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Best two-player games for 2020.

I’ve been getting so many requests for recommendations for two-player games this week that I decided to pull the list I’ve added to the bottom of my annual top 100 rankings and make a separate post, with some updates for things I’ve played more recently and a few games on which I’ve changed my opinions as well.

1. Jaipur: Full review. Jaipur is my favorite two-player game, just as easy to learn but with two shades of additional complexity and a bit less randomness. In Jaipur, the two players compete to acquire collections of goods by building sets of matching cards in their hands, balancing the greater point bonuses from acquiring three to five goods at once against the benefit of taking one or two tokens to prevent the other player from getting the big bonuses. The game moves quickly due to a small number of decisions, like Lost Cities, so you can play two or three full games in an hour. It’s also incredibly portable. The new app is also fantastic, with a campaign mode full of variants. Complexity: Low.

2. 7 Wonders Duel. Full review. Borrowing its theme from one of the greatest boardgames of all time, 7W Duel strips the rules down so that each player is presented with fewer options. Hand cards become cards on the table, revealed a few at a time in a set pattern that limits player choices to one to four cards (roughly) per turn. Familiarity with the original game is helpful but by no means required. There’s a brand-new app version out from Repos this fall. Complexity: Medium-low.

3. Carcassonne: Full review. Carcassonne brings ease of learning, tremendous replayability (I know I use that word a lot here, but it does matter), portability (you can put all the tiles and meeples in a small bag and stuff it in a suitcase), and plenty of different strategies and room for differing styles of play. You build the board as you go: Each player draws a tile at random and must place it adjacent to at least one tile already laid in a way that lines up any roads or cities on the new tile with the edges of the existing ones. You get points for starting cities, completing cities, extending roads, or by claiming farmlands adjacent to completing cities. It’s great with two players, and it’s great with four players. You can play independently, or you can play a little offense and try to stymie an opponent. The theme makes sense. The tiles are well-done in a vaguely amateurish way – appealing for their lack of polish. And there’s a host of expansions if you want to add a twist or two. I own the Traders and Builders expansion, which I like mostly for the Builder, an extra token that allows you to take an extra turn when you add on to whatever the Builder is working on, meaning you never have to waste a turn when you draw a plain road tile if you sit your Builder on a road. I also have Inns and Cathedrals, which I’ve only used a few times; it adds some double-or-nothing tiles to roads and cities, a giant meeple that counts as two when fighting for control of a city/road/farm, as well as the added meeples needed to play with a sixth opponent. Complexity: Low/medium-low for the base game, medium with expansions.

4. Imhotep: The Duel. Full review. A truly great re-imagining of a larger game for two players, one that forces more interaction between the two of you so you don’t feel as much like you’re playing parallel solitaire. Players place their four meeples on the 3×3 grid that allows them to take goods off of the six boats, three on one side of the grid and three on the adjacent side, and place them in the four spaces on their personal boards, each of which scores in its own way. Several of those spaces create competition for specific tiles, and the boards have two sides so you can mix and match between the more or less interactive sides. There are also blue tiles that give you bonus actions and for which you may particularly want to battle your opponent when they appear. Complexity: Medium-low.

5. Patchwork: Full review. A really sharp two-player game that has an element of Tetris – players try to place oddly shaped bits of fabric on his/her main board, minimizing unused space and earning some small bonuses along the way. It’s from Uwe Rosenberg, better known for designing the ultra-complex games Agricola, Le Havre, and Caverna. Go figure. And go get it. Complexity: Low.

6. 7 Ronin: Full review. An asymmetrical two-player game with a Seven Samurai theme – and when I say “theme,” I mean that’s the whole story of the game. One player is the seven ronin of the title, hired to defend a village against the invading ninjas, controlled by the other player. If the ninjas don’t take the village or wipe out the ronin before eight rounds are up, the ronin player wins. But the ninja can gain a decisive advantage in the first four rounds with the right moves. It’s very clever, the art is fantastic, and the theme is completely integrated into the game itself. It also plays in about 30 minutes. Complexity: Medium-low.

7. Wingspan. Full review.The only game to which I’ve given a perfect score of 10 since I started reviewing games for Paste five years ago, Wingspan is one of the best examples I can find of immaculate game design. It is thoroughly and thoughtfully constructed so that it is well-balanced, enjoyable, and playable in a reasonable amount of time. The components are all of very high quality and the art is stupendous. And there’s some real science behind it: designer Elizabeth Hargrave took her love of bird-watching and built a game around the actual characteristics of over 100 species of North American birds, such as their habitats, diets, and breeding habits. The European expansion is now out as well. Wingspan won the Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2019, which it more than deserved, making Hargrave the first woman to win that honor as a solo designer and just the second solo woman to win any Spiel des Jahres prize. It’s a marvel. Complexity: Medium.

8. Watergate. Full review. It’s a pure two-player game that pits one player as Nixon and the other as “the journalists,” each with a unique deck, where the latter player tries to place evidence tokens connecting at least two witnesses to the President, and Tricky Dick tries to block them. It’s fun, incredibly well-written, and a real thinker. Complexity: Medium.

9. That’s Pretty Clever. Full review. From the mind of the designer of The Mind, Wolfgang Warsch, That’s Pretty Clever (original title: Ganz Schön Clever) is a roll-and-write game where you roll six dice, each its own color, and can choose one die per roll to score on your sheet. The player sheets have five areas matching five of the dice colors, with the white die a wild, and each area scores in a unique way, with the potential for bonuses like the power to check off a box in a separate area for free. It’s also a great solitaire game, where 200+ is a solid score and 300+ is some Hall of Fame type stuff. Complexity: Medium-low.

10. Targi. Full review. Moderately complex two-player game with a clever mechanic for placing meeples on a grid – you don’t place meeples on the grid itself, but on the row/column headers, so you end up blocking out a whole row or column for your opponent. Players gather salt, pepper, dates, and the relatively scarce gold to enable them to buy “tribe cards” that are worth points by themselves and in combinations with other cards. Some tribe cards also confer benefits later in the game. Two-player games often tend to be too simple, or feel like weak variants of games designed for more players. Targi isn’t either of those things – it’s a smart game that feels like it was built for exactly two people. Complexity: Medium.

11. Baseball Highlights: 2045: Full review. I was floored at how much I enjoyed this game; it is baseball-themed, but it’s really a fast-moving deckbuilder where your deck only has 15 cards in it and you get to upgrade it constantly between “games.” The names on the player cards are all combinations of names of famous players from history – the first name from one, the last from another, like “Cy Clemens” – except for the robots. It’s not a baseball simulation game, but that might be why I liked it, because it was easier to just let the theme go and play the game for what it is. It’s down from previous years as I’ve found the replay value is limited, even with the expansions. Complexity: Medium-low.

12. Silver & Gold. Full review. Phil Walker-Harding is some sort of genius, with Imhotep, the Sushi Go! series, Bärenpark, Gizmos, and this all hits under his name, with the Adventure series he co-created with Matthew Dunstan still on my to-play shelf. Silver & Gold is a polyomino flip-and-write game where there are just eight shapes to choose from in each round, with seven of them displayed in random order (the eighth isn’t used), and players fill in those small shapes on the larger ones on their two objective cards, using dry-erase markers. You score for finishing shapes, with three small bonuses available each game that do usually end up mattering in the final score. It’s portable, easy, lightly strategic, and undeniably fun. Complexity: Low.

13. The Mind. Full review. The Mind may drive you crazy; I haven’t beaten it yet, playing with several different people already, but I still find it really enjoyable and something that nearly always ends up with everyone laughing. This Spiel des Jahres-nominated game has just a deck of cards numbered 1 to 100, and in each round, every player gets a set number of cards dealt from the shuffled deck. All players must play their cards to the table in one pile, ascending by card number … but you can’t talk to anyone else, or even gesture. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. Complexity: Low.

14. Stone Age: Full review. Really a tremendous game, with lots of real-time decision-making but simple mechanics and goals that first-time players always seem to pick up quickly. It’s also very hard to hide your strategy, so newbies can learn through mimicry – thus forcing veteran players to change it up on the fly. Each player is trying to build a small stone-age civilization by expanding his population and gathering resources to construct buildings worth varying amounts of points, but must always ensure that he feeds all his people on each turn. I introduced my daughter to the game when she was 10 and she took to it right away, beating us on her second play. Complexity: Medium.

15. Ticket To Ride: Full review. Actually a series of games, all working on the same theme: You receive certain routes across the map on the game board – U.S. or Europe, mostly – and have to collect enough train cards in the correct colors to complete those routes. But other players may have overlapping routes and the tracks can only accommodate so many trains. Like Dominion, it’s very simple to pick up, so while it’s not my favorite game to play, it’s my favorite game to bring or bring out when we’re with people who want to try a new game but either haven’t tried anything in the genre or aren’t up for a late night. I do recommend the 1910 Expansion< to anyone who gets the base Ticket to Ride game, as it has larger, easier-to-shuffle cards and offers more routes for greater replayability. I also own the Swiss and Nordic boards, which only play two to three players and involve more blocking than the U.S. and Europe games do, so I don’t recommend them. The iPad app, developed in-house, is among the best available. The newest expansion, France and The Old West, came out in the winter of 2018, with two new rules tweaks, one for each board. I’ve ranked all 18 Ticket to Ride boards for Ars Technica. There’s also a kids’ version, available exclusively at Target, with a separate app for that as well. Complexity: Low.

16. Splendor: Full review. A Spiel des Jahres nominee in 2014, Splendor has fast become a favorite in our house for its simple rules and balanced gameplay. My daughter, now eight, loves the game and is able to play at a level pretty close to the adults. It’s a simple game where players collect tokens to purchase cards from a 4×3 grid, and where purchased cards decrease the price of other cards. Players have to think long-term without ignoring short-term opportunities, and must compare the value of going for certain in-game bonuses against just plowing ahead with purchases to get the most valuable cards. The Splendor app, made by the team at Days of Wonder, is amazing, and is available for iOS, Android, and Steam. I also like the four-in-one expansion for the base game, Cities of Splendor. Complexity: Low.

17. Agamemnon. Full review. An absolute gem of an abstract two-player game, with very little luck and a lot of balancing between the good move now and holding a tile for a great move later. Players compete to control “threads of fate” – connected lines on a small hub-and-spoke board – by placing their tokens at the hubs, but there are three different types of lines and control of each is determined in its own way. The board has alternate layouts on the other side for infinite replayability, but the main board is elegant enough for many replays, because so much of the game involves outthinking your opponent. Complexity: Low.

18. Dominion: Full review. I’ve condensed two Dominion entries into one, since they all have the same basic mechanics, just new cards. The definitive deck-building game, with no actual board. Dominion’s base set – there are ten expansions now available, so you could spend a few hundred dollars on this – includes money cards, action cards, and victory points cards. Each player begins with seven money cards and three victory cards and, shuffling and drawing five cards from his own deck each turn, must add cards to his deck to allow him to have the most victory points when the last six-point victory card is purchased. I don’t think I have a multi-player game with a smaller learning curve, and the fact that the original set alone comes with 25 action cards but each game you play only includes 10 means it offers unparalleled replayability even before you add an expansion set. I’ll vouch for the Dominion: Intrigue expansion, which includes the base cards so it’s a standalone product, and the Seaside expansion, which is excellent and really changes the way the game plays, plus a standalone expansion further up this list. The base game is appropriate for players as young as six. Complexity: Low.

