party narrator without requiring Levine to use the third person.

The party takes up most of the latter half of the book, and it’s full of local people who speak and act in bizarre and totally unrealistic ways. The party is a potluck, and at some point there’s a contest, sort of, although it’s more like each person announces what they brought and then maybe someone jumps in to insult them. I mean, I wasn’t at any potluck parties in 1961, but I think they were probably more fun and less full of assholes than this one.

Needless to say, I hated this book from start to finish – and I can’t even figure out what its point is. Why does this book exist? What is it telling me? This isn’t some moment in time or history or the culture that required documenting. It’s not a story about interesting people, and it’s not a story about larger issues like gender or race or the times a-changing (which they were in 1961). Absurdity for its own sake wears out its welcome very quickly. How this book made the final three in the Pulitzers is completely beyond my understanding.

Next up: I just started Josephine Tey’s The Man in the Queue, the first of her six mysteries featuring the character Inspector Alan Grant.

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