Carlos Collazo

Notes

A place for my short notes, thoughts and links. See full notes archive here.

• 30 Jun, 2026 C4 Jolly Rancher Blue Raspberry

  I tend to avoid C4 these days just because I don't need the beta alanine regularly, but this one is solid. 50.

  

• 27 Jun, 2026 A note from a new home

  I write this note from our new apartment in North Carolina.

  It's thrilling to write that sentence.

• 19 Jun, 2026 MLB's proposal to end high school draft eligibility

  So, kind of a crazy day in baseball yesterday.

  MLB proposed a sweeping overhaul to its amateur player acquisition system—most dramatically it would eliminate high school eligibility from the draft—in its most recent round of negotiating with the MLBPA.

  We surveyed reactions from college coaches and scouts. You can probably guess which group was more excited about the idea.

• 17 Jun, 2026 No amount of Lionel Messi is ever enough by Rory Smith

  A recap of yesterday's Messi hat-trick, this was a great read from Rory Smith:

  But the third was greeted with something deeper, wilder, a frenzy that felt almost religious. That is what Messi has always done. There is no measure of cynicism that can survive the sheer, childlike wonder he inspires, no grizzled wisdom that he cannot convert to giddiness and awe. Perhaps that is his greatest gift, the truest gauge of the impossible scale of his talent: that no matter how excited you are to see him play, it is not – and it can never be – enough.

• 17 Jun, 2026 Lionel Messi is incredible

  Lionel Messi is incredible.

• 16 Jun, 2026 Moving the tag cloud to the top of the archive

  A quick blog update today. I've moved the tag cloud to the top of the archive page. I think it makes the archive more functional. I also added a smaller "Tags" label above the tag cloud.

  I like how this works across the blog, notes and photos archive. This is another benefit of driving this blog through tags and embedded posts. It all works pretty seamlessly.

  Here's the CSS snippet if you want to do the same

  /*Bring tag cloud to the top of the archive page */
  body.blog main {
    display: flex;
    flex-direction: column;
  }
  
  body.blog main small {
    order: -1;
  }
  
  /*Add "Tag" label above tag cloud */
  body.blog main small:first-of-type::before {
    content: "Tags";
    display: block;
    font-weight: 700;
    color: var(--heading-color);
    margin-bottom: 0.4em;
  }
  

• 16 Jun, 2026 Myles Bailey's elite power and path forward after injury

  Myles Bailey has one of the most extreme offensive profiles in the class.

  Here's more on his injury & rehab, how he made huge strides as a hitter in 2026, how his elite power stacks up with the best sluggers in college baseball—and his path forward:

• 15 Jun, 2026 Trump Celebrates While America Capitulates by Tom Nichols

  We are in desperate need of competence in the White House. Tom Nichols on the peace deal with Tehran:

  Trump began this war by promising the Iranian people that they would be able to seize their government from the theocratic tyrants who oppress them, and he repeatedly said he would settle for nothing less than “unconditional surrender.” Had Trump toppled the regime in Tehran, he would have had the thanks of most of the world—and congratulations from even his most dedicated critics. Instead, the United States has been defeated, and this evening found Trump out on the lawn waiting for the rain to clear so he could begin his party.

• 15 Jun, 2026 Canes win the Stanley Cup

  Huge congrats to the Canes for taking down the Golden Knights in this year's Stanley Cup Finals.

  I can't claim to be a big hockey fan, but rooting for the home team was a no-brainer—and all the games I saw were a blast.

• 13 Jun, 2026 Continuing to backlog photos from IG

  A while ago I started adding my IG archive here on the blog. I'm still doing it here and there, but it's not a real pressing item for me. It's been fun to slowly build out the photo page though, and make it exactly what I want it to be.

• 13 Jun, 2026 USA 4, Paraguay 1

  That was the best game I’ve ever seen from the US men’s soccer team.

  Wow. Let’s go.

• 11 Jun, 2026 30 things to know with 30 days until draft day

  Draft day is only 30 days away. With that, Matt Eddy and I teamed up to bring you 30 things you need to know about this year's draft.

• 11 Jun, 2026 Why a World Cup is the biggest event on planet Earth by Oliver Kay

  Very excited for the World Cup starting today. This was a solid read from Oliver Kay on what the event means, despite plenty of ugliness:

  It will. And the world will be captivated, as it always is. And some of us will feel like kids again, marvelling at Messi, Mbappe and Yamal the way we once marvelled at Zico, Michel Platini and Maradona.

  “Whatever else is happening, however corrupted and exploited the institution of the World Cup may become,” Wilson writes, “the magic goes on.”

• 10 Jun, 2026 Claude for google sheets & site coding help

  I think I remain generally negative on AI, but there's no doubt Claude has helped me figure out how to do all sorts of useful things with formulas within Google Sheets and CSS work on the blog.

• 10 Jun, 2026 Added pagination to notes & photos pages

  More blog tinkering while watching this great Canes/Knights finals game—I've added scripts to paginate both my notes and photos pages.

  I never wanted to have an infinite scroll with either page. Instead I previously opted for a hard limit of posts and a link to the full archive. With pagination it's now possible to click through and explore both feeds with the complete embedded styling intact.

  Thanks to Robert Birming and his pagination plugin for making this work, with some help from Claude.

• 09 Jun, 2026 Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2

  I don't need a Switch 2, I don't need a Switch 2, I don't need a Switch 2.

  Nintendo: Ocarina of Time remake.

  Well damn.

• 09 Jun, 2026 Final 2026 draft report writing stretch

  Today is the start of a big final draft report writing stretch.

  Let's get typing.

• 08 Jun, 2026 World Cup tourists in America

  It's a blast watching tourists from outside the country come to the States for the World Cup and have positive things to say about their experience.

  We're definitely in need of these positive vibes.

• 08 Jun, 2026 Thinking about a sidebar theme

  I'm thinking about implementing a sidebar theme here on the blog because it's impossible for me to stop tinkering...

• 08 Jun, 2026 2026 Mock Draft V 4.0

  We have about a month until the 2026 draft. Here's my fourth attempt at projecting the first 40 picks, with all sorts of notes on what I've been hearing.

• 07 Jun, 2026 Boring Monaco

  Another year, another boring Monaco race.

  Edit: Only a Ferrari disasterclass could make this interesting. Poor Charles.

• 06 Jun, 2026 American Democracy Wasn't Designed For This by Jeffrey Rosen

  Our 18th century institutions are being challenged by 21st century technologies. A good read from Jeffrey Rosen:

  The internet has turned everyone into a potential publisher, able to instantly spread facts or falsehoods to millions. Most people get information about politics and current events not from newspapers but from social media, which discourages engagement with human beings of different political persuasions. Now the rise of AI is discouraging engagement with any human beings at all; instead, more and more people are forming their views in conversation with a machine that lacks moral sense. As America approaches its 250th anniversary, the biggest question for our democracy is whether a system designed for the communications technologies of the 18th century can survive those of the 21st.

• 05 Jun, 2026 Notes are a tool for... by Juha-Matti Santala

  Writing is thinking.

  Juha-Matti Santala writes about that, and other benefits of the process of note-taking, in this blog I stumbled upon from 2024:

  Active writing and reviewing my notes helps me make new discoveries as well. Without my notes, each thought would risk staying alone as separate thought, disconnected. With the notes, I can accumulate understanding and a knowledge base to learn more about the topics I’m interested in.

• 04 Jun, 2026 Five Guys > In-N-Out

  Just had Five Guys for dinner. Hard to believe there are people who prefer In-N-Out.

• 03 Jun, 2026 2026 Draft Preview Cover

  Today we unveiled the cover for our 2026 Draft Preview magazine. Roch Cholowksy—front and center as you might expect. I think this came out looking great:

  

• 02 Jun, 2026 MLB and the MLBPA Have Made Their Opening Offers by Ben Clemens

  This was a good piece from Ben Clemens at FanGraphs on the initial CBA proposals from MLB and the MLBPA. I remain philosophically opposed to a hard cap and floor system.

  What else will come out of this? I’m not sure. But so far, the opposing sides aren’t speaking the same language. Baseball is in full swing, and there’s little pressure to bring this negotiation to the foreground while fans are focused on actual on-field delight instead of dry arguments about money. Come November, the urgency will pick up. But at the moment, my only takeaway is that next year, TV revenues aren’t going to be shared the same way that they are now, and we have a long way to go before we get there.

• 01 Jun, 2026 Andrelton Simmons was the best defender in baseball. Then he suddenly walked away. by Sam Blum

  Andrelton Simmons remains the best defensive player I've watched, and one of my favorite big leaguers ever. This was a nice piece on what he's been doing since he left the majors, by Sam Blum.

  For someone who's been in bad spots mentally, he sounds at peace with himself, which is great to hear:

  The next day, Simmons was back in the lineup. Back to being under the radar, out of the public view, but out on the field taking grounders. Enjoying that baseball, even in this different form, is finally coming easy to him again.

• 30 May, 2026 Report writing progress

  Steadily making progress on my finalized draft reports.

• 28 May, 2026 Behind the scenes of the full-cast Harry Potter audiobooks

  I've seen a lot of the marketing of these new full-cast Harry Potter audiobooks, but these two videos going behind the scenes of how they were created is pretty incredible. It's crazy to see how much detail and care went into them.

• 27 May, 2026 Build a Library by Arnau Diaz

  When I saw the title of this blog, I thought it was going to be about creating a physical library of books. Instead, it's on the value of trying to capture more of what you're reading in an attempt to remember more and make connections.

  I dig it:

  Eight months ago I started dumping everything I read into Apple Notes. Every day. At the end of the month I review it, keep what's worth keeping, merge it into a file, push it to a forge. That's it.

• 27 May, 2026 The 2026 BA 500

  As promised yesterday, the BA 500 for the 2026 draft class is now live on the site.

  This is always a huge milestone for me and the entire draft team. Just over a month to go until draft day. Time to start fine-tuning and finalizing reports.

• 26 May, 2026 The annual scouting report writing binge

  It is late May. That means it's the time of year where I do very little but sit in the office chair and plug away writing scouting reports.

  The first edition of our BA 500 list goes live tomorrow. Now it's all about making sure all our reports are updated and finalized.

• 26 May, 2026 Google's new icons

  I resisted the urge to criticize Google's new icons when they dropped and I'm glad I did. Now that I've gotten used to them I actually prefer them to the old versions.

• 22 May, 2026 This Literary AI Scandal Changes Everything by Vauhini Vara

  Humans putting AI-written text into a chatbot so that an AI can tell them if the writing is actually written by an AI. We live in a society.

  I think we should treat people who pass off AI writing as their own exactly the same as we would treat someone who plagiarizes. A good, but depressing, read by Vauhini Vara:

  The scandal started the usual way. Readers noticed AI-like prose in a written work and took to ridiculing it online. Some ran the writing through an AI-detection platform that labeled it entirely AI-generated. The institutions involved in its publication scrambled to figure out what had happened.

• 20 May, 2026 On being a workaholic because work is interesting

  These comments from Sam Harris really resonated with me. I'm fortunate to do something I genuinely enjoy for work. From this podcast at the 37-minute mark:

  On some level I'm a workaholic, right? I find myself always working, but that's as much a product of the fact that I've managed to, like you I think, find a career where I can do really what interests me. There's really not much daylight between what I want to do and what I have to do most of the time. It's an incredibly rare and fortunate situation.