19. Small World: Full review. I think the D&D-style theme does this game a disservice – that’s all just artwork and titles, but the game itself requires some tough real-time decisions. Each player uses his chosen race to take over as many game spaces as possible, but the board is small and your supply of units runs short quickly, forcing you to consider putting your race into “decline” and choosing a new one. But when you choose a new one is affected by what you stand to lose by doing so, how well-defended your current civilization’s position is, and when your opponents are likely to go into decline. The iPad app is outstanding too. Complexity: Medium.

20. Battle Line: Full review. Reissued a few years ago as Schotten Totten – same game, different theme, better art, half the price right now. Among the best two-player games I’ve found, designed by Reiner Knizia, who is also behind a bunch of other games on this list. Each player tries to build formations on his/her side of the nine flags that stand in a line between him and his opponent; formations include three cards, and the various formation types resemble poker hands, with a straight flush of 10-9-8 in one color as the best formation available. Control three adjacent flags, or any five of the nine, and you win. But ten tactics cards allow you to bend the rules, by stealing a card your opponent has played, raising the bar for a specific flag from three cards to four, or playing one of two wild cards that can stand in for any card you can’t draw. There’s a fair amount of randomness involved, but playing nine formations at once with a seven-card hand allows you to diversify your risk. The iOS app is among the best as well. Complexity: Low.

21. Samurai: Full review. I bought the physical game after a few months of playing the app (which, as of November 2019, is still not updated for the newest iOS version), and it’s a great game – simple to learn, complex to play, works very well with two players, plays very differently with three or four as the board expands. Players compete to place their tiles on a map of Japan, divided into hexes, with the goal of controlling the hexes that contain buddha, farmer, or soldier tokens. Each player has hex tiles in his color, in various strengths, that exert control over the tokens they show; samurai tokens that affect all three token types; boats that sit off the shore and affect all token types; and special tokens that allow the reuse of an already-placed tile or allow the player to switch two tokens on the board. Trying to figure out where your opponent might screw you depending on what move you make is half the fun. Very high replayability too. Fantasy Flight updated the graphics, shrank the box, and reissued it in 2015. Complexity: Medium/low.

22. The Castles Of Burgundy: Full review. Castles of Burgundy is the rare game that works well across its range of player numbers, as it scales well from two to four players by altering the resources available on the board to suit the number of people pursuing them. Players compete to fill out their own boards of hexes with different terrain/building types (it’s like zoning) by competiting for tiles on a central board, some of which are hexes while others are goods to be stored and later shipped for bonuses. Dice determine which resources you can acquire, but you can also alter dice rolls by paying coins or using special buildings to change or ignore them. Setup is a little long, mostly because sorting cardboard tiles is annoying, but gameplay is only moderately complex – a little more than Stone Age, not close to Caylus or Agricola – and players get so many turns that it stays loose even though there’s a lot to do over the course of one game. I’ve played this online about 50 times, using all the different boards, even random setups that dramatically increase the challenge, and I’m not tired of it yet. Complexity: Medium.

23. Morels. Full review for Paste. A 2012 release, Morels is an easy-to-learn two-player card game with plenty of decision-making and a small amount of interaction with your opponent as you try to complete and “cook” sets of various mushroom types to earn points. The artwork is impressive and the game is very balanced, reminiscent of Lost Cities but with an extra tick of difficulty because of the use of an open, rolling display of cards from which players can choose. The app version is also very good. Complexity: Low.

24. Ingenious. Full app review. Ingenious is another Reiner Knizia title, a two- to four-person abstract strategy game that involves tile placement but where the final scoring compares each player’s lowest score across the six tile colors, rather than his/her highest. That alters gameplay substantially, often making the ideal play seem counterintuitive, and also requires each player to keep a more careful eye on what the other guy is doing. The app, which I owned and reviewed, is now gone from all app stores, because of a trademark dispute (and maybe more). Complexity: Low.

25. Azul. Full review. The best new family-strategy game of 2017 and winner of the Spiel des Jahres, Azul comes from the designer of Vikings and Asara, and folds some press-your-luck mechanics into a pattern-matching game where you collect mosaic tiles and try to transfer them from a storage area to your main 5×5 board. You can only put each tile type in each row once, and in each column once, and you lose points for tiles you can’t place at the end of each round. It’s quite addictive and moves fairly quickly, even when everyone starts playing chicken with the pile left in the middle of the table for whoever chooses last in the round. Complexity: Medium.

26. Cacao. Full review. A simpler Carcassonne? I guess every tile-laying game gets compared to the granddaddy of them all, but Cacao certainly looks similar, and you don’t get to see very far ahead in the tile supply in Cacao, although at least here you get a hand of three tiles from which to choose. But the Cacao board ends up very different, a checkerboard pattern of alternating tiles between players’ worker tiles and the game’s neutral tiles, which can give you cacao beans, let you sell beans for 2-4 gold pieces, give you access to water, give you partial control of a temple, or just hand you points. One key mechanic: if you collect any sun tiles, you can play a new tile on top of a tile you played earlier in the game, which is a great way to make a big ten-point play to steal the win. Complexity: Low.

27. New Bedford. Full review. I adore this game, which is about whaling, but somehow manages to sneak worker-placement and town-building into the game too, and figures out how to reward people who do certain things early without making the game a rout. Each player gets to add buildings to the central town of New Bedford (much nicer than the actual town is today), or can use one of the central buildings; you pay to use someone else’s building, and they can be worth victory points to their owners at game-end. The real meat of the game is the whaling though – you get two ships, and the more food you stock them with, the more turns they spend out at sea, which means more turns where you might grab the mighty sperm whale token from the bag. But you have to pay the dockworkers to keep each whale and score points for it. For a game that has this much depth, it plays remarkably fast – never more than 40 minutes for us with three players. Complexity: Medium.

28. Welcome To… Full review. I don’t know if it was the first flip-and-write title, but Welcome To… was the first one I encountered, and I think it’s spawned a few imitators because it’s so good. In each round, there are three cards from which players can choose, each showing a house number and one of six colors; each player chooses one of those three houses to fill in and takes the benefit of that particular color. The goal is to fill out as much of your own ‘neighborhood’ as you can, scoring points for clusters of adjacent houses, for providing green space, for adding pools to certain houses, and more. It’s simple to learn and has huge replay value. Complexity: Low.

29. Everdell. Full review. This was my #1 game of 2018, just edging out the legacy game Charterstone. Everdell takes the worker placement and resource collection mechanic of Stone Age and adds what amounts to a second game on top of that, where the buildings you build with those resources actually do stuff, rather than just giving you points. Players build out their tableaux of cards and gain power as the game progresses. Some cards grant you the right to build subsequent cards for free; some give resources, some give points bonuses, and some do other cool things. The artwork is stunning and the theme, forest creatures, is very kid-friendly. The game also crescendos through its “seasons,” with players going from two meeples in the spring to six by game-end, so that no one can get too big of a lead in the early going and new players get time to learn the rhythm. It’s quite a brilliant design, and consistently plays in under an hour. Complexity: Medium-low.

30. Gizmos. Full review. Phil Walker-Harding’s engine-builder plays very quickly for a game of this depth, and doesn’t skimp on the visual appeal – the ‘energy tokens’ you’ll collect to buy more cards are colored marbles, and they’re dispensed by what looks like a cardboard gumball machine. The engine-building aspect is a real winner, though, as it’s very easy to grasp how you’ll gain things from certain cards and how to daisy-chain them into very powerful engines before the game ends. Complexity: Medium-low.

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→ March 14, 2020
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Stick to baseball, 3/14/20.

I have one new post for The Athletic subscribers this week, looking at what might happen to the draft when there are no games to scout. I will have a ranking of the top 30 prospects for the draft on Monday; I’m not sure what my draft coverage might look like from here on out, as it depends on whether anyone’s playing and if the draft date moves.

Over at Paste, I reviewed PARKS, one of the most popular new games of 2019, featuring artwork from the Fifty-Nine Parks series.

My second book, The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves, is due out on April 21st from Harper Collins, and you can pre-order it now via their site or wherever fine books are sold. Also, check out my free email newsletter, which I say I’ll write more often than I actually write it.

And now, the links…

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→ March 13, 2020
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Everything Inside.

Edwidge Danticat’s short story collection Everything Inside just won this year’s National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction on Thursday night, her second NBCC win (her memoir Brother, I’m Dying won the NBCC’s Memoir/Autobiography award in 2007) and the most notable award she’s won yet for her fiction. Each story in this slim, beautifully-written volume revolves around Haitian immigrants to the United States, the cultural shifts they experienced, and the challenges of settling in a country that still has racism and xenophobia in its DNA.

Born in Haiti, Danticat emigrated to the U.S. at 12 years old, and every story in this book revolves around that immigrant experience, especially those of Haitians who emigrated to Florida and move back and forth between the two countries, either physically traveling between them or feeling the pull of one from the other. (Danticat’s Wikipedia entry says that “Although Danticat resides in the United States, she still considers Haiti home. To date, she still visits Haiti from time to time and has always felt as if she never left it.”) Every one of these stories in Everything Inside feels drawn from something very personal to Danticat, as if they’re not just conceived and written but lived-in, so while there will always be a comprehension gap for readers like me (white, Anglophone, U.S.-born to U.S.-born parents) who don’t share her experiences as an immigrant or person of color, several of these stories still pack enough of an emotional punch to connect.

“Dosas” revolves around a home-health nurse whose ex-husband calls in a panic because his new wife – and former affair partner – has been kidnapped in Haiti and he can’t raise the ransom. (In Haiti, a ‘dosa’ is a girl born after twins.) This complex web of relationships, between the protagonist and her ex and between the Haitian diaspora and those who stayed behind (or move back and forth between the countries), colors her decisions and threatens her job as a live-in nurse to an elderly patient with kidney disease.  “Sunrise, Sunset,” originally published in the New Yorker, contrasts two women, a mother and her daughter who has just become a mother herself, as the former faces creeping dementia while the latter grapples with a stark postpartum depression, which culminates in a terrifying moment that confronts the erasure of memory, individual and across generations. “Without Inspection,” the closing story, follows the thoughts of a man who has fallen on a construction site and is heading to his death, during which he thinks about the family he leaves behind and the improbable way in which he arrived in the United States, saved on a beach by a Haitian woman who goes there each day to try to help migrants who barely make it to the shore when their transporters dump them to swim the last mile.

“Seven Stories” is the standout in the collection, perhaps in part because it’s so different from the other stories here. The Haitian-American protagonist, Kimberly, visits an old friend who is now the wife of the Prime Minister of an independent island in the Caribbean, where the elite live in luxury, abetted by corruption, amidst shantytowns and abject poverty. The story of how her friend survived the assassination of her father, himself once Prime Minister, and returned to the island unfolds over the course of the story and diminishes the dichotomy that first appeared to Kimberly when she arrived on the island. The story ends with a wedding and celebration in a village called Maafa – which I assume is an allusion to Ma’afa, a term referring to the “black Holocaust” where European and Arab peoples enslaved Africans and continued to oppress them through colonialism and imperialism – and Kimberly reflecting on how her friend’s life has been anything but simple despite her evident privilege, while Kimberly herself is an outsider (on an island where there’s prejudice against Haitians) viewing the island’s injustices through a different lens.

I’ve read four of the five books shortlisted for the NBCC Award for Fiction this year, and would have voted for either The Nickel Boys or Feast Your Eyes over Everything Inside, but with the caveat that I know there’s an aspect to this collection that I likely can’t fully appreciate because of my background and identity. (I’d vote for this book over The Topeka School.) It’s still a worthy winner, just not my top pick.

Next up: About halfway through Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.

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→ March 12, 2020
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Feast Your Eyes.

Myla Goldberg’s latest novel Feast Your Eyes, shortlisted for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award for Fiction,employs a novel narrative technique – or gimmick, depending on your point of view – to tell the stories of two women, mother and daughter, whose lives were both affected by a few very specific choices they both made. The mother, Lillian, was a photographer who made headlines when a series of photos she took led to an obscenity trial; her daughter, Samantha Jane, is the narrator, and tells the story of Lillian’s life in a series of essays and quotes as she writes the catalog for a retrospective of her mother’s work. It is an unusual way to tell a story, and has a long ramp-up until it truly gets rolling, but when it clicks it zooms by – puns intended – as Goldberg has created a truly memorable, compelling, complicated character in Lillian, and wants to talk to readers about just how monumental and important a woman’s right to choose can be.

Lillian grew up outside Cleveland in modest but not poor circumstances, and fell in love with photography at an early age, deciding not long after high school that that was how she wanted to make her living – or, at least, to make art, and hope to find a living to support it. She moves to New York, becomes pregnant while still young, and goes to have an abortion, only to bail at the sketchy and unsanitary circumstances. That baby is Samantha, whose very existence alters the course of Lillian’s life, mostly for the better, although the artificial/societal conflict between motherhood and vocation becomes explicit – pun intended – when Lillian publishes a series of photos called Mommy is Sick, which shows a half-naked, prepubescent Samantha handing a glass to Lillian, who is in bed, bleeding after a completed abortion. Samantha was the subject of some of her mother’s photos before that series, but when it lands Lillian and the gallery owner in jail, and eventually goes before the Supreme Court, Samantha’s life is permanently changed as well, as she is now The Girl in the Photos and later switches to her middle name, Jane, to try to avoid the unwanted notoriety the photos have given her.

We know early in the book that Lillian has already died young, but Goldberg still makes her death pack an emotional punch because of how Mommy is Sick drove a permanent wedge between mother and daughter, and from how Lillian never quite grasped its impact on Samantha. Lillian is a reluctant feminist, progressive for her era but less so even to her own daughter, writing just twenty years or so later, especially as Lillian never wanted the First Amendment fight she sparked; for Lillian, it was about making art, and that was enough. Samantha clearly feels like she was often second to that desire to make art, but also strives to understand her mother through her photographs, and interprets the photographs (and thus her mother) for the reader through the series of essays and comments, interspersed with remembrances from several major people in Lillian’s life whom Samantha contacted for the catalog. She resents her mother for making her a symbol in her photos, and for choosing a lifestyle of working poverty that allowed her to keep taking photographs, but also accepts the sacrifices her mother made for her, especially when Samantha has an abortion of her own and considers how that choice changed the course of her mother’s life (and created her own).

You have to buy into the narrative device to appreciate Feast Your Eyes, and I imagine some readers simply won’t be able to get on the book’s wavelength for that reason. For the first few pages I wasn’t sure if I would, but it started rolling for me maybe 20-30 pages in as the story itself began to grab me and the titles of the photographs or series faded into the background. Goldberg’s best trick here is that she pivots within each comment or essay from the photo right into something larger from Lillian’s past; there actually isn’t that much detail about photos that we never see, which could have been dreadful to read. It also works here because Goldberg manages to tie the fabricated photographs to times and places that spur different recollections, by Samantha, or former friends or lovers of Lillian’s, that explore more aspects of her character, and sometimes of Samantha’s as well. Even without the two overarching, feminist themes – how society pressures women to choose between motherhood and career, and how essential a woman’s right to choose is to her agency elsewhere in life – Feast Your Eyes would have been a strong character study, but those additional layers give it impact beyond most of the 2019 novels I’ve read so far.

Next up: Another novel from last year, Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.

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→ March 8, 2020
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Stick to baseball, 3/8/20.

My entire top 100 prospects package is now up for The Athletic subscribers. That includes:

I also wrote my first draft post of 2020, covering a pair of potential #1 overall picks in Emerson Hancock and Asa Lacy. I held a Klawchat on Thursday.

Episode #2 brand-new podcast, The Keith Law Show (also on iTunes), went up this past week, with guest Carlos Rodriguez, VP of Player Development and International Scouting for the Tampa Bay Rays. My thanks to all of you who’ve subscribed and/or left five-star ratings.

My second book, The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves, is due out on April 21st from Harper Collins, and you can pre-order it now via their site or wherever fine books are sold. Also, check out my free email newsletter, which I say I’ll write more often than I actually write it.

I only have a few links this week, between travel and the way that the news has been so focused on coronavirus. The best thing I read this week on that topic was Julia Belluz’s piece for Vox on why China’s COVID-19 case rate started declining. An infectious disease doctor answered some common questions about COVID-19 for WBUR.org.

Other links I found worth sharing:

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→ March 6, 2020
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Music update, February 2020.

February was absolutely loaded with great new music, including two albums that I think will end up on a lot of best-of-2020 lists and a bunch of new singles from artists I really like, including one I haven’t even thought about in 20 years. This post is a bit short because I have some non-work things to deal with today/this weekend but the playlist (here on Spotify) is 90 minutes and 23 songs long.

Grimes – Delete Forever. Grimes – or c, or whatever name Elon Musk told her to use this week – may be a bit out there at the moment, but Miss Anthopocene, her first album since 2015’s stellar Art Angels, is ambitious and smart and manages to be compelling even with a lot of tonal shifts from her prior work.

Waxahatchee – Lilacs. This is about as close to country music as I ever get. Katie Crutchfield’s upcoming album Saint Cloud is apparently about her decision to get sober. This is one of the best songs she’s ever done.

Tame Impala – Breathe Deeper. I need to listen to it some more but I think Slow Rush might be my favorite Tame Impala album. Kevin Parker really can’t help himself with the six-minute songs, though.

Soul Asylum – Got It Pretty Good. I really liked Soul Asylum up to and including Grave Dancers Union, but they went off the rails right after “Runaway Train” (which I never liked) became a hit. It’s been 28 years since that album came out, Dave Pirner is about to turn 56, and this song absolutely rocks.

The Mysterines – Love’s Not Enough. This Wirral, England rock trio is my sleeper pick for 2020, almost entirely because of Lia Metcalfe’s vocals.

San Cisco – Reasons. I was wondering just a few weeks ago if we were going to hear from this Australian indie-pop trio, and here they are with a great track that would fit right in on pop radio in just about any of the last four decades.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Be Afraid. Is this Isbell’s first appearance on my playlists? I believe it is.

Lauren Ruth Ward – Water Sign. There’s something vaguely menacing about Ward’s vocals on many of her songs, but it plays up even more over the doom-like guitars here.

Wild Nothing – The World is a Hungry Place. This is the best song they’ve done since 2012’s Nocturne, and also a return to the mood of that album.

Chromatics – TOY. This was a surprise single, since Chromatics just released their first album in seven years back in October, and this track wasn’t on it. There’s a serious MGMT vibe to the music under Ruth Radelet’s typical whispery vocals.

Working Men’s Club – White Rooms and People. The vocals here are definitely an acquired taste, but the build from the funk guitar work in the verse to the synth-heavy new-wavey chorus is intoxicating.

Talk Show – Stress. The London post-punk quartet’s debut EP, These People, is due out at the end of this month.

Purity Ring – stardew. The Canadian duo’s first new song in three years has a more upbeat melody than much of their music, which I think better suits Megan James’ often childlike vocal style.

Disclosure feat. Eko Roosevelt – Tondo. It’s a new song from the Grammy-winning duo, but it’s barely more than a remix of Cameroonian musician Roosevelt’s “Tondoho Mba,” which was released last year on a compilation by the French DJ Guts.

Christine and the Queens – I disappear in your arms. Less than two years after her acclaimed album Chris, Christine put out an unexpected five-song EP, La Vita Nuova, featuring this track, yet another pop banger with a sinister keyboard line behind a great vocal melody.

Jackie Venson – Make Me Feel. I found it impossible not to compare this song to the Janelle Monáe track of the same name, and think how Venson shows the musical ambition I wanted Monáe to bring to her last record. I will say the whispered “walk with him” part at the end is kind of creepy, though.

Glass Animals – Your Love (Déjà Vu). I either love Glass Animals tracks (“Life Itself”) or hate them (“Gooey”), but their percussion sounds are always interesting. This track is in the former category.

MICH – Ceiling Duty. I know next to nothing about this band other than that they’re from Amsterdam, there are four of them, and this song sounds like shoegaze meets jangly college rock from the early 1990s.

Do Nothing – Fits. They’re not quite punk, not really post-punk, definitely sneering, yet still give us a nod to melody in the chorus.

Sløtface – Passport. Sorry for the late reply is a bit more uneven than their debut but still has a few pop-punk standout tracks like this one.

Throwing Muses – Dark Blue. A bit of an obligatory inclusion, although I’m impressed that Kristen Hersh is still churning out music this dark nearly 40 years into her career.

Aktor – Bad Mirror. Very New Wave of British Heavy Metal here, although the rest of the album (Placebo) can veer into harsher territory.

Toundra – VI. Akt. Toundra’s instrumental, progressive metal is usually interesting but they’re asking a lot with their new album, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, a series of six ten-minute tracks that often slow the tempo down well beyond what we expect of this style of music.

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→ March 5, 2020
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Klawchat 3/5/20.

Starting at 1 pm. You can find all of my prospect rankings content here on The Athletic. All 30 team reports are up, as well as the global top 100 and the farm system rankings.

Keith Law: Can you picture what will be? Klawchat.

Jabroni: Can Nick Gonzales develop into an avg defensive 2B?
Keith Law: Sounds like it. I hope to see him later this month, but I haven’t heard anyone say he has to move off 2b, at least. More common is the comment that the elevation of Las Cruces is helping his power.

Trey: Favorite short story collections? Recent or classic.
Keith Law: Any collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald stories.

Larry: Last week I asked how many college starters can grade out better than Nick Lodolo (you said 3-5).  Can you name those pitchers?
Keith Law: I can.
Keith Law: Oh, did you want me to do it now? Just in this draft class, Lacy, Hancock, Meyer, and Detmers for sure. Omitting Ginn since he’s out with ‘stiffness,’ and I see a few others who could get there but I wouldn’t feel strongly enough to list right now.

J5: enjoyed your first 2 podcasts
Keith Law: Thank you! Subscribe and listen on Apple or
Spotify.