• 20 May, 2026 GroupMe please stop recommending contacts

  For the last week or so GroupMe has been recommending that I message random contacts on the app.

  How exactly do these people think their product is used?

• 19 May, 2026 The Best Graduation Speech Is One Nobody Remembers by Ian Bogost

  Hard to believe how many tone-deaf commencement speeches centering AI we've seen this year. Ian Bogost writes about what makes the best graduation speeches:

  But in light of that crisis, perhaps the most important work a commencement speaker can do is to rise above it, momentarily—to bring a community of people together through what they share in this fleeting moment, rather than to dwell on how they are being driven apart.

• 17 May, 2026 Junkie in The Sun by Deante' Hitchcock

  The more I hear from Deante' Hitchcock the more I like him.

  His 2026 album, Junkie in The Sun is immediately one of my favorites of the year. It's an emotional and introspective album filled with a ton of emotion, great technical rapping and production that carries you through the 15-song record with ease. Producer Brandon Phillips-Taylor really did an excellent job here.

  Hitchcock isn't a huge name in the rap game right now—but he should be. He actually has something interesting to say on every song on this album. The passion and performance he brings throughout the entire project is just a joy to listen to.

  Overall: 70

  I use the 20-80 scale to rate things.

• 16 May, 2026 Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton

  Hatching Twitter, by Nick Bilton, is essentially the Social Network-book equivalent for Twitter. It's the story of how Twitter was founded by a group of plucky, nerdy friends and how the egos and politicking of that group ruined their friendships over the years as the company was built and became a success.

  As a former Twitter addict, I was really into the aspects of the book that shed light on how the company was created. I would have liked even more of the details on the actual inner-workings of Twitter, more of the day-to-day of how the company was built and less of the boardroom drama that serves as the bulk of the narrative.

  Still a good read, and one that manages to make me nostalgic for the early days of Twitter—even after learning about how chaotic the company was at the time.

  Overall: 55

  I use the 20-80 scale to rate things.

• 16 May, 2026 The Men Who Want Women To Be Quiet by Helen Lewis

  What a bunch of losers. Great read from Helen Lewis:

  Yet masculinism also functions as a perpetual-motion machine of grievance, an inarticulate howl of anguish at the status quo—whatever that currently is. Masculinism is both serious and silly, sometimes camp and sometimes chilling, an attention-grabbing performance and a genuine proposition. No wonder it has become the cornerstone of Trumpism.

• 16 May, 2026 Blonde on Blonde by Will Leitch

  All of Will Leitch's newsletters are worth reading, but this one in particular struck a chord for me—though from the player's POV, not the parent's:

  The parent heard me huff and saw me check my watch. He patted me on the back, not unkindly.

  “Don’t rush this,” he said. “You’re gonna miss it.”

  He continued.

  “This is my boy’s last year. We’ve been coming out here since he was a four-year-old in T-ball. Now we’ve only got a couple of games left. And then it’s over.”

  He patted me on the back again.

  “You’ll wish, someday soon, you could still come out here with him,” he said, looking past me now, out onto the field. “But you won’t be able to. It’ll be over.”

  I stopped checking my watch after that.

• 14 May, 2026 A page for my links

  I just spun up a quick links page. That will basically serve as a linktree-esque equivalent here on the blog. I like the cards/button view and it's consistent with the theme I have on the site.

• 12 May, 2026 iOS26 Podcast Lag

  Robb mentioned how the new iOS26 update is causing a ton of lag as he tries to listen to music in the car. The one that kills me is the Apple Podcasts app now taking forever to load my next up podcasts.

  Just a brutal update.

• 10 May, 2026 Ghost 7up

  I stumbled across this new Ghost 7up flavor for the first time today. I'm always shocked at how accurate Ghost replicates the flavors they are trying to do.

  This tastes shockingly close to actual 7up, but I do think there's more of a distinct aftertaste compared to their other flavors. I could see 7up fans loving this one. It's more of a 45-grade option for me personally.

  

• 10 May, 2026 Setting aside Thinking, Fast & Slow

  I kept trying to get through Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast & Slow but I just don't think this is the book for me at the moment. I've read a ton of the psychology nonfiction genre over the years. It's just not doing it for me.

  I started listening to Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton today, and that's far more my speed at the moment.

• 09 May, 2026 Proper form lateral raises

  The humbling reality of doing lateral raises with proper form.

• 06 May, 2026 No prep fantasy football draft

  I have done basically no prep for my fantasy football dynasty draft tonight. Whoops.

  Fortunately I have already traded all my picks and only have three in the fourth round.

• 06 May, 2026 Shellsharks Blog

  Every once in a while I stumble upon a blog and just spend a ton of time poking around and reading everything.

  The Shellsharks blog by Mike Sass is exactly that. I love the setup, the different post styles, and the sheer amount of fun writing.

• 06 May, 2026 Obsidian Bullet Journal Tasks Migration in Daily Note by Caleb Hearth

  This Obsidian Bullet Journal system that Caleb Hearth writes about is nearly identical to my own. We also both don't like the reminders app unless it's for shared lists:

  Each time I try “BuJo” I end up bouncing off of it after a week or two—for me at least the analog nature of the paper and pen(cil) approach has always been a downside. Working with physical media has meant that I’m not going to always have those items around, won’t be able to search them from whatever device I’ve got my mitts on at the moment, and in general it’s just not been convenient enough for me. In no time flat the notes, notebooks, and habit are gone.

• 05 May, 2026 A new Chipotle page

  I created a page where I can house my current go-to Chipotle order. There's no real purpose to this page—I'm just a huge fan of Chipotle. Apparently this is something that people do with their various slash pages.

  I love it.

  No, I do not want you to buy me a burrito.

• 05 May, 2026 Ghost Peaches

  I'm not sure I've ever enjoyed a peach-flavored drink before this specific Ghost. It is legitimately good. The flavor is spot on, and it's surprisingly refreshing.

  A great summer variant. I'm putting a 55-grade on this.

  

• 04 May, 2026 Sylvia's blog

  I think Sylvia's blog a parenthetical departure is one of the coolest and most unique here on the Bear Blog platform.

  Additionally, there are a ton of resources housed there if you are trying to make design tweaks to your own blog with CSS. Her latest weeknotes blog has updates on how her status feed is being styled and embedded.

• 02 May, 2026 E-ink tablet interest

  Recently I've seen a ton of E-ink tablets showing up in my YouTube algorithm. They all seem cool and useful. I know a few scouts and writers who use the Remarkable tablet for their note-taking at games. And the Supernote tablets look awesome.

  I need to resist the urge to experiment with them myself. My current iPad and Apple workflow just does exactly what I need it to do.

• 01 May, 2026 Some albums I've been listening to

  I've been slacking on getting words down about some of the albums I've been listening to. Baby Keem's Casino, Noah Kahan's The Great Divide and now Isaiah Rashad just dropped a new album called IT'S BEEN AWFUL.

  I think 2026 has been a pretty good year for music.

• 27 Apr, 2026 I've had worse writing views

  I've had far worse views than this for an afternoon of writing.

  

• 24 Apr, 2026 On Making and Breaking Routines by Jedda

  Nice blog post here from Jedda:

  Routines are not fixed. They shift because we shift. They depend on circumstances, energy, and the version of ourselves that exists in a particular moment.

  When a routine is in place, life feels a little calmer. There is less decision-making that needs to be done, less friction. Small actions repeat until they become almost second nature, and even things that used to be difficult are at least manageable. That sense of rhythm can make everything else feel more grounded, and more in control.

• 22 Apr, 2026 I Love My Now Page by Gabby

  A now page is one of the reasons I discovered Bear in the first place. I’m a big fan of them, and enjoyed this piece from Gabby about why they’re cool:

  i think it's the most me part of my blog because of that. it's the closest thing to a mirror of my day to day — all the bits and bobs of my going-ons that i don't think i'd really go out of my way to tell a friend or write a post about.

• 16 Apr, 2026 Starting To Listen To Thinking, Fast and Slow

  Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow is one of the most universally recommended books from people I talk with in the baseball industry. It's been on my TBR for a while now, but I finally downloaded the audiobook and started listening to it.

  I'm now juggling four books and have barely made the sort of reading progress I'd like to this year so I should be more intentional about that.

• 15 Apr, 2026 We Shouldn't Need Accountants by Annie Lowrey

  It's kind of insane how cumbersome and costly our system is for filing taxes. A nice read here by Annie Lowrey:

  The United States imposes a cost in cash, as well as in effort. A majority of Americans, whether wealthy or poor, pay for help with their return, spending an average of $290 annually. Add up the amount that people spend out of pocket, and you would have a sum 12 times larger than the IRS’s budget. The situation is needless, as well as annoying. It’s far past time for it to end.

• 12 Apr, 2026 Ghost Raspberry Cream

  This one is smooth. There aren't many raspberry flavors in this space that don't have the blue/raspberry twist.

  A rock solid 50 for me, though I generally don't crave the flavor. It's more on the sweet side for Ghost's drinks.

  

• 10 Apr, 2026 My Quest To Solve Bitcoin's Greatest Mystery by John Carreyrou

  After listening to this podcast about hunting down the identity of Bitcoin's creator, I had to go read the full article it was based on.

  A really fun read here by John Carreyrou:

  It seemed foolish to think that I could somehow crack a case that had confounded so many others. But I craved the thrill of a big, challenging story. So I decided to try once more to unmask Bitcoin’s mysterious creator.

• 10 Apr, 2026 Unmasking the Creator of Bitcoin

  I have zero interest in Bitcoin or cryptocurrency, but this episode of The Daily podcast about unmasking the creator of Bitcoin was fascinating.

  Definitely recommend the listen. Fun investigative piece.

• 09 Apr, 2026 Macros in Audacity

  I've used Audacity to edit podcasts for more than a decade now. How is it possible that I've just now figured out how to use macros? My basic editing workflow has just been moved to a single button.

  Amazing.

• 09 Apr, 2026 Monster Lo-Carb

  About 95% of the time if I'm drinking a Monster it's the White Ultra. And 99% of the time the energy drinks I'm drinking are full sugar free.

  Every once in a while though I get this random urge for the Lo-Carb Monster to remind me of how chaotic that normal blend Monster formula is. It's such a unique flavor. I have never really liked it, but it does just hit you in a way that's hard to describe and occasionally... refreshing? Idk.

  It's a 40, but nothing really tastes similar to this.

  

• 08 Apr, 2026 What It Means to Be American

  I really appreciate David Frum’s podcast. His latest episode was a good one:

  Then David is joined by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria to reflect on the American ideals that captivated David and Fareed when they first immigrated to the U.S. and whether they still ring true today. As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, David and Fareed discuss whether this country remains the same one they moved to many years ago and whether America has strayed from its foundational principles.

• 08 Apr, 2026 Nuclear brinkmanship usually works. It's also incredibly dangerous. by Nate Silver

  Not much to add to this one from Nate Silver:

  But this certainly isn’t some sort of 13-dimensional genius move. It reflects an unchecked Commander-in-Chief who was erratic on his best days, who is 79 years old, who was boxed into a corner, who has sycophantic advisors who are mostly too afraid to challenge him, and who once bragged that he could maintain approval from his base even if he murdered someone.