Sammy Sosa: How concerned are you that the GOP moves as far right as they want while the Dems continue to meet them in a new middle? How do we prevent future Democratic frontrunner John Kasich?
Keith Law: To be honest, as political issues go, my concerns are almost entirely focused on November 2020. We have to survive that first.

wrburgess: When you critique traits of a player, like the Emerson Hancock “head shakes at release” observation, I have no reason to question that assessment. What I can’t do, currently, is understand the long term ramifications such a tendency may have. Are “head shakes” something changeable? Can a pitcher be coached out of that? Or is it indicative of a permanent mechanic that says “4th starter” to you? How can readers better grasp the context of your comments?
Keith Law: I try to include comments every now and then that explain why certain traits matter. For example, you see very few major-league starters with head-whacks (or head violence or whatever you want to call it). It might be because it’s hard to command the ball when your head is moving that hard at release. My hypothesis is that arm actions so intense that you can’t keep your head steady are correlated with more stress on joints. I can think of one MLB starter who had that kind of delivery and worked it out so that he could not just start, but get to plus command: Max Scherzer.

Vincent Adultman: Pleasantly surprised with your Sikkema ranking within the Yankees system, which also appears to suggest you think he can make it as a starter (even if its at the back of the rotation)- how aggressive should the Yankees be with him- start in Tampa, with a pre-midseason bump to AA?
Keith Law: Exactly. High draft pick D1 starter/regular -> start next year in high A -> goal of AA by August.

Chris: Music question, based on your posts in the comments sections of your music posts, you love metal and then a bunch of alt rock, indie, etc, but you don’t seem to like anything that would be classified as hard rock. There appears to be a hole on the rock spectrum. Do you agree with that?  If so, why?
Keith Law: I do not agree with that.

pakkap: severino is done for the year, tanaka always seems to be a pitch away from elbow surgery, and i’d likely take the under on games played/started for the following yanks: judge (100), stanton (81), paxton (16). how much trouble are they in?
Keith Law: This was the concern I had last year when I picked the Yankees to win ~88 games – the pitching staff seemed a stumble away from losing 50-60 starts or more from its projected rotation members. They have a little depth, but not enough to fade 0 from Severino, half a season from Paxton, and maybe more.

Moe Mentum: Who would you recommend as presumptive nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, and why?
Keith Law: Elizabeth Warren.

Big League Chew: We have an opening in our dynasty league, interested in jumping in? Some real sharks in this league.
Keith Law: do dooo do do do do

KLawFan: What relatively unknown pitching and batting prospects will move up the most in prospect lists by end of this year?
Keith Law: I have a ‘sleeper’ prospect at the end of each of the 30 team reports. Your answers are there.

Chris: When’s your next visit to Nashville?  Will you have time to meet with readers/fans for a board game?
Keith Law: May, possibly doing a signing/talk at Parnassus Books, but I won’t have time to hang with readers, sorry.

Brett Jones: Where was Zach McKinstry on your list of top Dodgers prospects? I was surprised he didn’t make the top 20 considering his 2019 season and his proximity to the bigs.
Keith Law: Low upside. His 2019 was fine, but I’m not sure why you’d assume it would put him in the top 20. Solid role player.

Jay: Has Anderson Espinoza lost too much time at this point to think he’ll ever contribute to a MLB team? I remember him being extremely young for his leagues, but now wonder if he’ll be too old for his leagues and if his stuff will ever return.
Keith Law: Age matters less for pitchers but we have no idea how his stuff will be after two TJ surgeries and what his durability will be.

addoeh: This week, the President has directly contradicted public health officials on multiple occasions. I almost expect him to either (1) issue an executive order that a vaccine for the coronavirus needs to be released to the public prior to any testing or clinical trials or (2) promote some crackpot anti-vaxxer concoction of turmeric and bleach.
Keith Law: The latter.

Tom: Will AJ Hinch be managing a big league club in 2021?
Keith Law: I think he’ll have an MLB team role in 2021. Maybe front office rather than managing at first. I do think he’ll manage again, though.

Tom: Regardless of policy preference, who do you think has a stronger chance to beat Trump: Biden or Bernie?
Keith Law: Straight betting odds? Biden. I think people underestimate the pervasiveness of anti-Semitism in this country.

TYGERTAILZ: YOOOOO KEITH, POISON MOTLEY CRUE AND DEF LEPPARD THIS SUMMER!!!  WANNA GO BRO???  I GOT AN EXTRA TICKET!
Keith Law: I have just enough time to grow out my mullet!

Dan: Is Torkelson’s strikeout rate this year a concern? When you take out the intentional walks it’s quite high.
Keith Law: He has 40 AB. Talk about a tiny sample.

Paul: What are the odds Nick Gonzales can go as high as #1 at this point?
Keith Law: 5% or less. Has to pass Torkelson and Martin and maybe Lacy too.

Randall: Any chance you’re heading to Knoxville soon? Crochet/Sewell/Soularie best prospects in years. Draft thoughts? GBO!!!
Keith Law: Crochet had a top ten spot sewn up, but he’s hurt.

Fisher: Any chance Jays cave and  Pearson, ehhh, stays?
Keith Law: Doubt it. And I can’t dispute that … this isn’t Vlad part two.

Cory: How do Rocker/Leiter compare to Mize to this point?
Keith Law: Mize better.

Steve: Regardless of how Riley does the remainder of ST, should ATL just roll with Camargo at 3B to start the year?
Keith Law: Camargo has some strong performance history in the majors; Riley doesn’t. So yes, I would try that.

Jaysfan: Best Jays prospect outside of Pearson, Woods-Richardson, Manoah & Groshans…
Keith Law: My Blue Jays top 20 is up for Athletic subscribers.

james: I didn’t see Jaylin Davis of the Giants on your prospect write up.  With the Giants seemingly committed to giving him at bats to start the season, do you think he will be able to translate his AAA success to the big leagues?
Keith Law: Not enough to make the top 20. Extra guy.

Ben M: Ginn just announced surgery 🙁
Keith Law: Ah yes, I hadn’t seen that – I knew he was scheduled to see the doctor again this week. He could have had ~$3 million from the Dodgers two years ago. He might get that next year, if he comes back and pitches before the draft, but I’d bet the under (to say nothing of the time value of the money).

Evan: What’s your current playlist while writing?
Keith Law: My February new music playlist which I hope to post tomorrow.

Tommy: Starting to hear rumblings that the Red Sox might give Tanner Houck a shot in their starting rotation to start the year.  Do you see him as a viable long-term starter, or is he future bullpen material?
Keith Law: That makes no sense. Doesn’t have the third pitch he’d need to be an MLB starter. (He’s on the Red Sox top 20.)

Yinka Double Dare: The sundowning septuagenarian guy, the angry-sounding septuagenarian guy, or the incumbent sundowning angry-sounding septuagenarian guy.
Keith Law: All white.

Ryan: I saw your tweet of the video of Zac Veen. That is a smooth looking swing. What is his draft outlook?
Keith Law: Top ten pick. Maybe the first HS player off the board. It’s a weak HS pitching draft – Kelley, Bitsko, Abel are the only clear first rounders right now, although I heard Justin Lange hit 100 last week – so I think it’ll be extremely college heavy up top. Veen is the best bet to break the college streak up top.

Geoff: Do you see the automatic ball/strike system taking over within three years?
Keith Law: Yes, and more importantly, MLB execs seem to expect it, probably for 2022.

Michael: Crazy to say Skubal is the best arm in the Tigers org?
Keith Law: Not crazy, but I don’t agree.

Ken: Hey Keith. Really enjoying the new podcast. The first one dropped on a Wednesday then this week it was Monday. What day can we expect to see it posted going forward?
Keith Law: Monday night or Tuesday morning.
Keith Law: We try to record Mondays. I just got crushed on the 24th when the top 100 hit

Tulsi Gabbard: Is it obvious sexism AND racism that people forget there are THREE remaining Dem candidates? Including a woman of color.
Keith Law: Who? You said Dem candidates, so I know you don’t mean Tulsi Gabbard.

Vincent Adultman: I understand this isn’t your beat, but have you heard any info about if/when MLB will institute an international draft?
Keith Law: They will push for it in the 2021 CBA talks. Not sure if the union will fight it/.

addoeh: Ever done or any desire to do any “daredevil” activities?  Like skydiving, zip lining, bungee jumping, white water rafting.
Keith Law: Nope nope nopity nope.

Adam: We are now 5 years into AJ Preller’s tenure. He had his massive 2016 J2 class, his massive 2016 draft class, and has signed 2 players to contracts well over $100 million. If they lose more than 80 games this year, is it fair to say he had enough time and resources to build a successful team?
Keith Law: That’s not enough time for a J2 class especially to produce All-Star/impact players. Probably also true for a draft class unless you go college heavy and get a little lucky.

Pat D: This is the end, beautiful friend?  On a more serious note, is there a bigger joke of an overgrown man-child currently serving in Congress than Matt Gaetz?
Keith Law: How are his constituents not terminally embarrassed by him?

Zihuatanejo: If Elizabeth Warren’s name was “Warren Elizabeth,” how do you think s/he would be faring in the primaries right now?
Keith Law: Winning enough to still be in the race.

John: Do you find out more about your process and how to improve it when you miss on a player thinking he will be really good, or missing on a player thinking he will not be very good.
Keith Law: The latter. Most prospects don’t work out as expected.

Brian: As a Phillies fan, am I wrong to be pessimistic about Bohm?  The local media seems to be hyping up him greatly, but I worry that a slightly better bat than Maikel Franco isn’t getting the job done.
Keith Law: Much better bat than Franco. I’ve noticed the Phillies writers who trolled me over Franco’s first half-season in the majors never had anything more to say about him…

Chris: Have you ever considered walking away from baseball and having a job that didnt involve sports?  Especially one with less public criticism where no matter what you say, 50% of your readers will disagree and trash you on twitter
Keith Law: Yes, it has crossed my mind, but I also like what I do and enjoy the interactions with the good readers.

Jason: Thoughts on the Yelich extension? Seems good for both sides.
Keith Law: Seems like a bit of an assumption that he holds what he’s done the last two years, but I don’t have any real issue with it either way.

Evan: Number of wins and place the Blue Jays finish in the AL East. Are they really a wild card contender?
Keith Law: Wild card contenders? What?

Brian: Don’t the current injury issues of the Yanks show why trading Mookie was a mistake? You never know when a team is gonna have the year from hell with injuries especially when you’re dealing with guys like Tanaka, Paxton, Severino, and Judge.
Keith Law: It’s at least a fair question to ask. I still think the Red Sox would be well short of the pitching to make the playoffs even if you could say right now the Yankees are an 85 win team.

Marshall: The perception is that the Red Sox reneged on their initial trade with the Dodgers to extract more value. But, since the holdup resulted in the Angels trade falling through, were the Dodgers actually better off too?
Keith Law: I don’t know where that perception came from. It appeared on social media but I never saw any basis. Graterol did have an actual shoulder injury last year.

Andy: It took 10 years but we may have finally reached the point where Chris Sale’s elbow can’t stand up to starting.
Keith Law: I WAS RIGHT

Jeffrey: Has there been any spring training performances that would have resulted in any major moves up or down your top 100 ranking? Or small sample size applies?
Keith Law: Not just small sample size but the competition in spring training is way too variable. You don’t even face the same pitcher twice in many games until the end. Hitters might get two PA and leave. It’s fake.

Trey: Any book signings in NYC area?
Keith Law: Maybe. I think my publicist was working on one for the 21st, release night, after I appear on MLB Network that afternoon.

Nate: is max Meyer a starter long term?
Keith Law: I don’t see why not.

nelson: As a longtime reader of your chats, it’s interesting to me just how much the questions that people ask have changed over the years. People seem more informed about more players than ever and have stronger opinions. Do you agree with this assessment?
Keith Law: I do. There’s a lot more information out there today than 13 years ago.

Brian: Keith, I am an ASU fan and I know Spencer Torkelson is a good player but other managers are treating him like he’s already a hall of famer.  I believe he has been intentionally walked 15 or 16 times in 14 games.  This is crazy over-managing.  Even if he hit .400 it still doesn’t make any sense to continue to do this.
Keith Law: Agreed, but let’s face it, there are not many good tacticians among college coaches. They still bunt in the first inning all. the. fucking. time.

Larry: When will the Democrats stop defaulting to anger and actually try to do something?
Keith Law: How many bills has the Democrat-controlled House passed that the Senate won’t take up?

Michael: Hi Klaw!  Have you every had a year where a team had no prospects in Top 100?
Keith Law: Yes, multiple times.

Turner: This is probably a question for after your new book comes out, but do foresee doing any book signings?
Keith Law: I’ve listed two on recent Stick to baseball posts and I believe we have five confirmed, just not announced on the stores’ sites.

Steve: There was a lot of hype around Blaze Jordan not too long ago and him maybe going top3 or top5, seems to have died off. Where you project he goes in draft, top 10 still?
Keith Law: Yeah, so, that was all some internet bullshit. He was *never* that kind of prospect. He’s probably not even a first-rounder. If you don’t read it from a reputable prospect site – MLB Pipeline, BA, Fangraphs, and I hope me – then don’t believe it.
Keith Law: He’s a no-position power guy from the state with, IMO, the worst track record for HS position player prospects, Mississippi.

J5: If Alex Wood fails miserably, and Gonsolin keeps putting up zeros…. any chance he wins a spot?
Keith Law: I buy that.

Brad: More or less – 30% chance that Garrett Mitchell from UCLA slips out of the first round entirely?
Keith Law: I’d say a bit more. The diabetes will scare a lot of teams off.

SedTimmons: What you ever consider putting together a listing or something searchable for your book and or movie reviews? I was trying to find your thoughts on a book I was considering and couldn’t find it.
Keith Law: Search box on top right didn’t work? Author’s name?

O’s fan: Trying to convince myself into Tork assuming Detroit takes Martin first. Is he really good enough as a R/R 1B to take #2 overall?
Keith Law: It sounds like it, and I feel very confident he’ll go 2 if he doesn’t go 1 (but I don’t assume Martin goes first).
Keith Law: Also, my streak of seeing Tigers scouting director Scott Pleis continued. He was at Veen/Crews last night. I saw him at Lacy’s outing last Friday and Hancock the week before.

Andy: I understand you start your top 100 fresh each year, but a question on Naylor: is his missing the list a product of him not hitting like you might have hoped post-draft, given he made strides catching? In other words, did he need to hit more to justify his 2019 rank?
Keith Law: Yes, was hoping for more impact, and also reports from other scouts were good but not glowing.

Jack: Under the proposed new playoff format from a few weeks back, it also mentioned that every MLB team would play all other 29 teams in the regular season. In your opinion, is this doable or would the travel be too hectic?
Keith Law: I would assume, without having asked them, that the union would fight that like hell.

Andy: Serious question, what happens if one of the old white men gets seriously sick in the next three months?
Keith Law: I had this random thought while traveling: Coronavirus’ death rate is highest for the elderly. What if any of those three gets it? Aren’t they out there shaking a lot of hands? Nonzero chance, right?

Nick: How do you get the hashbrowns to be crispy?
Keith Law: Wrap them in a tea towel and wring out as much moisture as you can, then get that pan and oil rippling hot before you add the potatoes, reducing the heat afterwards.

AngryMets: Would International guys fall into their own separate International draft, or would they be included in MLB draft along with the college & HS kids in the US?
Keith Law: Every proposal I’ve heard has been for a separate international draft. Combining the two would be a bit of a nightmare.

Dave: No question, just a rant. I love the comments you get when fans of a given team criticize your prospect rankings. I doubt very much that they ever read the part where you and other authors discuss the criteria used for assessment purposes (e.g. ceiling, floor, proximity to the majors). I doubt that the realize how good a prospect must be to make a top 100 list or how little the difference is between a ranking of 40 and 60. Instead of respecting your expertise (why are they reading) or their lack of the same, you get the tired and unimaginative “why do you hate my team”?
Keith Law: Or, why didn’t you rank them the way this other site ranked them? Yesterday a fan said I had the Cubs’ #20 prospect too high, and that their farm system was too low. I mean, the futility of arguing over a team’s #20 prospect aside, does this fan actually know about the prospects in each of the farm systems I had ranked above them? I doubt it. It’s silly. If you don’t like my rankings, that’s fine, but let’s not pretend that we all have equal information here.

Nick: Is Nico anything more than an average middle infielder?
Keith Law: Maybe a soft 55.
Keith Law: I was surprised that fans thought he’d be on the top 100. I always say I want guys with some ceiling. That’s not Nico.

WhiteSoxAndy: Am I allowed to finally be at least a little bit excited about the team I root for?
Keith Law: Yes.

Mi Llama es Erick: Any thoughts on the new Tame  Impala album?
Keith Law: I’d like to give it a few more spins but it might be my favorite album of his.

Grover: Were/are you high on Dennis Santana as a bullpen arm?
Keith Law: Thought he was a good bullpen prospect, did not buy him as a starter.

JB: Have you ever had coffee brewed in a siphon coffee maker?  Seems kind of gimmicy, but looks interesting.
Keith Law: Yes at Siphon Coffee outside Houston. It was good. It was not $7 good.

Todd: Keith, at what point, if ever, will Trump ever get calle dout for his lies?
Keith Law: He’s been called out all the time. His supporters don’t care. If they get tax cuts and eliminate reproductive rights, he can say whatever he likes.

Grover: re: the more information, does that also have the negative affect of contributing to fans becoming incredibly defensive and tribal over players they’ve never even seen play because they saw them ranked highly in multiple other places?
Keith Law: I buy that.

Steve: Who do you like more long term – Tatis Jr. or Lux? What about just offensively?
Keith Law: Tatis Jr to both. And I love Lux.

Nolan: What’s the worst “give up a lot of money to pitch in college” example you can think of off the top of your head? Karsten Whitson?
Keith Law: Whitson for sure, especially since he’d agreed to sign and then backed out to ask for more money. Several others I can think of who didn’t sign were affected by something discovered in the post-draft physical, so I can’t pin it all on the player or his representatives.

Mike: What’d you think of luxurious Port Orange when you saw Veen last night?
Keith Law: Funny enough, I had a good meal at Thai Kitchen right near the high school. I’ve never tried kua gai noodle before but I will warn you what they call medium spicy is … well, I could still feel my face afterwards, so I guess it wasn’t hot.

Brent: Not sure if you know the answer, but is there a way to search by “writer” on The Athletic? Love the site and mobile app but wish I could search by writer, cause you work with some real good ones. Thanks
Keith Law: Yes, there’s a writer index, or you can click on the byline in any article and see all of that writer’s stuff.

Rob: In your tram capsules you wrote that Jordyn Adams didn’t hit up to the angels’ expectations. Considering he had a 110 wrc what the hell were they expecting? Seemed pretty impressive considering his age and experience level in baseball.
Keith Law: say it with me: Do ? not ? use ? wRC+ ? to ? evaluate ? minor ? leaguers.

Greg P: Do you ever read any of the comment sections at the Athletic?  I stopped after a little while, but wondered if you did read them.
Keith Law: No. Comment sections are the septic tanks of the internet.

Sean: What to make of Wyatt Mathisen? Former second round pick that flamed out as a catcher, but looked good as a hitter in AAA last year, albeit the happy fun ball. Does he have a chance to turn things around and stick in the MLB?
Keith Law: Purely my speculation but I wonder if his development path would have been better if he hadn’t been in the same system/levels as the disgraced Reese McGuire at the start of his career.

Grover: Would Tim Tebow make a top 1000?
Keith Law: Top 1000 what?

Expos: When will the MLB be back in Montreal full time (or even part time)?
Keith Law: My prediction is still never.

JL: This is not a question, but maybe more of a thought I wanted to pass along. You always say to not scout the stat line, which makes complete sense. But for most of us office dwellers who don’t ever get to see the prospects we’re curious about, that’s about all we can do to spark a question about a prospect with you. Thanks for the chats!
Keith Law: There’s a difference between looking at a stat line and wondering what the player is like and looking at a stat line and assuming what the player is like.

Jimmy The Pratt: Are you a hugger?  I personally enjoy the embrace of others, but this coronavirus has me freaked out.
Keith Law: I am a hugger. I think it’s inevitable that we all get the coronavirus at some point. It’s not going to just die off like SARS.
Keith Law: (Which was another coronavirus, but caused more serious infections with a shorter incubation period.)

JaysFan: Who’d you rather…Moncada or Matt Chapman?
Keith Law: Chapman, easily. Elite defense.

Heater: I am going to Nashville this summer.  Anything my boyfriend and I should do while I am there?
Keith Law: I’ve really never done anything there that didn’t involve food, which is a strength of the city, but I hear they play music there too.

BigLeagueChew: So…we still have this spot in our league Keith…
Keith Law: I don’t play fantasy baseball at all.

Mike: Do you see Albert Almora or Ian Happ having a more productive, long-term career from here on out?
Keith Law: Woof. I liked both as prospects. I’d take Happ now.

Albert: Loving your prospect stuff, and looking forward to notes on Torkelson, Martin and Gonzales, but did you or your agent have any idea about all the lurkers at the Athletic? Seriously, so many comments under moderation your every post that it’s no longer even worth bothering with any feedback there.
Keith Law: I’m not sure what you’re asking/saying here, but then again I don’t read the comments there. I assume they are also a septic tank.

Kip: Why can’t we change laws to make insurance companies compete across state and international lines and remove certificate of needs before we try a massive overhaul like Medicare for All?  The government creates conditions for monopolies, makes life worse, and then politicians throw up their hands and wonder why.
Keith Law: The price elasticity of health care poses a serious problem for competition that the market itself may not be able to address. How much money would you pay for a treatment that will keep you alive? Keep your child alive? Extend your life by a year, two years, ten? The answer is probably “all your money.” That situation is ripe for market actors to exploit. Expecting market-based solutions in a space with as many distortions as health care is probably unrealistic.
Keith Law: OK, that’s all for this week. There won’t be a chat next week either due to a schedule conflict. Thank you all for your questions and for reading all of my prospect content – I’ve seen the traffic numbers and am thrilled so many of you clicked, read, and subscribed. And thanks to all of you who’ve listened to the first two episodes of my new podcast as well. That will be back on Monday with guest Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: Uncategorized
→ March 4, 2020
→ By

The Topeka School.

Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School was shortlisted for this year’s National Book Critics Circle award for fiction and has now moved up to #2 on that Pulitzer predictions page I’ve mentioned a few times here. It’s a strange book, although that’s true of several of the leading contenders this year, with a nonlinear narrative, multiple lead characters, and a story without a clear ending or singular theme. I don’t know if that makes it a better contender for awards, as it is clearly more ambitious than the typical novel, but the result for me as a reader was that it felt incomplete.