• 07 Apr, 2026 Is Bluesky Dying? by James Bell

  I'm not strongly attached to Bluesky in the way that I used to be with Twitter, but it would have been nice to see this platform take off.

  A good read on how the platform is trending from James Bell:

  Communities take time to build, and people have to have faith it’s worth the effort. Some of those people are the ones who put the money in, but it’s also the people who make the content – and the power users of text-based social networks have bounced around an awful lot already.

  There isn’t a huge set of new startup social networks around. If you’re just looking to troll the libs and write “Bames Jall” to your 70 followers, that might not matter. But for people who use social for their careers, or for normies who want things that look and feel like professional products, this stuff matters.

• 06 Apr, 2026 Mike Malone hired as UNC basketball coach

  Someone tell me how to feel about UNC hiring Mike Malone.

• 06 Apr, 2026 Ghost Strawbango

  This is one of Ghost's more unique flavors, but I think they pull it off nicely. It's a sweeter variant, and I think the mango is more present here than the strawberry flavor but overall I'm a fan.

  Not a daily driver or anything but a nice flavor to mix things up. Solid-average. 50.

  

• 06 Apr, 2026 Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat

  Tonight we finished Company Retreat, the follow up to Jury Duty—a staged hoax comedy show starring one non-actor who has no clue what's going on surrounded by actors and a hidden camera crew.

  The first version of this show was tremendous. The follow-up might be even better.

  I'm not sure how the show runners are able to find such genuinely good people to "cast" as the leads, but Anthony is such a lovable hype man throughout.

  He never seems to hesitate to do the right thing, or support someone or just accept all of these idiosyncratic characters for who they are. Every episode was hilarious, and the finale was just so satisfying to watch. A feel-good comedy that makes you feel a bit better about the world.

  Overall: 65

• 04 Apr, 2026 Ben & Jerry's

  Ben & Jerry's is the best ice cream and I don't think it's particularly close.

• 02 Apr, 2026 Writing in the library

  I'm heading to the library today to just switch things up and get into a different writing environment. I'm not sure if it's the same for other work-from-home people, but I get a little stir-crazy if I'm constantly working from the same desk by myself over and over again.

  This is always a nice hack to get me into a productive zone. Big library fan here.

• 01 Apr, 2026 Need more time in the day

  Lately I've been feeling like I need more time in each day.

  So much to do, not enough time to do it.

• 29 Mar, 2026 Reign Cherry Limeade

  I was pumped to see this Cherry Limeade version of Reign at a recent visit to Sheetz. My current favorite energy drink is Ghost's Cherry Limeade, and Reign does a nice job with their flavors as well.

  This one... was not the one. It's actually one of my least favorite energy drink flavors I have had. Shocking considering the flavor they were shooting for. I think it's because the cherry is more forward in this drink compared to Ghost's version, which is a lot more lime forward.

  Probably won't be getting this one again. I am giving it a 30.

  

• 23 Mar, 2026 Keep MLB Front Offices Away From the Field by Ben Lindbergh

  At some point I need to get my own thoughts down about this new trend of dugout pitch-calling in the major leagues. For now, this piece from Ben Lindbergh on that topic is an excellent read. I agree with most of it:

  “I think it’s actually a really good thing for baseball,” Kapler said about his cards in 2018. Years ago, I found common ground with Kapler—who’s now the general manager of the Marlins—when we commiserated over our mutual affliction with skinny calves. But when it comes to cards and pitch-calling, we couldn’t disagree more. Once games begin, let players play. And make coaches and front-office analysts stay out of the way.

• 23 Mar, 2026 Pollen season is here

  It seems like pollen season has officially landed here in Northern Virginia.

  I've only been outside once today and I can already feel the stuff all over my eyes. Just brutal. I'll head down to North Carolina for a baseball tournament this week and I know it's going to be even worse there.

• 21 Mar, 2026 Future Projection Episode 172

  Future Projection Episode 172: Spring Training Prospect Buzz

  Ben and Carlos give their final thoughts on an epic World Baseball Classic, then turn their eyes towards prospects and spring training. The two talk about some of the top hitters who have played well this spring, plus a couple of notable pitching prospects who might have made key additions to their arsenals for 2026.

• 20 Mar, 2026 UNC out in the first round

  Once Caleb Wilson got hurt, my expectations for UNC's March Madness run diminished quite a bit, but last night's loss was still pretty tough to see considering the lead we had.

  Hoops program is in a bit of a lull. We need to figure something out. Fortunately I am too busy to be too depressed about it.

• 18 Mar, 2026 Ten Early Season Draft Risers To Know

  Today's draft analysis piece is on 10 early-season draft risers you should know about.

• 18 Mar, 2026 Reign Watermelon Sour Gummy

  I've been seeing this Reign Watermelon Sour Gummy flavor recently and both times I've had it I've really liked it. The flavor isn't super loud and it's also not super sour, but it is pleasant.

  I think a solid 55.

  

• 17 Mar, 2026 Future Projection Episode 171

  Episode 171 of Future Projection: Mailbag—Young Shortstops & Draft Broadcast Changes

  Ben and Carlos break open the listener mailbag and answer questions on a trio of young Cardinals shortstops, why Brady Harris might be slipping in the draft and how his risk and upside compares to Kevin Roberts Jr., whether or not Elian Pena has a chance to be a top 25 prospect and what changes we would make to the draft broadcast. 

• 16 Mar, 2026 Getting back on the running grind

  Today is the day I get back on the running grind. I've been slacking too much on exercise/training recently, which is a common theme for me as soon as the college baseball season gets started.

• 13 Mar, 2026 Nine years at Baseball America

  I started full time at Baseball America nine years ago today.

  Crazy how time flies.

  I'm still loving every second of it, and glad to be a part of such a passionate, knowledgeable and curious team of baseball nerds. With a BA audience that is much the same.

  

• 13 Mar, 2026 Future Projection Episode 170

  Future Projection Episode 170: Debating The Top College Outfield Prospects.

  Ben and I compare and contrast AJ Gracia, Derek Curiel, Sawyer Strosnider and others.

• 13 Mar, 2026 Sucker: My year as a degenerate gambler by McKay Coppins

  I think we had our laws on gambling right in a previous era. This is a tremendous read on the current reality of gambling in the states. One of the best reads I've had in a while:

  Practically overnight, we took an ancient vice—long regarded as soul-rotting and civilizationally ruinous—put it on everyone’s phone, and made it as normal and frictionless as checking the weather. What could possibly go wrong?

• 12 Mar, 2026 I don't want to convert to a table

  No, Google Sheets, I do not want to convert my spreadsheet into a table. I promise.

• 09 Mar, 2026 2026 Mock Draft V 1.0

  Everyone loves a good mock draft, and today we rolled out our first of the year. Hopefully Roch Cholowsky being entrenched in the 1-1 spot makes this one a bit more accurate down the line.

• 06 Mar, 2026 Future Projection Episode 168

  Future Projection Episode 168: Should Kevin McGonigle & JJ Wetherholt Start 2026 in the Majors?

  -A double first base bag dilemma
  -McGonigle/Wetherholt talk
  -Looming CBA implications
  -ABS system in college?
  -Is Vance Honeycutt heating up?
  -Plenty more
  

• 04 Mar, 2026 Ghost Electric Limeade

  I am a few days late on logging this one, but I remember enjoying this Ghost Electric Limeade solidly. It seems like I tend to have a favorable reviews of lime-flavored energy drinks. This is going to the top of my 50-grade tier:

  

• 04 Mar, 2026 MLB Draft Buzz: Roch Cholowsky Vs. Justin Lebron & 19 other names to know

  Draft notes from another loaded week in Texas:

  -Roch Cholowsky vs. Justin Lebron
  -What is up with Will Gasparino
  -College hitters & pitchers to know
  -A pair of Texas committed HS arms
  

• 27 Feb, 2026 Future Projection Episode 166

  On today's episode of Future Projection, Ben and I talked about a few spring training pitchers who are notable then talked about whether Dax Whitney was the best pitching prospect since Paul Skenes.

• 25 Feb, 2026 C4 Green Apple

  I typically stay away from Green Apple flavored drinks, and I was reminded why after getting this C4 version.

  I am just not a fan of the super tart flavor. This gets a 40 for me.

  

• 24 Feb, 2026 Draft notebook—arsenal changes & Dax Whitney

  Today I wrote a pitcher-heavy draft notebook and had a lot of fun with it:

  -Updates on some of the top arms in the class, like Cameron Flukey, Jackson Flora, Liam Peterson, Joey Volchko, Tegan Kuhns and Gabe Gaeckle.
  -Plus a few pitchers with notable velocity upticks.
  -And then an entire section on how absurd Oregon State RHP Dax Whitney is looking for the 2027 class.
  

• 23 Feb, 2026 Thankful for good writing days

  I’m thankful for good writing days. Sometimes the words just seem to come easier and you get into that flow state for a long time.

  Today was one of those for me. It’s always so satisfying.

• 23 Feb, 2026 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?

  I'm annoyed that I'm feeling the pressure to watch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

  How many times will George fool us?

• 23 Feb, 2026 Scouting 101: Eric Booth Jr.

  Today we rolled out another of our Scouting 101 pieces for the 2026 draft—this time on Eric Booth Jr., who has a high-upside toolset and one of the most dynamic profiles in the class.

• 23 Feb, 2026 Ghost Cosmic Rainbow

  If you ever wanted an energy drink that just tastes like Skittles, this is the one. I can't decide if I like it more or less than Ghost Sour Strips, which is also a Skittles-esque flavor.

  I think this one has a better mix of sweet and tart flavors. It doesn't feel as overpoweringly sweet as the Sour Strips does for me. A solid 55.

  

• 22 Feb, 2026 Alani Orange Kiss

  I've never had this orange-flavored Alani drink before. It tastes pretty similar to what I remember Orange Fanta soda tasting like. Not bad. 50-grade for me.

  

• 20 Feb, 2026 An attempt to write about The Fall-Off

  I tried to put some words together about The Fall-Off today, but I'm not sure I could ever express how the album really resonates with me or makes me feel.

  It's so great. One of my favorites of all time. And watching J. Cole promote the album and interact with fans on his Trunk Tour has been the coolest thing ever. The man snuck a music video in his latest episode and then played pickup.

  I'll never get tired of watching that series and listening to this album.

• 20 Feb, 2026 Future Projection Episode 164

  Episode 164 of Future Projection:Evaluating Week One Baseball & The Two-Way Debate.

  -What matters + what doesn’t in early looks
  -Scouting Grady Emerson
  -Players trending up
  -Should baseball have more two-way players?
  -Where will Jared Grindlinger rank?
  

• 20 Feb, 2026 A Ferrari upside down wing?

  Don’t get my hopes up again in preseason Ferrari!

  An upside down wing?? This is crazy looking.

  I’m ready for the season to start—and ready for the next season of Drive to Survive to drop.

• 17 Feb, 2026 What's the point of having a low traffic blog? by Brittany Wilson

  I enjoyed this piece on the value of blogging for an audience, even without a goal of getting as many eyeballs as you can.

  There is something about organizing your thoughts for other people that is valuable to your own thinking, but (and I think this is more important) it makes them more real for you, too.

• 13 Feb, 2026 Future Projection Episode 163

  Happy DI opening day to all who celebrate!

  On today's Future Projection podcast, we brought in Jacob Rudner to do our annual amateur player draft with Ben and me. This one is always a lot of fun.

• 13 Feb, 2026 Ghost Blue Raspberry

  I randomly found this new Ghost Blue Raspberry flavor the other day. I think it's solid. Throwing a 50 on this one.

  

• 12 Feb, 2026 Alani Watermelon Wave

  I haven't had an Alani in a while, and this one was uninspiring. It's not close to the C4 Watermelon flavor I had the other day. It's a subdued and subtle flavor, which some people might appreciate.

  Just a 40-grade drink for me.

  

• 10 Feb, 2026 How scouting departments grade the 2026 draft class

  How scouting departments grade the 2026 draft class.

  This is the best-graded class we've had in the six years we've been trying to quantify it.

• 09 Feb, 2026 C4 Watermelon

  If you liquified a watermelon jolly rancher I think it would taste exactly like this C4 energy drink. The flavor is spot on. It's crisp, not overly sweet and slightly tart—with that classic C4 beta-alanine tingle that comes with all C4 drinks.

  I'm slapping a 55 on this one. Maybe my favorite C4 flavor.

  

• 09 Feb, 2026 Fun & Games newsletter

  The latest edition of my newsletter touches on my excitement for the college baseball season kicking off shortly and rounds up everything I have been working on recently.

• 09 Feb, 2026 2026 first round to-do lists

  How the top 30 prospects in the 2026 MLB Draft class can improve their stock this spring.

  My annual first round to-do list piece.

• 08 Feb, 2026 UNC > Duke, always

  As always, it is a GDTBATH.

  Seth Trimble you are an icon.

• 07 Feb, 2026 Vacancy by Ari Lennox

  Vacancy is the third studio album from R&B singer-songwriter Ari Lennox, and the second big R&B album that's been a playlist add for me in 2026.

  I generally enjoy everything Ari Lennox has made, and typically try to check out anything that any Dreamville-associated artist puts out. She's a tremendous singer, and most of the songs here are super smooth and easy to listen to.

  I think she can get a bit repetitive in general, and that's true for this album as well, but overall it's rock solid for me.

  Overall: 50

• 06 Feb, 2026 Future Projection Episode 161

  Episode 161 of Future Projection is all about our updated 2026 farm system rankings—plus some draft board talk.

• 06 Feb, 2026 The Fall-Off is here

  It's time:

  

• 05 Feb, 2026 The Fall-Off Tonight

  Congratulations to all who celebrate: we get to listen to The Fall-Off tonight.

  I'm guessing tomorrow won't be my most productive day of all time.

• 04 Feb, 2026 The Murder of The Washington Post by Ashley Parker

  I didn't grow up reading the Washington Post like many others, but like anyone involved in journalism—or anyone who still values it—it's still brutal to see what's happening over there.

  This piece by Ashley Parker at The Atlantic was nice read on the topic.

  We’re witnessing a murder. Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of The Washington Post, and Will Lewis, the publisher he appointed at the end of 2023, are embarking on the latest step of their plan to kill everything that makes the paper special. The Post has survived for nearly 150 years, evolving from a hometown family newspaper into an indispensable national institution, and a pillar of the democratic system. But if Bezos and Lewis continue down their present path, it may not survive much longer.

• 04 Feb, 2026 Surprising joy from writing google sheets formulas

  When exactly did I become someone who takes a lot of joy in writing formulas in Google Sheets?

• 02 Feb, 2026 2026 Top 200 Draft Rankings

  It's a big day over at Baseball America. We've updated and expanded our 2026 draft board to the top 200 players in the class. There's also an accompanying piece explaining the notable movers.

  The season is going to be here before we know it.

• 31 Jan, 2026 Gorilla Mind White Frost

  So far, this is easily my favorite from Gorilla Mind, and a legitimate challenger to the classic White Monster. Great flavor, and no medicinal aftertaste that I tend to get with other Gorilla Mind flavors.

  Pretty easy 60.

  

• 31 Jan, 2026 Some Days I'm Good, Some Days I'm Not by Fridayy

  I'm kind of surprised I had never heard of the R&B artist Fridayy before now. A few weeks ago I randomly stumbled upon his 2025 album Some Days I'm Good, Some Days I'm Not. It has been in constant rotation for me since.

  This is a smooth, tremendously well-produced R&B record for those who like that genre, with some solid storytelling as well—especially on the track February '23.

  Other standouts for me include: Wait For Me, Sun Comes Down, Shotgun (with a great feature from Wale) and Desert. It's only January, but this is my favorite album of the year so far.

  Overall: 60

• 31 Jan, 2026 I meal prepped 46 boring lunches to be healthier

  This meal prep video from Matt D’Avella was a good one.

  I would like to have meal prep like this for most of my lunches, but man it really does just get repetitive and boring. Still, the health and cost factors are compelling.

• 28 Jan, 2026 Birthday Blizzard

  J. Cole has dropped new music. This is a great day.

  Birthday Blizzard '26.

• 28 Jan, 2026 Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

  I recently finished listening to Careless People, by Sarah Wynn-Williams.

  The book is a memoir by a former director of public policy at Facebook, chronicling her experience with the company. We see how her initial optimism for how Facebook could benefit the world fades as she watches the company, and the people in charge of it, create chaos in the wake of a careless pursuit of more users, more money and more power.

  It was an interesting read, though I found myself constantly asking why she stayed with the company for so long despite everything she was witnessing and dealing with. I don't have too many extended thoughts on the book, and would recommend this review by Charlie Warzel with the Atlantic for more.

  I'm glad I'm fully off their platforms.

  Overall: 50

• 27 Jan, 2026 Future Projection Episode 158

  Future Projection Episode 158: Mailbag—Our Favorite Prospects Who Didn't Make The Top 100.

• 27 Jan, 2026 Ten Sleepers For The 2026 Draft

  Today's draft notebook is a piece on 10 sleepers who could rise up draft boards this spring.

• 25 Jan, 2026 Yes, It's Fascism by Jonathan Rauch

  Call it what it is:

  So the United States, once the world’s exemplary liberal democracy, is now a hybrid state combining a fascist leader and a liberal Constitution; but no, it has not fallen to fascism. And it will not.

  In which case, is there any point in calling Trump a fascist, even if true? Doesn’t that alienate his voters? Wouldn’t it be better just to describe his actions without labeling him controversially?

  Until recently, I thought so. No longer. The resemblances are too many and too strong to deny. Americans who support liberal democracy need to recognize what we’re dealing with in order to cope with it, and to recognize something, one must name it. Trump has revealed himself, and we must name what we see.

• 25 Jan, 2026 Devlogs, Discipline, and No Zero Days with DevDuck

  This was a good interview with an indie game developer who makes YouTube videos about his process. I liked this quote:

  Discipline is like a muscle. You have to train it to see those results.

• 23 Jan, 2026 Future Projection Episode 157

  Ben and I broke down the Top 100 prospects list on Episode 157 of the Future Projection Podcast.

• 23 Jan, 2026 15 Years of Indie Dev In 4 Bits of Advice by Tom Francis

  I heard about this blog post from a recent Triple Click podcast episode. The creative process of how video games get made is always interesting to me.

  This piece is about how an Indie Dev studio strives for sustainability:

  As you might be able to tell from the list, our games are all over the place in development time and genre. But they all sold great and reviewed great, and to the extent that we controlled that at all, I credit it to prioritising sustainability.

• 23 Jan, 2026 Listening to Fridayy

  If you like melodic rap or R&B you might like the album "Some Days I'm Good, Some Days I'm Not" by Fridayy.

  I've never heard of this artist before and stumbled across this album recently. It's been playing constantly for me the last two days.

• 22 Jan, 2026 Life before social media by ldstephens

  I thought this was a good read on social media and life before it:

  I'm not saying we need to go back to the Commodore 64 era - technology has brought amazing things too. But social media as it exists today? It's not making us happier, smarter, or more connected. It's doing the opposite, and I think more people are starting to realize it.

• 22 Jan, 2026 I'm the high man on Marek Houston newsletter

  It's been a while since my last newsletter.

  In today's I explain why I am the high man in the BA office on Twins shortstop Marek Houston. Plus a bunch of links to everything I've been working on.

• 21 Jan, 2026 Don't Be Dumb by A$AP Rocky

  Don't Be Dumb by ASAP Rocky was the first prominent new rap album from 2026 that I've listened to. I'm not a big ASAP Rocky fan, and he hasn't released a project since 2018's TESTING, so I was entirely sure what I was going to be getting into here.

  It's... fine? There are some solid beats and at least one track that will be added to my gym playlist (STOLE YA FLOW) but there's very little of substance that I took from this album.

  If there's a concept or a premise or any sort of insightful storytelling here, I didn't get it. It's mostly catchy background music to me, and that has its place.

  Overall: 50

• 21 Jan, 2026 2026 Top 100 Prospects List

  It's Top 100 day at Baseball America.

  This is the 37th edition of our flagship prospect ranking and the culmination of a full year's worth of efforts to report on the top players in the game. There's plenty of extra analysis included in the rollout, all of which can be found at the Top 100 rankings itself.

• 21 Jan, 2026 YouTube ads are getting crazy

  I just watched an 18-minute long YouTube video and was served eight different ads. That’s a joke.

• 20 Jan, 2026 They Don't Make Pitch Models Like They Used To by Davy Andrews

  The feedback loops for both pitching and hitting development are so short now with all of the tech and data we have available. It's crazy how quickly that changes the game.

  A really interesting read here on how that's impacted how useful pitch models are.

  If you’re a pitcher with a Stuff+ grade of 110 in 2025, your stuff is almost certainly nastier than a pitcher who had a Stuff+ grade of 110 in 2020. However, the probability that your excellent stuff actually turns into excellent results is significantly lower.

• 20 Jan, 2026 Peaky blinders rewatch

  I’m starting a rewatch of Peaky Blinders. I think this is my third time watching the show.

  One of my all-time favorites.

• 19 Jan, 2026 Use The Bloody Shift Key! by Kev Quirk

  I couldn’t agree more with this post by Kev Quirk. So many people seem to think capitalization is a personality choice instead of just basic grammar.

  We can’t all be Cormac.

  But to remove all uppercase letters with reckless abandon? Nope. Absolutely not.

• 19 Jan, 2026 Celsius Arctic Vibe

  The energy drink options at airports are always pretty limited. I don’t know how or why Celsius is a brand that’s always available because I think these are awful.

  Out of desperation this morning I grabbed an Arctic Vibe. It was better than I expected it to be. It’s a very mild blue raspberry flavor. 45.

  I’m also not sure why this photo looks so odd, but something weird happened with a portrait mode shot. Oh well.

  

• 16 Jan, 2026 The making of The Social Network

  I randomly stumbled upon this video about how The Social Network was made.

  I love behind the scenes looks like this, and this is one of my favorite movies of all time. David Fincher is a master.

• 14 Jan, 2026 The Fall Off release date announced

  Today J. Cole announced the release date for his next album, The Fall Off. It's hard to overstate how much I've been anticipating this album. It overtakes Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V as the most anticipated album of my lifetime.

  I cannot wait. 2.6.26. Time to listen through his entire discography I guess.

• 13 Jan, 2026 2026 college baseball anticipation

  I've officially started booking some early season travel for the 2026 college season. It's about that time!