The Topeka School is set in Topeka, Kansas, and the school in question is a foundation for young boys with psychological disorders, run by Jonathan Gordon, whose son Adam was the protagonist of an earlier Lerner novel and is a stand-in for the author himself. Adam is the star debater at the local high school and poised to win the national competition in one specific area of debate – none of this meant anything to me, as my school didn’t have a debate team and I doubt I would have had anything to do with it if it had – but is facing crippling anxiety and an existential doubt about the entire process. His mother, Jane, also a psychologist, has written a feminist non-fiction book that landed her a spot on Oprah and made her the target for endless meninist trolls who call the Gordons’ house to threaten her, only to have her troll them back in rather expert fashion. Jonathan is a vague presence next to the sharply drawn Jane and Adam, an unfaithful husband who sleeps with his wife’s best friend and is overly absorbed in his work ‘saving’ the boys at the Foundation, which all goes awry when one of them, Adam’s intellectually disabled classmate Darren, ends up in trouble with the law. 

Adam is the most prominent character in the book, but the star is really Jane, who could have supported the entire novel on her own if Lerner had given her the chance. She’s a strong personality, including that heroic response to her would-be harassers, but also has a history of abuse at the hands of her father with which she’s still coming to grips and that clearly affects her choices decades later. More exploration of that angle and how her mother’s willful ignorance of the abuse destroyed that relationship as well would have elevated the novel and helped make her even more of a central character, as would have more detail on her reaction to Jonathan’s infidelity, but she doesn’t get quite enough page time.

Part of the reason for that is the focus on Adam’s debating endeavors, which I think is a metaphor for our incredibly terrible political environment right now, where winning may be more a function of being louder than being better or being right. A new debating technique called the “spread” has become popular at the time of this novel (it’s set in the 1990s); the speaker simply talks as quickly as possible, raising as many points as they can during their allotted time, and forces opponents to try to keep up in their rejoinders as any unanswered arguments are considered points won. It’s a bit of an arcane point, like basing portions of a hockey novel around the neutral-zone trap, and too inside-baseball at least for me, even though I thought I could see the parallel to social media efforts to drown out opponents and boost candidates through sheer volume of content (even if the support is fake).

The Darren subplot is even more undercooked, and feels utterly tacked on; I was waiting for Lerner to tie it into the Gordons’ story more convincingly but he never does. Darren’s cognitive difficulties make him a target for bullies and an occasional object of derision for classmates, and his eventual lashing out is inevitable and also a lot less than I feared it might be (I thought Lerner was setting up a mass shooting or something similar, but he wasn’t). Darren’s story is largely told through 2-4 page interstitials between the Gordons’ narratives, and his actual connection to the Gordons goes no further than his time working with Jonathan. There’s a half-hearted thread about Darren falling a bit under the sway of an angry old white man, but that story fizzles out without impact. Instead he’s only a side note, as are the hatemongers of the Westboro Baptist Church, who also appear on the fringes of the novel and are among the people harassing Jane on the phone and in person around Topeka.

I’m just not sure I get the adulation for The Topeka School, which ended up less than the sum of its parts. Lerner works in a lot of hifalutin vocabulary from psychology – I don’t know why you’d ever need the word ‘analysand,’ for example, and while ‘cathexis’ is a fun word it also probably isn’t appropriate for its usage here – which makes the book seem smarter than it ultimately is. There are good ideas floating around in here, but the lack of focus on either Jane or Adam means they’re not fully fleshed out, and the novel ends before anything is all that well resolved. Maybe it’ll win one of these awards because it’s ambitious and feels relevant to multiple themes in American society of 2020, but I don’t think it measures up to its primary competition.

Next up: Myra Goldberg’s Feast Your Eyes.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,
→ February 29, 2020
→ By

Stick to baseball, 2/29/20.

My top 100 prospects package began to run this week on The Athletic, with the global top 100 running Monday, the column of guys who just missed on Tuesday, and then the American League org reports running the rest of the week. (Here’s the Rangers’ report, and the Royals’, for example.) You can access everything via this index page. I also held a Klawchat this Thursday.

My brand-new podcast, The Keith Law Show (also on iTunes), debuted this past week as well, with a guest appearance from Fangraphs’ lead prospect writer Eric Longenhagen. My thanks to all of you who’ve subscribed and/or left five-star ratings.

My second book, The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves, is due out on April 21st from Harper Collins, and you can pre-order it now via their site or wherever fine books are sold. Also, check out my free email newsletter, which I say I’ll write more often than I actually write it.

I’ve also got at least five signings scheduled at independent bookstores already, with two announced on the stores’ pages: April 24th at Politics & Prose in DC and April 25th at Midtown Scholar in Harrisburg.

And now, the links…

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,
→ February 27, 2020
→ By

Klawchat 2/27/20.

Subscribers to The Athletic can see my top 100 prospects ranking as well as all of my prospect content so far, which as of today includes the top 100, the ‘just missed’ column, and org reports for the AL East and Central. My ranking of all 30 farm systems will run on Monday.

Keith Law: Some kind of night into your darkness. Klawchat.

Spencer: What is your biggest concern with Luis Garcia (WAS)?  What does he need to do to get back into your top 100?
Keith Law: He was never on my top 100. What exactly is the plus tool there? What does he do well, other than being young for his level?

eric: are you worried about flying for your work (or pleasure) with the coronavirus threat? would you refuse to at any point?
Keith Law: If the CDC advises people to stop flying, yes, I would stop. I’m certainly aware of this possibility, and I’m not taking any undue risks.

addoeh: You like to joke that “no one ever reads the intro”. But when it comes to rankings and lists, no one ever reads the content. From “The Keith Law -> Show” episode you had with Longenhagen, and looking at what Callis and Mayo have described in their evaluations, you all said similar things on Madrigal, you just value his skillset differently. But because the rankings are different, people have their torches and pitchforks out.
Keith Law: The reaction to that, and to my exclusion of Drew Waters, was really embarrassing. If you take sportsball rankings that seriously that you feel the need to insult a total stranger online, you should probably log off and contemplate your behavior.

Hank: Do you think Anthopolous will explore locking up Soroka and/or Fried? Seems like the new trend is early extensions around baseball.
Keith Law: I wouldn’t lock up Soroka with his injury history.

Dave: Hi Klaw, I hope you’re having a good one. Two questions, the most important, do you think Jarren Duran has the talent to become a significant part of the Red Sox’s future? Second, can this country overcome another four years of the liar in chief?
Keith Law: Duran can be a regular in the right scenario, not a ‘significant’ player though. No, I don’t think we can – it’s the deterioration of our democracy and essential institutions that scares me.

Logan: How did Ozzie Albies only get 7 years 35 million? Even with his option years, it’s a 9/49 max deal.  When he signed the deal he already had 200+ MLB games under his belt and was an All Star too. Players who hadn’t even played in Majors yet are securing larger salaries and total possible payouts.
Keith Law: Terrible advice.

Greg: It’s refreshing to see a different perspective regarding Drew Waters. The BABiP is insane, tons of K’s. He’s got bust written all over him. Brave fans are completely over-valuing him.
Keith Law: I wouldn’t say he has ‘bust written all over him,’ but there are serious red flags, including his lack of any kind of approach and questions about his makeup.
Keith Law: Would he be so overvalued if he weren’t also from Georgia?

Amit: What would do with Marcus Semien if you were in charge of the A’s? I feel if they can’t reach a contract extension before the season starts they should trade him. Would hate for them to lose him after the year for just a draft pick and they do have some of in house options in Mateo, Allen, etc. Also feel Chapman and Olson are higher priorities for keeping long term.
Keith Law: Eh, if they think they can contend again, it makes sense to keep him this year and play it out.

Larry: How many of these college pitchers have a chance to grade out better than last years top college pitcher Nick Lodolo?
Keith Law: 3-5. It’s a great pitching class.

John: How do you factor in organizational success in developing or not developing certain positions when you do your prospect rankings?  I’ll use the example of Cleveland having success in developing starting pitchers (Bieber, Civale, Plesac, even Plutko to an extent).
Keith Law: The rankings are completely team-agnostic. Any player can be traded at any time.

Sean: Hi Kieth – is Vladito destined to be the Prince Fielder of Canada as a 1b/DH for the Jays, esp with Groshans on the way? Also, their outfield is terrible, should they sign Puig?
Keith Law: I think and have long thought Vlad Jr has to be a DH. I know Jays fans didn’t want to hear it a year ago but now that you’ve seen him at third you probably understand why i said that.

Jabroni: Vaughn or Torkelson?
Keith Law: Torkelson.

Dave C: With only 1 option left should the Mets throw Kilome in the bullpen or try to stretch him out post TJ? Ditto Szapucki
Keith Law: Not sure why the option plays into it here … the bigger question is whether he can ever start, and I don’t think he can.

Dave: Keith, wondering how Miguel Amaya stacks up versus other catchers on your list (obviously inferior based on NOT making the list)? He’ll be repeating AA as a 20-yr old with above average defense…is his meh-ish offensive potential holding him back in your view?
Keith Law: Amaya has never played in AA. He hit .235 last year in high A. He’s a prospect but I don’t understand why anyone expected to see him on the top 100.

Bruce: In your just missed segment, you said that Andrew Knizner was not a good receiver and may fit better in a utility role as a part time catcher. How likely is it for a catcher to be able to improve their receiving skills at this point in their career? Does Knizner still have the potential to be an every day MLB catcher?
Keith Law: Depends on the catcher – some just need more instruction, some will never have the hands to do it. I think Knizner is more likely in the latter category.

Bruce: The Brewers just signed Freddy Peralta to an extension. His success to date has been limited – flashes of brilliance followed by bad outings. Was that a worthwhile risk for Milwaukee?
Keith Law: It’s so little money relative to what an MLB team should spend that I think it’s fine. He’s just not the type of player I’d be rushing to lock up long term.

Frank: As a fellow democrat, do you share the “doom and gloom” of a seemingly-impending Bernie Sanders nomination (re: being unable to defeat Trump in the General Election)?  Could a Warren/Buttigieg or Biden/Clinton pre-convention announcement slow his momentum? Socialism will never “sell” in the red states.
Keith Law: No matter who the Democrats nominate, the Republicans will call them a “socialist,” and the media will happily parrot it, and 70% of Americans will believe it because they don’t know what socialism actually means and that not even Bernie is actually proposing policies that resemble socialism.

Stan: Hi Keith! Where would Martin and Torkelson rank on your Top 100 list if they were eligible? Thanks!
Keith Law: Other than saying they’d be on the list somewhere, I prefer not to answer that type of question, mixing amateur players with professional ones.

Ron: Hi Keith-Love all your work. And I am not one to complain if “My Team” prospect didn’t make your top 100 or is ranked lower than I think.  I don’t scout and I don’t talk to scouts, so actually how do I know what that prospect is like? Just like 100 % of the complainers of your work.  So keep it up. Just like you’re doing. One question: How easy will it be for the Twins to get Lewis back on track with his mechanics at the plate?  Thanks!!
Keith Law: I feel like it shouldn’t be hard to get a player back to where he was two years ago – not like you’re trying to teach him something totally new.

Tank: Not really as a blanket statement towards leaning towards safety in a prospect overall, just a specific instance here: am I wrong for being more confident in Gigliotti being an MLB regular in some form than that Wilmington trio (Pratto, Melendez, Matias)?
Keith Law: I don’t see the path for Gigliotti to be a regular right now.