  So ready to be at a ballpark.

• 12 Jan, 2026 Is the Iranian Regime About to Collapse? by Karim Sadjadpour & Jack A. Goldstone

  This is an instructive read on the Iran protests and the conditions that have led to them:

  History suggests that regimes collapse not from single failures but from a fatal confluence of stressors. One of us, Jack, has written at length about the five specific conditions necessary for a revolution to succeed: a fiscal crisis, divided elites, a diverse oppositional coalition, a convincing narrative of resistance, and a favorable international environment. This winter, for the first time since 1979, Iran checks nearly all five boxes.

• 11 Jan, 2026 A script to organize the blog archive by month

  As I've continued to put more stuff here on the site, the archive (especially the notes archive) has gotten quite lengthy. I've seen a number of blogs organize their archives by month, but was never quite sure how to do that.

  I just stumbled upon a script that does it automatically. Thanks to Yordi for making this available.

• 11 Jan, 2026 Xlookup formulas are great time savers

  It's hard to overemphasize how much time the xlookup formula saves me in Google Sheets. That, plus concatenate and pivot tables are a Godsend.

• 11 Jan, 2026 Gorilla Mind Red Gummy Fish

  I guess this is a new Gorilla Mind flavor, though I am less familiar with the brand than others. It's decent. I think if you're a big Swedish Fish fan you should try the Ghost version.

  I'm torn between a 45/50.

  

• 11 Jan, 2026 How Sweetgreen Became Millennial Cringe by Ellen Cushing

  This is an unsurprising read about Sweetgreen. Yeah, the food is good but at the end of the day it's a $20 salad.

  Many years ago, he was driving his then-10-year-old son and a friend home from baseball practice, and the friend was excitedly talking about eating Chipotle for dinner. The memory has, clearly, stuck with him: “Can I realistically imagine my son’s 10-year-old friend bragging about going to Sweetgreen?” He cannot. I can’t either.

  W for Chipotle.

• 10 Jan, 2026 The Pitt is back

  Season two of the Pitt is back, and the first episode is just as good as last season. It's almost shocking how fast and frenetic this show is after watching Pluribus.

• 09 Jan, 2026 How Curt Cignetti's eye for talent has fueled Indiana's CFP rise by Adam Rittenberg

  I'm not a football guy, but I liked this story on how Curt Cignetti evaluates players. This quote translates to plenty of things:

  "Repetition is the mother of learning, and you get better and better at it."

• 09 Jan, 2026 Double spacing after periods

  If you use a double space after periods I simply don't trust you. It's 2026.

• 09 Jan, 2026 Future Projection Episode 154

  Future Projection Episode 154: Why The 2026 Prep Pitching Class Is Incredibly Strong.

• 09 Jan, 2026 Navigating Bear's Discovery Feed by Becky

  Navigating Bear's Discovery Feed by Becky was a nice read.

  I also think one solution to the bookmarking challenge mentioned below is to take Jedda's postroll idea and run with it. It's a nice bookmarking solution and also adds more discovery within the community here at Bear. Here's mine.

  I frequently upvote posts that I find interesting as my (small) way of saying thank you for sharing. I wish I could see a history of what I upvoted, because unless I bookmark a post, I quickly forget which ones were most interesting. If there’s a way of doing this, please let me know!

• 08 Jan, 2026 Gorilla Mind White Gummy Bear

  My local Vitamin Shoppe had deals on Gorilla Mind this week so I got a couple flavors I don't normally drink.

  I'm not a huge fan of this White Gummy Bear. The Reign version is far better. This one has a slightly medicinal taste. 40.

  

• 08 Jan, 2026 Does running ever get fun?

  At what point exactly does running become fun? Does that ever happen? I am starting to doubt it.

• 07 Jan, 2026 The Oral History of Millennial Tech by Jodi Walker

  This piece was a fun trip down memory lane. The Oral History of Millennial Tech, by Jodi Walker.

  Danielle: I don’t think kids today could possibly understand the importance of that sound you could set for when your crush signed on. The thrill of IMing someone from calculus class and unexpectedly developing a rapport.

• 07 Jan, 2026 2026 Top 30s are now live

  Updated Top 30s with full reports & grades for every player are now live on the site. We've also identified sleepers for every team.

  Plus, if you order the 2026 Prospect Handbook directly from us, you'll get a full digital PDF by the next business day. Thanks for reading and supporting.

• 07 Jan, 2026 How to Become a Hybrid Athlete

  I've been doing hybrid training for a bit now, so I really enjoyed this podcast on the topic.

  To be healthy when you get older is all about good cardiovascular health, it's about maintaining muscle size, bone density, coordination, all those things. And training for all that, training to keep all that requires some sort of hybrid approach.

• 06 Jan, 2026 Major Blog Redesign (V3) by James Zhan

  I'm always interested to see how people style their sites. This blog redesign post by James Zhan was cool to see.

  In particular, seeing how he styled his blog archive for mobile.

• 06 Jan, 2026 Redrafting The 2011 MLB Draft

  Today I wrote a massive 2011 redraft to see what 15 years of hindsight does for us.

  Mookie Betts & Francisco Lindor lead a loaded group.

• 06 Jan, 2026 The Case For Blogging In The Ruins by JA Westenberg

  This is an excellent read by JA Westenberg. On the value, and permanence, of blogging:

  Start a blog. Start one because the practice of writing at length, for an audience you respect, about things that matter to you, is itself valuable. Start one because owning your own platform is a form of independence that becomes more important as centralized platforms become less trustworthy. Start one because the format shapes the thought, and this format is good for thinking.

• 06 Jan, 2026 Does 7,000 words count as concise?

  A key 2026 intention for me is to write sharply and aggressively self-edit. So what does that say about the ~7,000-word piece I just filed?

  An exercise in brevity.

• 05 Jan, 2026 Tinkering with a black and white theme

  Because I'm addicted to tinkering on the blog, I've made a complete black and white redesign.

  I'm not sure if I want to implement it, both because I don't love underlined hyperlinks and also because I locked in my blog theme just two months ago.

• 05 Jan, 2026 The Logic of Regime Change by Sam Harris

  Sam Harris writes a sober and thorough analysis of Trump's Venezuela operation.

  The lesson to be drawn by China, Russia, and other authoritarian states is clear: If the United States can extract a foreign leader it doesn’t like, citing vague security concerns and economic interests, why can’t they do the same? China and Russia have been working tirelessly to undermine international law and create a world where raw power determines political outcomes within their spheres of influence. The United States has now provided a fresh example of how that works in practice.

• 04 Jan, 2026 The Myth of the Mad King George by Rick Atkinson

  This was a fun read: The Myth of the Mad King George by Rick Atkinson.

  He was denounced by rebel propagandists as a tyrant and remembered by Americans as a reactionary dolt. Who was he really?

• 04 Jan, 2026 Changed the notes link emoji from 🗒️ to →

  I wasn't a huge fan of the emoji I was using (🗒️) to house the links within notes. It wasn't obvious that it was a clickable link and it was also just slightly jarring enough with my theme to annoy me.

  I've converted to an arrow (→) that I think solves for both issues. Maybe one day we'll be able to make the date clickable. Until then, this is the best solution I'm aware of.

• 04 Jan, 2026 We never knew meal planning would be this painful

  As children we were far too worried about quick sand and not worried nearly enough about the fact that one day we'd have to come up with meal ideas week after week after week.

• 04 Jan, 2026 The Atlantic's list of Great American Novels

  I want to check off a few books from The Atlantic's list of Great American Novels this year, but I'm not sure which one to go for next.

• 03 Jan, 2026 The Power of Reading to your Child by JustinStacks

  I love this post about the power of reading to your child.

  Imagine being a kid and saying you read a thousand books before kindergarten. The ultimate ice breaker fun fact.

• 03 Jan, 2026 Avoiding getting fully sucked into Apple's ecosystem

  Since I only use Apple devices I've been considering moving more fully into their ecosystem for software. But after briefly tinkering with using Apple Calendar instead of Google—I don't actually think I want to do that.

  Google Calendar works great for me as is. I prefer the UI because I've used it for years and I'm used to it. I also have no intention of moving away from things like Google Drive. Nothing is broken, so what am I even trying to fix?

  Avoiding the Apple ecosystem gravity is problem a good thing anyways.

• 03 Jan, 2026 Ghost Sour Pink Lemonade

  If you are a fan of pink lemonade this could be a great option for you. The flavor is incredibly strong, a bit sweeter than it is tart. It's solid. Not a regular go-to for me, but nice to switch things up occasionally.

  I'm giving this a solid 50.

  

• 03 Jan, 2026 Breaking Bad rewatch No. 3

  I’m nearing the end of my third Breaking Bad watch. Man this show is peak.

• 02 Jan, 2026 Apple's custom backgrounds on messages is incredibly dumb

  Apparently my family has recently discovered that you can now customize the backgrounds of messages. I can't believe how dumb this feature is.

  Why would anyone think it's a good idea for my screen to start looking different because of someone else's setting choice? I have my phone set on light mode for a reason. I need the Apple designers to just take a few years off or something.

  If you want to disable this on your end you can. Settings > Apps > Messages > and then toggle conversation backgrounds off. This should be the default setting.

• 02 Jan, 2026 AI thinks I'm a reputable NC baseball writer

  Since it's AI created, this shouldn't make me nearly as happy as it did. But as a North Carolina lover I will happily take it. From Dan Szymborski's original tweet:

  

• 02 Jan, 2026 Don't have an opinion about everything

  I watched this Daily Stoic video and the first rule Ryan Holiday talks about hits home for me: "Don't have an opinion about everything."

  This is something I definitely need to keep in mind. I tend to have strong opinions about things that ultimately don't really matter.

  "It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing and not to be disturbed in our soul." — Marcus Aurelius

• 01 Jan, 2026 I deleted Instagram

  I just deleted my Instagram account. It's been a long time coming. I've got my own photo-blog here now. It's cooler. ✌🏼 Meta.

• 01 Jan, 2026 2025 New Year's Eve run

  No crazy New Year's plans for Madi and I this year. We both went to the gym this afternoon and I got a three-mile run in.

  Hopefully 2026 will be the year that running actually becomes mildly enjoyable for me—not just something to improve at.

• 31 Dec, 2025 A page for ranking albums

  A new albums page is live on the site. Like my books page, I'm planning for it to house my recent posts on albums, a live-ranking of the albums I've listened to each year that gets converted into an end-of-the-year post and my all-time album rankings.

• 31 Dec, 2025 Reign Sour Gummy Worm

  

  I normally drink Reign at the beach because the local gas station always has them. This Sour Gummy Worm flavor is my favorite from the brand. It might be my favorite sour energy drink out.

  Solid 60.

• 31 Dec, 2025 Pluribus Episode 9

  Just watched the finale of Pluribus. Manousos is a total bad ass. Can't wait to see more of him.

• 30 Dec, 2025 Effectively Wild 2419: TJ and TK in Triple-A

  I thought this was an awesome episode of Effectively Wild. Two player interviews. One with Declan Cronin about his TJ rehab and a second with Duncan Davitt about his side gig as a sports writer.

• 30 Dec, 2025 Are Reese's trees the best?

  Is it a hot take to say that Reese's trees are better than the originals? I feel like the peanut butter and chocolate proportions are just better.