Greg: Is an economy-tanking coronavirus outbreak the thing that might actually lead to Trump losing? And if so… worth it?
Keith Law: I don’t think anything would contribute as much to a Trump loss as a down economy, but I could never say the deaths of a few thousand Americans from coronavirus is a cost ‘worth’ paying to remove anyone from office.
Keith Law: I do think a disastrous federal response to a pandemic would also contribute to a Democrat win.

Paul: If Hosmer was a FA, what type of contract would he get? (Lol)
Keith Law: Less than 2 and $20MM.

Steve: What do you think of Patrick Weigel? Good bullpen arm for 2020?
Keith Law: Probably. NL East reports on Tuesday.

SeanE: I know you are skeptical that Oneil Cruz can stick at SS due to his height.   The Pirates seem intent on keeping him there…at least for now. Considering he is already at AA level  (and could see Indy this year)at what point do the Pirates have to make that call?
Keith Law: This would be the year for me. Maybe they could hold off one more year but why?

Jason: Most likely scenario for Trevor Larnach given his defensive limitations – (1) doesn’t hit enough to play enough every day; (2) is a league-average hitter for a corner OF but gives back most of his value defensively; (3) is an above-average hitter so his team lives with his limitations in the field
Keith Law: somewhere between 2 and 3.

Jim: Keith, Having lots of fun reading through the team-by-team writeups.  A couple of questions:  is there a particular reason you stopped including “Others of Note” after Boston’s?  And could you expand on your “willingness to compete” comment on the White Sox’s Matt Thompson?  Thanks!
Keith Law: I didn’t stop including them. I’m looking at Cleveland’s right now, for example.

EL: Besides Balazovic, any other Canadian baseball prospects I should follow?
Keith Law: Dasan Brown comes to mind.

Zach: Does Lodolo make a big jump in your ranking this year if he has a good year? Seems like ++ control and a good frame to develop.
Keith Law: Not about a good or bad year but about what he is. If he somehow adds velocity, sure, but I don’t think he has the frame for that.

JC: Isn’t it strange on a conceptual level how non-industry people can argue with your rankings? Granted you can’t just fall into the appeal to authority trap, but other than comparing it to other lists or looking at a prospect’s fangraphs page for 5 minutes, what exposure do 99.5% of complaining people have to the prospects?
Keith Law: Nothing. A local journalist decided to question my integrity this morning about a player he’s obviously never seen and who he said won an award that doesn’t exist.
Keith Law: Whatever, it’s part of the job, everyone’s an expert on everything now.

Rick Delaney: I’m midway through Gaddis, “A Frolic of His Own.” You’ve read him?
Keith Law: I read The Recognitions but I can’t say I really understood it.

Wait, what?: Do you think that a large part of Manfred trying to cover up the Astros scandal has a lot to do with preventing other team’s schemes from reaching the public?
Keith Law: I think a large part of Manfred’s response to the Astros/Red Sox is to try to prevent the other teams doing this shit from getting out.
Keith Law: And other teams were doing it. Not a lot, but others.

Kevin: I remember years ago you mentioned you that Severino was a bullpen arm most likely because of his violent delivery. Do you think moving forward after his recovery, should he go into the bullpen or keep starting?
Keith Law: Really depends on the injury and the rehab, no? He was hurt before the elbow tear, so this isn’t like, say, Michael Kopech, who had TJ but didn’t have a previous injury and will likely just step right back into starting.

eric: did you read quinn norton’s post about life after being “canceled?” i think the idea of that story is really interesting, but hers just read like “NOT FAIR! I’M A GOOD PERSON (even though i befriended nazis and made offensive homophobic and racist jokes)!”
Keith Law: No, after how she handled that controversy, I’m not that interested in anything she has to say.

Jack: Just to confirm – even at a prospect level, there’s nothing at all valuable when looking at box scores from spring training games, correct?
Keith Law: Correct.

Appa Yip Yip: If Alejandro Kirk does improve his conditioning, could he be an everyday catcher, or he likely a backup C/DH who can rake, like a short Evan Gattis?
Keith Law: Gattis could never really catch. Kirk can.

JSD: There is a thread on twitter asking White Sox fans if they would be pleased if Luis Robert’s career was similar to Rickey Henderson’s career.  Most ‘fans’ said no.  How is it that people don’t realize just how good Rickey was — it’s not the long ago.  Is it because he hung around and was basically an average player at the age of 42/43? Really, what gives?!
Keith Law: That was astonishing. If you don’t recognize Rickey is one of the 15-20 best players ever then, fine, just don’t participate in that kind of discussion.

Michael: I don’t think there has been a good explanation as to why “Carona” virus is worse than the bad flu that happened a couple of years ago.  Any insight?
Keith Law: The virus itself (or the resulting illness) isn’t worse. The incubation period is longer, however, so people are spreading the virus before they know they’re sick, which makes it much more likely to become a pandemic.

Andres: As a Mets fan, what should I expect out of Wacha? Maybe a 2-WAR season?
Keith Law: I’d be happy with that.

tim: how likely is it that we’ll see robo-umps calling balls and strikes in MLB and how will that impact how catchers are valued?
Keith Law: By 2022 I expect an automated strike zone and universal DH.

Torkelson: I will be drafted #1 by detroit, no doubt.
Keith Law: There’s doubt. Austin Martin is pretty damn good. I think it’s one of those two.

Chris: Will players play less hard this year given that they’re just competing for a piece of metal?
Keith Law: Only the ones who realize it’s just for a piece of metal.

Chris: How often will you podcast?
Keith Law: It should be every week, my schedule permitting.

Matt: Why is it so hard to draft good players? Mike Piazza was drafted in like the 956th round and a hall of famer. Brien Taylor was #1 pick and never made it to MLB.
Keith Law: OK, you picked maybe the two most extreme, ridiculous examples to make some kind of point here. Taylor never reached the majors because he got jumped in a bar fight, not because it was a bad pick.

John: I think I have food tastes that are somewhat similar to yours, but when it comes to coffee, I would imagine that you’d consider my tastes middlebrow.  I like Peet’s and Starbucks, especially their darker roasts.  Moreover, when I’ve had coffee from independent roasters, I’ve often perceived the taste to be a bit too bitter.  Can you explain what I’m missing and what your reaction is when you have coffee from a mainstream coffee outlet (but to be clear, still a place that focuses on coffeee… not like McDonalds coffee or something like that)?
Keith Law: That’s interesting because I believe the chemicals in coffee that produce bitter flavors are much more present in darker roasts and in coffees that are overbrewed (too high a water/ground coffee ratio). You may be detecting more ‘sour’ flavors in lighter roasts, which is true because those flavors tend to vanish or be overshadowed by longer roasting. But lighter-roasted coffee is not more bitter unless the brewer isn’t using enough coffee in the first place.
Keith Law: Also, I wouldn’t consider your tastes middlebrow. They’re just not my tastes.

Alex: 100 prospects/30 teams means roughly each team should have about 3 players on your top 100.  Is it fair to say that a team without at least 2 players in the top 100 is not really doing a good job managing their farm system?
Keith Law: No.

eric: do you have any tattoos? i’m thinking about getting my first, but still debating if, where and what
Keith Law: I do not. My girlfriend vetoed my “I HATE YOUR TEAM” upper back tattoo idea the other day.

Idaho Nuke: I’m about as far-right as you can get (I would never vote for Trump for a few reasons though) and I would like to thank you for always keeping our brief political discussions civil over the past several years on Twitter. It is nice to have short chats with someone who agrees with me on virtually nothing when both sides are respectful.
Keith Law: You’re welcome. Happy to talk to anyone who is civil in turn.

TP: Thanks so much for all of your hard work on the Top 100! Do you have any issues with blogs and websites that cover specific teams posting parts of your top 100 (i.e. names and rankings for players in the org. they cover)? From all of the content that is out there, you can actually reverse engineer your top 100 list (albeit just the names and rankings – not the write ups, although some sites have also posted portions of those…)
Keith Law: I have asked some people to take down screenshots of entire player capsules. That’s copyright infringement.

Appa Yip Yip: Patrick Murphy placed 14th on your Jays list despite his lengthy injury history. If he didn’t have that history and had just steadily worked his way up, where would he have ranked? Guess I’m asking what his ceiling is.
Keith Law: He might be a top 100 guy if he were completely healthy (or had just the one TJ on his record). Stuff is there. Gotta pitch some time, though.

eric: Bigger question: Torkelson or Turk Turkelton?
Keith Law: Chuckie Lee Torkelson.

Patrick: Thanks for the detailed write-up on the Royals.  Appears at the surface, the lack of position player prospects is holding down the system a little bit.  Fair assessment?
Keith Law: Agreed.

Bort: What would you say is the biggest level jump there is in the minors (besides AAA to the majors of course).
Keith Law: high A to double A.

Alex: Big fan of your work. First time I’ve caught a chat on time though. What are your opinions on Potential 1st rounder Ed Howard?
Keith Law: Seems like the kind of high-risk, athletic, maybe not that advanced player teams shy away from in the first round and overpay afterwards.
Keith Law: overpay = over slot, not pay too much.

Jackie: Assuming Clemens and Bonds never get the necessary votes from you the BBWAA  to get into the HOF, how do you think the Veterans’ Committee will look at them?  Do they sail in, or do the Joe Morgan types keep them out?
Keith Law: I think they’ll do worse with ex-players than they have with writers.

Guest: Anthony Kay was on your top50 midseason honourable mention, but wasn’t in the top 100 this go-around. Was this performance related, or did just too many guys jump over him? Thanks.
Keith Law: The lists are not sequential, and the honorable mentions aren’t necessarily guys 51-55 or something.

Jim L: What are you thoughts on Bloomberg for president? To me, he seems like he can work with both sides and can also counter Trump’s main boast of being rich and successful.
Keith Law: Hard pass. History of mistreating women, racial profiling, supporting right-wing candidates … nah, we’re good.

Dylan: Your annual breakout column is my favorite column of the year. Are you going to write one this year now that you’re at the Atlantic? Many fantasy baseball players (or at least the smrt ones) rely on your insights. Thanks for the great work.
Keith Law: No, but I plan to write one at the Athletic.

Jared: The Brewers owner said that they operated at a loss last year since they signed a couple free agents but also sanctioned a study saying how the stadium makes the city so much money. Seems like mixed signals to me. Thoughts?
Keith Law: It seems most likely that they are lying about all of it.

John: Can you explain why the general public does not seem to be embracing Elizabeth Warren? She is incredibly smart, prepared, progressive and pragmatic. Is 90% of the reason misogyny? 95%?
Keith Law: I’d say 80% misogyny, 20% that Bernie was ‘there’ first (from 2016).

Ben: I know you were in favor of the Giants effectively buying Will Wilson for $12M yet he didnt make your top 100 or near missed list.  So if $12M is a good investment for a guy who is not in the top 120 of all MLB prospects, doesnt that speak volumes to how undervalued and underpaid these guys really are?
Keith Law: Yes, yes it does.

Andy: I live in Madison, WI and go to a couple of Brewer games a year. I have spent probably $1000 in the Milwaukee area due to attending Brewer games, none of it in actual Milwaukee other than parking and things at the stadium. In fact, I’ve never once actually left the stadium towards Milwaukee. So you can add this to the anecdata about how Miller Park adds very little to the surrounding area.
Keith Law: Right? The stadium isn’t even downtown! It’s not like you can walk out of Miller Park and into a bar and stumble out of there into another bar (speaking of which, no one mentions the added costs of more people getting drunk in your city, so you need more policing, have more minor crimes, etc.).