• 29 Dec, 2025 VH Belvadi's website

  I just stumbled across VH Belvadi's website and wtf... This thing is epic.

• 29 Dec, 2025 Back on the treadmill

  Back on the treadmill today after a week off for the holidays. I hope to run more in 2026 than I ever have before.

• 29 Dec, 2025 Mix Blogging by Robert Birming

  Robert Birming's reply to my post on why Bear Blog is great for blogging, microblogging and photo-blogging.

  I might have more thoughts on this later, but it has been a fun conversation.

• 29 Dec, 2025 2021 Redraft

  Today I did a redraft of the 2021 class to see how the top 30 picks would go with five years of hindsight.

  I also picked out five winners and five losers from the draft.

• 29 Dec, 2025 Esperanza is a banger

  We just finished episode 7 of Pluribus and the song that plays during the montage sequence is an absolute banger.

  It’s called Esperanza by Hermanos Gutiérrez. Immediate playlist add.

• 28 Dec, 2025 Holiday travel

  Holiday travel will never be fun. Thankfully this was our last Christmas where we'll have to drive back and forth from Northern Virginia to North Carolina.

• 27 Dec, 2025 My Cousin Vinny by Jonathan Lynn

  For a few years now Madi's family has told me I need to watch My Cousin Vinny by Jonathan Lynn. We finally watched it the other night, and I'm ashamed it's taken me so long.

  This was hilarious. I guess it walked so Legally Blonde could run. Watching Joe Pesci as Vincent Gambino and Marisa Tomei as Mona Lisa Vito figure out the Deep South and court all at once was incredibly entertaining. I need the spinoff where Marisa Tomei is the lead trial lawyer. She crushed this.

  The grits were cooked too fast but the film was cooked just right.

  Overall: 60

• 27 Dec, 2025 The Housemaid by Paul Feig

  Catching up on some movie logging. Before Christmas we watched The Housemaid by Paul Feig. Madi liked the book and wanted to see the movie.

  It's a cheesy, over-the-top thriller that is oddly paced at times, but I think it's still a fun watch if you just take it for what it is. I liked all three of the main performances, though Amanda Seyfried in particular I thought was impressive.

  Overall: 50

• 26 Dec, 2025 Future Projection Episode 153

  Future Projection Episode 153: How MLB Teams Develop Pitching With Paul Davis.

  This is one of the more fun podcasts we've done in a while. Tons of information about modern pitching development.

• 24 Dec, 2025 Future Projection Episode 152

  Future Projection Episode 152: Who are breakout DSL candidates and where are the 60 Hit/Power prospects?

  Another listener mailbag episode.

• 22 Dec, 2025 Eddington by Ari Aster

  Eddington by Ari Aster was the second of a two-movie sick day for me recently.

  I'm down to watch basically anything that Joaquin Phoenix is in because he never misses. But man, does he choose some projects that are just... weird. This one qualifies. It certainly went in a different direction than I was expecting. For a comedy it was surprisingly unfunny and for a drama it was seriously unserious.

  Not sure what I was supposed to be get from this one. And it'll always be too soon for a Covid period piece.

  Overall: 40

• 22 Dec, 2025 Friendship by Andrew DeYoung

  Out sick a few days ago I watched Friendship by Andrew DeYoung.

  This movie is incredibly uncomfortable and awkward to watch at times, but legitimately hilarious as well. This feels like the drunk, edgier, darker and more depressing spinoff of I Love You Man. Perhaps I only say that because Paul Rudd is in both.

  Someone get Tim Robinson a new phone.

  Overall: 55

• 22 Dec, 2025 Adding a few biographies to the reading list

  I've been wanting to get into a good biography again after loving David McCullough's John Adams earlier this year.

  To that end I am now reading Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts and also listening to Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson when I'm on the treadmill.

  So far the Napoleon book is capturing my attention more.

• 19 Dec, 2025 Future Projection Episode 151

  Future Projection Episode 151: AL West Farm Systems.

  All six divisions now reviewed on the podcast. Now it's time to finish the handbook. 😅

• 19 Dec, 2025 ldstephens cool minimal blog and microblog

  I randomly stumbled upon ldstephens' blog when he very briefly tried out Bear. I appreciate how simple and straightforward the site is and the way he uses it for both standard blogging and microblogging. More blog/microblog hybrids!

• 18 Dec, 2025 Pluribus is slower than Giancarlo Stanton

  Pluribus is slower than Giancarlo Stanton.

• 18 Dec, 2025 Ghost Sour Patch Blue Raspberry

  

  I rarely get the Sour Patch Blue Raspberry because I'm not a huge fan of the tart/sour flavor. It's solid, just not my personal preference. I think people who like sour drinks or foods would love this one. For me it's more of a 45.

• 18 Dec, 2025 Curate your own newspaper with RSS by Molly White

  Curate your own newspaper with RSS by Molly White.

  This was a good read. Molly also recommends not using Feedly, which is the current RSS reader I use simply because it was simple and worked. Maybe I'll need to look into something else.

• 18 Dec, 2025 The unique profile of Drew Burress

  It's hard to find a real flaw in Drew Burress's profile beyond the fact that he's smaller than most first-round college hitters.

  How will teams handle that profile on draft day? I tried to dive into that in this offseason scouting 101 piece.

• 16 Dec, 2025 Future Projection Episode 150

  Future Projection Episode 150: A new format listener mailbag episode.

• 15 Dec, 2025 Interstitial journaling by Anne-Laure Cunff

  I don’t think I have ever heard of interstitial note-taking before, but it sounds like a cool idea that I could easily implement into my current system.

• 14 Dec, 2025 A 20-year-old talks about slow life by Thomas

  I enjoyed this blog from Thomas on slow living.

  My fear isn’t “time passes so you’re dying”. It’s “time passes and you’re not doing anything with it.”

• 14 Dec, 2025 Best of BA 2025 newsletter

  Today's newsletter is a roundup of the best stories from Baseball America writers this year.

  A Best of BA 2025.

• 13 Dec, 2025 A page for ranking books

  A new books page is live on the blog. I'm planning this page to house all my book rankings, show a list of recent reads and also house a running ranking of the best books I've read each year.

  Those yearly lists will then get converted into a post at the end of the year and be archived on the page.

• 12 Dec, 2025 White Monster

  

  The OG. The would-be daily driver. The gateway drink of sugar-free energy drinks.

  The White Monster is a classic, and the energy drink that shows everyone it's OK to move away from Red Bull. It's cheaper, it's 16oz instead of Red Bull's standard 8.4oz, it tastes better than both Monster and Red Bull's sugar free versions and it also has more caffeine.

  A reliable 60-grade drink.

• 12 Dec, 2025 Obsessive paragraph highlighting while editing

  The obsessive need to relentlessly triple-click and highlight paragraphs while editing.

  I have no idea why this is a thing, but basically all of my editors at The Daily Tar Heel did this when I was there. Now I do it as well.

• 11 Dec, 2025 A page for ranking energy drinks

  When I started this blog I knew I wanted it to house a variety of my rankings. For things like books, movies, TV shows, albums—and even energy drinks.

  Since I've been logging and grading drinks recently I figured I would build out the page as a proof of concept. Voila.

  Now if you're a caffeine addict like me you can see how I line them up in real time.

• 11 Dec, 2025 Ghost 'Merica Pop

  

  Ghost describes this flavor as a "blend of red and blue raspberry and a hint of lime." I don't know about all that. It's one of the more off-putting Ghost flavors for me. 40-grade.

• 11 Dec, 2025 We may as well title microblog posts usefully

  One of the mild annoyances in running a microblog section (IE: notes) with Bearblog is that you have to title each note.

  The upshot of this is that if you title the posts usefully you're going to wind up with a reasonably effective archive of short-form content. Especially if you're also using tags.

• 11 Dec, 2025 Trader Joe’s chocolate dunkers

  

  Madi brought these home tonight. They are dangerous. I’m going 55+.

• 10 Dec, 2025 The White Sox won the 2026 draft lottery

  The White Sox won the fourth-annual MLB draft lottery and will pick first overall in the 2026 draft. Here's some analysis from the night from BA:

  -A 1-40 mock draft with the order set
  -The lottery winners & losers
  -Why the White Sox, Giants & Pirates will be lottery ineligible in 2027
  -JJ Cooper on how the ping pong balls fell
  

• 09 Dec, 2025 Liquid glass auto update

  Today my phone automatically updated to the liquid glass OS.

  Thanks Apple, I hate it.

• 09 Dec, 2025 The prospect handbook grind

  My top 30s for this year’s prospect handbook are written. That means I’m fully into the editing grind of helping produce this beast of a book.

  A December tradition like no other.

• 08 Dec, 2025 Three weeks of running down

  I just wrapped up my third straight week of 15 miles. This is part of my new running-focused training routine. I think I'll do one more 15-mile week, and then up the mileage. Still feeling good.

• 07 Dec, 2025 Wicked & Wicked: For Good

  After seeing the Wicked musical on Broadway, Madi wanted to watch both the movies. I actually liked the first one fine. The second one... not so much.

  -Wicked 1: 45
  -Wicked 2: 30
  

  The musical was far better than both.

• 07 Dec, 2025 Check out The Twin Lens Gazette

  I really loved the latest edition of Alex Kormann's photography newsletter, The Twin Lens Gazette.

  If you're into photography, go check it out. Alex is the man. I'm not really into photography that much but I always like reading these newsletters and seeing his photography process.

• 07 Dec, 2025 Lando is the 2025 champ

  It's cool to see Lando Norris win this year's driver's championship. A wholesome ending to a fun F1 season.

  Fingers crossed that Charles gets a competitive car next year. 🤞🏼

• 07 Dec, 2025 29 blogs before "on something"

  I'm claiming it as a minor victory that it took me 29 blog posts before I got to the semi-pretentious title scheme of "On (something)."

  It's the little things.

• 06 Dec, 2025 Starting to run longer

  Today I did my second hour-plus long run in the last three weeks. I've always despised long-distance running. Before this I don't think I've ever run more than an hour in my entire life.

  Feels cool. Slow. But cool.

• 05 Dec, 2025 An interview with Christopher Ruocchio

  I love hearing about the writing process of all sorts of writers and authors. So this interview with Christopher Ruocchio was an immediate must-listen for me.

  I did just fly through his seven-book series in a single year after all. Cool to hear some of the behind the scenes writing details about how it all gets created.

• 05 Dec, 2025 Future Projection Episode 148

  Future Projection Episode 148: AL East Farm Systems.

  This was a rock solid division all around.

• 05 Dec, 2025 Double podcasting days

  You wouldn't think doing a podcast is that taxing, but every time I need to double up and record multiple shows in one day I am mentally cooked afterwards.

• 04 Dec, 2025 Ghost Original

  

  You don't see the Ghost OG out in the wild too often. It's a subtle lemon-lime flavor. It's fine—playable, but not great. I'm going 45 on this one.

• 04 Dec, 2025 Guardians top 10 & chat

  Today the Guardians top 10 prospects list I wrote is up on the site. I'll be chatting about the system at 2 p.m. ET.

• 03 Dec, 2025 Fewer lifting sessions, better intensity

  Perhaps this shouldn't be surprising, but I feel like my lifts have actually been better since cutting down to just two per week.

  I know I only have two days to lift—so my intensity for every rep and set is much better. I'm subconsciously trying to make the most of the gym time.

• 03 Dec, 2025 Spotify wrapped is out

  Today I noticed Spotify wrapped is out. I love this feature, and love seeing what all my friends have been listening to all year. I'm planning a longer music roundup/top albums list for the year as a longer blog, but here's my top songs from 2025 playlist.

  A heavy dose of SZA, Sleep Token, J. Cole, JID and The 1975.

• 03 Dec, 2025 NF EP Fear

  I missed NF's release of a new EP: FEAR.

  Currently giving it a listen. I've always been a fan of the atmospheric style he has. Most of his songs are automatic adds to my workout playlist.

• 02 Dec, 2025 Bring Her Back by Michael & Danny Philippou

  I recently watched Bring Her Back by Michael & Danny Philippou.

  I was intrigued by the premise of this movie, and I'd say for about 70% of it I was into it and hooked. It's pretty gruesome. Sally Hawkins is incredibly creepy in one of the lead roles. The ending fell a bit flat for me. If you're into horror, maybe give it a try.

  Overall: 50

  I use the 20-80 scale to rate things.

• 02 Dec, 2025 Ghost Sour Strips

  

  This one is more sweet than sour, and what I would imagine a skittles-flavored energy drink tastes like. If it was more sour I might like it a bit more. Still solid. I'm giving it a 55.

• 02 Dec, 2025 A good writing day

  Today was a good writing day.

  That's always such a satisfying feeling.

• 01 Dec, 2025 Week 3 of a running routine

  Today is the first day of week three of my new running routine. Easy three-mile run this morning.

  My legs feel good, my heart and chest feels strong. I won't say this routine has been fun quite yet, but it has been rewarding. 15 more miles coming up this week.

• 30 Nov, 2025 Updates to my currently reading list

  I finished (and blogged about) Shadows Upon Time today, and added two new books to my currently reading list on my now page:

  -The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
  -Hardship and Happiness, by Seneca
  

  Currently 27 books down on my 30-book goal for the year. I think I'll get there.

• 28 Nov, 2025 On Writing Well review by Steve

  @Steve's recent blog about On Writing Well by William Zinsser makes me want to put it on my TBR and push it to the top of the nonfiction side.

  My current favorite technical writing books are:

  -On Writing, by Stephen King
  -The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White.
  

• 28 Nov, 2025 Adjusting to the running routine

  This new running routine has been going well, though my knees are starting to take the toll of the added mileage. My last few runs on the treadmill have been slower than the first week, but I'm still making them happen.

  I'd rather run slow and keep logging the miles without injury. I'll get used to the added volume sooner or later.

• 28 Nov, 2025 Early Christmas shopping

  It always feels good to get some Christmas shopping done far in advance.

• 26 Nov, 2025 Ghost Cherry Limeade

  

  Slapping a 70 on this. Always reliable.

  Mar 26, 2026 Edit: Upping this to the 80-grade line.

• 26 Nov, 2025 We Proved That Dudes Skip Leg Day by Ben Lindbergh

  We Proved That Dudes Skip Leg Day, by Ben Lindbergh.

  This is a really fun piece.

• 26 Nov, 2025 Thanksgiving roundup newsletter

  Today's newsletter is a roundup of what I've been working on, a note about a big Baseball America Black Friday sale, and my Thanksgiving dishes ranked on the 20-80 scale.

• 26 Nov, 2025 Future Projection Episode 147

  Episode 147 of the Future Projection Podcast: A Thanksgiving mailbag episode.

• 26 Nov, 2025 Blogs are cool

  Blogs are cool. RSS feeds and readers are cool. Email newsletters are cool. More of all that, please.

• 25 Nov, 2025 Reign White Haze

  

  Giving this one a 45.

• 24 Nov, 2025 MLB is flying high by Evan Drellich

  MLB is flying high. Why does it seem to be barreling toward a work stoppage?

  This was a good read from Evan Drellich. A work stoppage after 2026 would be a disaster.

• 24 Nov, 2025 Reign White Gummy Bear

  

  This one gets a 55. Probably my favorite Reign flavor.

• 23 Nov, 2025 Re-watching White Lotus season two

  Currently re-watching the second season of White Lotus. I've gone back and forth about whether or not I prefer season 1 or 2. I think I'm leaning season 2.

• 23 Nov, 2025 Adding automatic time stamps to notes

  I was able to add automatic time stamp functionality to notes thanks to this script from mgx.

  A few tweaks to the script with the help of ChatGPT and some CSS styling to keep things consistent and I believe we're in business.

• 22 Nov, 2025 UNC-Navy hoops highlights

  At this point I'm convinced Caleb Wilson is the best UNC dunker since JP Tokoto. These UNC-Navy highlights are awesome.

• 21 Nov, 2025 Not logging workouts here for now

  I built out a WODs page to see if I even liked the look of tracking my lifts here on the blog. It was easy to replicate my notes page and create a new class and new tag for the system, but—I just don't see the value in tracking them here at the moment. I'll stick to the Hevy app and Garmin's connect app.

• 21 Nov, 2025 Logging workouts on the blog?

  I am tempted to log my workouts of the day (WODs) here on the blog, though I don't know if that's necessary at all. I already track my workouts with the Hevy app.

• 18 Nov, 2025 Shadows Upon Time is out

  Today the seventh and final book of Christopher Ruocchio's Sun Eater series came out: Shadows Upon Time. I'm pumped. I picked this book series up at the perfect time earlier this year, and have read one after another. It's probably the best science fiction I've read—and the healthy blend of fantasy certainly helps its cause for me.

• 17 Nov, 2025 Everything is a lot

  I'm not a big Wale fan in particular, but I do like what I've heard of his stuff enough to check him out when he drops projects. I think his new album, everything is a lot., is the best I've heard from him. It's been playing constantly for me since Friday.

• 17 Nov, 2025 Photo embed CSS tweak to show just the first image

  When I post a photo blog with multiple images I don't want all of those images to show up on embedded pages. I tweaked the code of my photo embed CSS to hide all images except the first.

  

  I think this makes the site look much cleaner, both on the home page and the photos page.

• 11 Nov, 2025 An update to BA grades newsletter

  My latest newsletter: An Update To BA Grades.

  More on the changes we're making in how we rank and evaluate prospects, plus links to everything I've been doing lately.

  You can follow along for free if you want to keep up with what I'm working on.

• 11 Nov, 2025 To write is human, to edit is divine

  I'm really feeling this quote from Stephen King's On Writing as I blast through my word counts:

  "To write is human, to edit is divine."

• 11 Nov, 2025 Materialists by Celine Song

  Madi picked out Materialists for us to watch recently. Swing and a miss. This movie had some of the worst writing of any movie I can remember watching this year. A few good actors and some decent cinematography in the first half are the only thing keeping this from a 20.

  Overall: 30

  I use the 20-80 scale to rate things.

• 10 Nov, 2025 Deep focus playlist for writing

  Spotify's Deep Focus playlist is one of my go-to playlists when I'm trying to bunker down and get some writing done. I think this specific playlist dates back to my time in college more than a decade ago.

• 07 Nov, 2025 UNC-Kansas matchup

  My hope and excitement for UNC hoops this season continues. Our first big matchup is tonight vs. No. 19 Kansas. I appreciated this game preview from my old stomping grounds at the Daily Tar Heel.

• 07 Nov, 2025 Future Projection Episode 144

  Future Projection Episode 144: NL East Farm Systems

  

• 06 Nov, 2025 Ghost Redberry

  

  I think this is my 80-grade energy drink.

  Mar 26, 2026 Edit: Dropping this to the 70-grade line.

• 05 Nov, 2025 Braves prospects chat

  Today I hosted a Braves prospects chat over at BA. It was a fun time. There were a lot of good questions—43 in total—and hopefully Atlanta fans were able to get some value out of it.

• 04 Nov, 2025 Continued IG photo backlogging

  I spent some time this morning moving some of my IG photos to the photo archive here on this blog. Eventually I'd like to get everything housed in one place here and get off IG entirely.

• 04 Nov, 2025 UNC basketball is back

  It looks like the Tar Heels have a legitimately talented basketball team this year. Glad to get the season going. Caleb Wilson looks nutty.

• 03 Nov, 2025 Updated BA grades & risk

  This offseason we're tweaking how we evaluate prospects in a significant way by updated our BA Grade/Risk scale.

  We're trying to more accurately describe what "average" risk is for a prospect while also giving ourselves more room to bucket players into different tiers. All while avoiding an older math problem that didn't smoothly progress from one risk tier to the next.

  While you'll first see this new system in place with pro prospects in the prospect handbook, this will also have a real impact on the amateur side. The new scale will allow us to differentiate draft prospects in a more precise way with grades that more accurately reflect different tiers of talent.

  We're also expanding the 20/80 role scale down, because while most players we write up in the Prospect Handbook will carry some sort of big league value, that's not inherently the case for draft prospects.

  Overall this new grade/risk scale should help us better align our amateur and pro prospect grades, effectively bucket players into different tiers and more accurately describe prospect risks.

  You can read more about the changes in this piece from JJ Cooper.

• 03 Nov, 2025 Directory page added

  Tonight I added a directory page to the blog.

  As I keep building things out I think this will be useful. Eventually I'd like to have some other pages and lists of rankings that are not going to be obviously linked from the nav.

• 02 Nov, 2025 Congrats to the Dodgers

  Congrats to the Dodgers. Another incredible season.

  I think that might be the best World Series I have seen.

• 01 Nov, 2025 Tag cleanup on the blog

  Spent some time doing a bit of tag cleanup here on the #blog.

  When I implemented a notes and photos feed on the site I didn't tag those posts with anything except "notes" and "photos."

  I've realized as I continue to post more and more, it will be nice to have tags to filter content from all three of my main post types: blogs, notes and photos. I'm glad I did this now instead of months from now. Didn't take too long.

• 31 Oct, 2025 Hoping for another day of baseball

  It just hit me that we could be done with baseball tonight. I’m hoping we get another game tomorrow to stretch the season out as much as possible.

  Besides, who doesn’t love a game seven?

• 31 Oct, 2025 Future Projection Episode 143

  Future Projection Episode 143: How Did Teams Miss On Trey Yesavage?

  

• 31 Oct, 2025 Blogs burst onto the scene by Richard MacManus

  I stumbled across this article diving into the early days of blogging on the internet. A cool read.

  8:32 p.m.

• 30 Oct, 2025 Added borders to embedded notes

  I like the way embedded notes appear with a border around them, but one that is simple and clean.

  I yoinked some code from Mono's status section to make this happen. I also think the date and note link looks better at the bottom of the note.

  10:18 a.m.

• 30 Oct, 2025 Bearblog design inspiration

  The one “problem” with Bearblog is that so many people have cool custom sites and designs. It always makes me want to tweak my own blog.

  10:50 p.m.

• 29 Oct, 2025 2025 Draft Report Cards

  This morning we published our annual Draft Report Cards series. Superlatives and standouts for each club's 2025 draft class. More than 20,000 words of prospect intel in total.

  9:36 a.m.

• 28 Oct, 2025 C4 Frozen Bombsicle

  

  This C4 is helping me push through the day after last night's 18-inning epic between the Dodgers and Blue Jays. Needed the extra kick. I'll give it a 50/55.