Andy: Apparently for next year, your top 100 rankings should be your ranking of all the people who others have ranked in the top 100.
Keith Law: It is the only way to make some people happy. I would think that if you pay to read my work, you’d want my work.

Mitch: Re: Amaya. He had a 122 wRC+ as the youngest hitter in his league at the most demanding position with great underlying metrics. How can we not expect to see him on the top 100?
Keith Law: wRC+ is a useless stat for minor leaguers, in large part because it over-rewards walks. Chase Vallot had a 136 wRC+ in high A (same level and league as Amaya) in his age-20 season (same age as Amaya). He was and is a non-prospect.
Keith Law: Vallot was a catcher too, BTW.

lucas: Will Cavan Biggio ever hit enough to be a regular? The sky high walk rates make me believe he at least has a good approach at the plate?
Keith Law: No, I don’t think he will.

Jon: Do you think Clarke Schmidt could find his way into the Yanks rotation this season?
Keith Law: Yes.

Spencer: You’re right.  Confused the Luis Garcias again.  Hate when that happens.
Keith Law: There’s another one now, in Houston’s system, who might be the best of the three.

Mario: Tom Murphy or Sean Murphy – who is the better offensive catcher?
Keith Law: Sean.

DdogersDude: Tim Tebow…..  Why?
Keith Law: Hey, I feel quite confident that he is one of the 25 best baseball players in (checks notes) the Philippines.

Michael: Hey Keith- Not really prospect related, but do you think any of the candidates for the 5th spot in the Phillies rotation: Pivetta, Velasquez, Suarez – have a shot to develop into anything approaching league average (or better)?
Keith Law: Mayyyybe Suarez. Not the others.

Joe: Keith, is Kumar Rocker a generational type prospect like many fans are hyping him up to be, or is he just the most famous one at the moment?
Keith Law: Just the most famous. Would bet against him going 1-1 in 2021 right now (that is, I would bet on the field).

Michael: There is a great QB at Clemson who will be the #1 pick next year. I’m a believer that he should sit the year out because why get injured when you are playing for free.  Would that work in baseball with a great pitching prospect?
Keith Law: Yes. Hell, we take pitchers in the first round after they’ve missed their entire draft years due to Tommy John.

Andy: How could there be a disastrous federal response to the pandemic? We have Mike Pence on the case and he absolutely will do what the scientists say and is known for listening to evidence and quickly adjusting his thinking.
Keith Law: I heard he wants to send coronavirus to conversion therapy and turn it into a rhinovirus instead.

Alex: Does Kyle Isbels AFL performance help rebuild his stock enough that if he has a good year this year he’ll be considered for the top 100?
Keith Law: The AFL performance does not – tiny sample in a hitter’s league. However, he has some of the raw tools to be a top 100 guy in the future, if his wrist strength is 100% this year.

eric: if you were deciding between two pitchers, would you take the guy who throws 100 with ease, but not great command/control, or a guy who sits at 88-92 with pinpoint control?
Keith Law: The former. The guy throwing 88-92 is going to have a hard time avoiding hard contact. There aren’t many Kyle Hendrickses out there.

Jason: I know you’re a big metal guy, so I’ve always wondered your opinion on my favorite act of the 80s – GnR.  GnR obviously isn’t metal, but I believe hard rock is appropriate.  Yes, the star only shone for a few years, but boy was it bright.  Thoughts?
Keith Law: Appetite was a landmark. Use Your Illusion was an exercise in masturbatory excess.
Keith Law: Although I’m not sure Bob Guccione Jr. has ever really recovered from that.

Kevin w: How do you write?  Locked in office, on couch, music/background noise?
Keith Law: Kitchen table.

Jeff: Hey Klaw, how much is the Reds defense gonna suffer with Moose at 2nd and Castellanos playing any OF position?
Keith Law: And not a true CF on the roster. It’s going to matter. Bauer is going to throw a lot of baseballs into centerfield this year.

Mitchell: Not really a question, but wanted to say after months of holding off, your top 100 was the tipping point for me subscribing to the Athletic. Have to say, damn I’m glad I did it. Some amazing content.
Keith Law: It’s a great site. The app is really strong too.

John: Similar to one of your answers above, I’ve heard rumors that the MLB investigation uncovered six teams engaged in sign stealing beyond the usual cat and mouse game.  Without asking you to name names, do you have a feel for which teams those are?
Keith Law: I think I wrote that rumor, no? I have a list of the six supposed perpetrators. One of them seems totally wrong to me.

Paul: Hey Keith – how was the food on your ATL/Athens trip? Anything 60+? Saw your Five and Ten pic… man I miss that place!
Keith Law: That meal was off the charts good. Also ate at The Grit, The Globe (mostly for beer), 1000 Faces, Zombie Coffee + Donuts, then hit Pho Nam at Krog St when we got back to Atlanta.
Keith Law: oh and Spiller Park at Ponce City Market Sunday morning.

Foster: I seem to recall that you have a fairly strong distaste for the music of Vampire Weekend. Any specific reason for this?
Keith Law: The reason is their music.

Kevin w: Who is your preferred candidate (besides the obvious anyone who can beat trump)?
Keith Law: Warren.

Dr. Bob: According to a guy on NPR yesterday (missed the name), the SARS virus was arrested because the CDC worked with China and other countries to contain it. Trump has cut the CDC budget and banned them from working with China. I am more concerned with Coronavirus than the other diseases that didn’t turn into pandemics.
Keith Law: Excellent point. The gutting of the CDC was going to hurt us at some point. It has just happened sooner rather than later.

Joe: Have you ever considered turning your newsletter into a Patreon or Substack and charging for it (and maybe writing a little more often).  I always enjoy reading it.
Keith Law: I appreciate that, but I don’t think it would be right for me to monetize that. You folks pay for my content at The Athletic and I am compensated that way.

rick: do you use marijuana, thc, cbd products?
Keith Law: I have not. One thing I enjoyed about Pain and Glory was the scene where Antonio Banderas’ character jokes about trying heroin for the first time at age ~60. It me (well, I haven’t tried heroin, but you get the idea).

Dave: For someone like Riley Greene, who you expect to end up in LF, but the Tigers are playing in CF… how much cost is there to keeping him in CF for now?  Are Tigers losing something by not trying to develop him as the best LF he can be? Or is keeping a player as far “left” on the defensive spectrum as possible for as long as possible always worthwhile?  Curious about the underlying philosophy here.
Keith Law: Don’t think there’s a cost there, but there might be one to leaving a player at 2b or C too long due to injury risk.

rick: my mom is a hard-core republican, has been all her life. she said she watched the dem debates with an open mind, but hated how everyone came off in SC. but she said she likes tulsi, and is open to others like klobuchar. even though tulsi is an abhorrent candidate, should i cut my mom a break since she’s actually open to not voting trump?
Keith Law: If she likes Tulsi, then she was probably never voting Democrat in the first place.

Sammy Sosa: Remember when Obama was a socialist for pushing a Republican healthcare plan?
Keith Law: Yep, same one they want to dismantle because a black man pushed it.

Andy: My favorite reaction to your prospect list in the comments and on Twitter was asking if you forgot about x player. Yes, I’m sure after multiple editing processes and months of writing you just didn’t remember about this possible top 150 guy.
Keith Law: Someone asked a year ago if I forgot Luis Garcia (Washington). That person is nowhere to be found after Garcia posted a .280 OBP in AA. So weird, I was sure I’d get an apology.

Matt: Has here been any update on JT Ginn? Are you able to speculate on his draft ranking or is it too early?
Keith Law: He’s off the board until he pitches again.

JJ: As a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, I can tell you that nobody “embraces” Elizabeth Warren.  She’s usually the smartest person in the room, but she just doesn’t connect with voters on a personal level.  She lacks the personal likeability of a Bush 43 or Obama that one needs to be elected president.  To put in in scouting terms, “low ceiling, high floor”.  Her brains make her an acceptable senator, but that’s as far as she’ll go, and it has nothing to do with her gender.
Keith Law: Maybe she should smile more.

Jim: Regarding the “others of note”, I could have sworn they weren’t there for Cleveland and KC; sorry about that. They’re missing for Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago, but I guess not all merit the section.
Keith Law: Sometimes I struggle to get to 20 names worth writing about; sometimes I have closer to 30. But they are all over the team writeups.

Nate: Any hope Jonathan India ends up an above average regular?
Keith Law: Would like to see if he makes better contact this year with a healthy wrist.

Kevin: Just wanted to say first I ended my ESPN+ and switched to Athletic to day to follow you there (your old place is also not friendly to Canadians trying to subscribe, so made it easier).
Keith Law: Thank you. No idea why ESPN wouldn’t consider carving out an Insider-like option for international readers.

Steve: anecdotal, but one reason Warren might not be getting traction as a Bernie alternative among younger voters is the whole “identified as Native American” controversy, which I had thought was a cudgel limited to Trump & the right with “Pocahontas”. When I mentioned my Warren support, my very liberal college junior son and some of his friends dismissed her as another Rachel Dolezal.
Keith Law: Well that’s their error, isn’t it?

Warbiscuit: Besides Tanner Burns are there any other potential draftable Auburn guys you like?
Keith Law: He’s the only one on my list right now.

Matt: Jack Leiter vs. Kumar Rocker. Who are you drafting?
Keith Law: Aren’t they different draft years? 2022 vs 2021?

Guest: Hey Keith – wife and I are doing Asheville, Charleston, Savannah, and Atlanta in a month. Any restos we shouldn’t miss?
Keith Law: Husk in Charleston, Empire State South/The Lawrence in Atlanta. I did not have a great experience at Gunshow in Atlanta but it is a critics’ favorite.

Patrick: Keith, as I fade into this chat, oddball Q. You ever end up talking cooking/music/mutual interests with players/scouts/prospects? Things they know you are interested in?
Keith Law: Scouts, often. Players, just occasionally, although I am always happy to discuss a shared interest with anybody.

Kevin: Maybe one quibble about the prospect list – can you add DOB/age in the future? You do mention it in some write ups, but it would be good to have it right there next to the name.
Keith Law: Good idea. Those were in the headers when I wrote up the list at ESPN so I never had to add them myself.

Robbie: Not sure if you’ll have an article with predictions or if its too early into camp in your opinion, but who would you pick to play in the world series this year. Severino + Paxton news definitely impacts yanks chances slightly at least.
Keith Law: I was down on the Yankees in my predictions last year because I thought their rotation was too injury-prone. I guess I was a year early. They can still make the playoffs with what they have, though, with only one other team in the division actively trying to contend this year.

Joe: Based on the Orioles write up, fair to say that the Schoop, Britton, and Gausman trades were all a bust for Baltimore?  Not one prospect from those trades is on the list.
Keith Law: Yes.
Keith Law: OK, back to writing … I’m nearly done with everything, just one team report left and the back half of the farm system rankings. Thank you all for reading, and for subscribing. The AL West reports will go up Friday, following by the farm rankings Monday and the NL East-Central-West the three days after that. And then we sleep! Enjoy your weekends.

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