• 25 Oct, 2025 Trey Yesavage Newsletter

  My latest newsletter is out. On Trey Yesavage going from first round steal to game one starter in the World Series, less than two years after being drafted. That, plus links to everything I've been working on.

  10:59 a.m.

• 24 Oct, 2025 World Series Prediction

  My preseason World Series prediction was Guardians over Brewers. That didn't work out. Before we get started tonight, I'll take the Dodgers over the Blue Jays in six.

  5:07 p.m.

• 24 Oct, 2025 Future Projection Episode 142

  Episode 142 of Future Projection is out. "Question Marks & Sleepers In The 2026 Draft Class."

  We also have a new draft podcast where we break down the latest update to our 20-26 draft rankings.

  12:13 p.m.

• 24 Oct, 2025 Productive writing day

  Some days you get a really productive writing day. Today was one for me. Always a great feeling.

  8:42 p.m.

• 23 Oct, 2025 Who could have imagined leaning into gambling was a mistake

  We get regular reminders of just how stupid it was for our society, and for sports leagues in particular, to lean so heavily into gambling. I think we had it right previously.

  10:35 a.m.

• 22 Oct, 2025 Why Are There Still Pirates Fans? by Keith Paradise

  Why Are There Still Pirates Fans?

  This was a really good piece. Hopefully Pittsburgh can field a competitive team at some point. The city deserves a more invested owner.

  11:11 a.m.

• 22 Oct, 2025 A 2026 Draft Class Update

  Today we're rolling out a significant update to our 2026 draft rankings. This is something we've been working on for a while now. Happy to see it go live on the site. You can also see the up/down movement details here.

  9:55 a.m.

• 20 Oct, 2025 Task finale

  The finale of Task was tremendous. I really love this show. Highly recommend it.

  10:06 p.m.

• 18 Oct, 2025 Rough and Rowdy Ways by Will Leitch

  Will Leitch's newsletter is always a recommended read, but this one in particular resonated with me. On headlines and how it's wild when people get mad about something they haven't even bothered to read.

  "Now, I have been in these sort of online kerfuffles before—many, many times. It has happened often enough that I don’t really sweat them anymore: My job is to write my piece, move on, write another one, and move on again. These things pass, every time; no one remembers, they just migrate over to the new thing to be mad about, and then the next. I am not writing for engagement, or clout, or social media prowess. I am fortunate enough to be paid for my writing, and I thus consider that my sole responsibility: Make good stuff, then go make more. If my editors are happy—and they have been—then I am happy."

  11:23 a.m.

• 18 Oct, 2025 Respecting the Brewers 2025 season

  Yes, the Brewers got beat handily in that series but man they had an incredible season. The best team in baseball this year. And they've been one of the most well-run organizations in the game for a number of years now.

  11:39 p.m.

• 18 Oct, 2025 Shohei Ohtani is incredible

  Shohei Ohtani tonight:

  As a pitcher: 6 IP, 10 K, 3 BB, 2 H, 0 R

  As a hitter: 3-for-3, 3 HR, BB, 3 RBI

  He is the greatest baseball player to ever live.

  11:24 p.m.

• 17 Oct, 2025 Google please stop with this AI BS

  Google is doing everything it possibly can to piss me off with its AI nonsense. Why am I now getting AI prompts when I click into a google sheet cell? Pushing AI solutions onto things that are not problems is infuriating.

  10:06 a.m.

• 17 Oct, 2025 Future Projection Episode 141

  Episode 141 of Future Projection is out. Ben and I talked about Gold Glove finalists and the prospects who could become future gold glove winners... and plenty more!

  9:49 a.m.

• 16 Oct, 2025 Em dash, en dash, hyphen by James Zhan

  I enjoyed this detailed read on the differences between an Em dash, En Dash and hyphen. Nerdy writing things.

  1:51 p.m.

• 15 Oct, 2025 Task

  Last weekend I binged the HBO series Task. It's great all-around. Can't wait for the finale this weekend.

  3:13 p.m.

• 14 Oct, 2025 One of the craziest double plays you'll ever see

  Baseball is great because you always have a chance to see something you've never seen before. I have never seen a double play like this one. I probably won't ever see one like this again. Incredible. Sal Frelick is insane.

  9:11 p.m.

• 13 Oct, 2025 Hit+ & Stuff+ Farm System Leaderboards

  Today at BA we have leaderboards for every organization's Hit+ and Stuff+ metrics in the minor leagues. The Dodgers lead all teams in both categories. The D-backs rank 30th in Stuff+ and the Braves rank 30th in Hit+.

  3:25 p.m.

• 13 Oct, 2025 covid/flu shot symptoms

  This weekend I got the covid booster and the flu shot at the same time. That put me on the couch all day yesterday, but I feel perfectly fine today. I'd like to avoid getting anything like that nimbus variant I am pretty sure I had earlier this year.

  12:20 p.m.

• 13 Oct, 2025 Smartphones and being present by Herman Martinus

  I've made efforts to lower my screen time, but this post from Herman reminds me to get on top of it once again. 30 minutes per day is a crazy number (in a good way).

  9:36 a.m.

• 11 Oct, 2025 A Mid October Roundup Newsletter

  My latest newsletter just went out. A quick one this week. Mostly catching people up on what I'm working on and links to my latest work.

  11:19 a.m.

• 11 Oct, 2025 Ryan Jeffers insane throw

  Shortly after Cal Raleigh made one of the better throws to second base you'll ever see, Ryan Jeffers matched him. Last night's Mariners-Tigers game was epic.

  10:05 a.m.

• 11 Oct, 2025 Cal Raleigh perfect throw to 2B

  It's difficult to have a throw to second base better than this one Cal Raleigh just made. Incredible.

  9:17 p.m.

• 09 Oct, 2025 Finding appreciation for the smith machine

  I used to despise smith machines and most apartment gyms have those instead of barbells. I've grown to appreciate them more in the last few years. You can really grind out reps on a smith in a way that's not really possible without it if you're working out alone.

  6:41 p.m.

• 08 Oct, 2025 An insane day to be a Tar Heel

  It's truly an insane day to be a Tar Heel.

  6:43 p.m.

• 08 Oct, 2025 AI theft

  "If we can't steal things our industry will collapse" seems like a weird statement, but go off AI companies I guess.

  10:51 a.m.

• 07 Oct, 2025 Throw Hard To Have A Lengthy Career by JJ Cooper

  This is an excellent study from JJ Cooper on how (and why) the hardest throwing pitchers have the longest careers.

  "But when it comes to pro pitchers looking to establish a career, the risk of injury pales in comparison to the risk of ineffectiveness. For all the understandable concerns about the rate of elbow injuries among pro pitchers, telling them to throw softer to reduce injury risk is the equivalent of telling a race car driver that they will reduce their risk of crashing by driving more slowly. They may crash less often, sure. But they also are more likely to be replaced by a faster driver."

  10:00 a.m.

• 07 Oct, 2025 Steve Eisman on The Lemonade Stand

  I thought this was a good (and funny) podcast from The Lemonade Stand guys with Steve Eisman.

  9:37 a.m.

• 06 Oct, 2025 RSS feed page

  I added a page that houses each of my RSS feeds so you can follow everything on the site OR only blogs/notes/photos. Apologies if the main RSS feed has been overly chaotic lately!

  7:55 p.m.

• 06 Oct, 2025 Leg fatigue with hybrid training and weighted vest walks

  I’ve tacked on 45 minutes of daily weighted vest walking to my training routine and the fatigue on my legs is real. I’m making very little progress in the squat rack, but that’s fine for now. I’d rather focus on the running getting better.

  5:07 p.m.

• 06 Oct, 2025 Cal Raleigh's Player of the Year case

  Matt Eddy also details Cal Raleigh's compelling case for Player of the Year in a historic season for a catcher.

  10:52 a.m.

• 06 Oct, 2025 Aaron Judge 2025 Player of the Year

  Aaron Judge is showing offensive performance that we've rarely seen in baseball history. For continuing that in 2025, he's Baseball America's Major League Player of the Year. Matt Eddy details his historic season.

  10:40 a.m.

• 06 Oct, 2025 Bill Belichick is an embarrassment for UNC

  It is embarrassing to have someone like Bill Belichick representing UNC in any capacity. Can we fast-forward to the time when he's not in Chapel Hill please?

  8:36 a.m.

• 06 Oct, 2025 Chad Caruso skateboarding doc

  Sometimes the algorithm serves up gems. This documentary about Chad Caruso skateboarding across America was sick.

  10:16 p.m.

• 05 Oct, 2025 More tinkering with the blog

  Well, my blog setup from just a few days ago didn't last long. I've already been tweaking some things to run everything through one individual blog and make the home page more dynamic.

  8:15 p.m.

• 03 Oct, 2025 Future Projection Episode 139

  The latest Future Projection Podcast is out. Episode 139: Should MLB Teams Hire College Coaches As Managers?

  4:37 p.m.

• 03 Oct, 2025 Gobino's site

  I'm a big fan of how gobino has created his site and implemented blogs, notes and photos. A slick setup.

  3:57 p.m.

• 02 Oct, 2025 The last invention

  As if we didn't have enough doom and gloom news recently. There's a new podcast called "The Last Invention" talking about the perils of AI. Listened to the first episode during my workout tonight—EP1: Ready or Not.

  7:24 p.m.

• 02 Oct, 2025 The web we want by Paul Robert Lloyd

  I also really liked this piece. The web we want: A beginner's guide to the IndieWeb. You're seeing a theme with what I'm reading today.

  2:04 p.m.

• 02 Oct, 2025 Building, Sharing, and Owning Your Online Presence by Ana Rodrigues

  I thought this was an interesting read on creating your own online presence and participating in the IndieWeb.

  1:34 p.m.

• 02 Oct, 2025 Tracking books with Storygraph?

  I track media and my ratings with three different tools right now: A google sheet, Goodreads for books and Letterboxd for movies. I'm thinking about switching from Goodreads to Storygraph for books. The reading data they provide just seems cool.

  10:38 a.m.

• 01 Oct, 2025 Adding IG photos

  I think I'm going to start adding my archive of photos from IG to my new photo feed here on my own site.

  1:32 p.m.

• 01 Oct, 2025 Scouting Grady Emerson

  Scouting Grady Emerson, the top high school prospect in the 2026 draft class. This is the second piece of our off-season scouting series.

  9:08 a.m.

• 01 Oct, 2025 Don't try to be Hemingway

  Advice Bill Madden got as a young journalist (from this podcast with Jeff Pearlman):

  Don’t try to be a fucking Hemingway. That’s not what you are. You’re a reporter. Always remember the fact that you’re a reporter. You have to tell your readers something they don’t know. Everyday.

• 30 Sep, 2025 A joy to watch MLB postseason ball

  It's a real joy to just sit and watch MLB postseason baseball all day. Kind of counts as work, too—how cool is that?

  6:22 p.m.

• 30 Sep, 2025 Happy first day of the MLB postseason

  Happy first day of the MLB postseason to all those who celebrate!

  9:51 a.m.

• 30 Sep, 2025 Finished reading discourses and selected writings

  I finally finished "Discourses and Selected Writings" by Epictetus tonight. It's been a months long slow read for me. I've got 43 different Kindle Highlights, which I believe is the most I've ever had on a book. Tons of insight here.

  8:59 p.m.

• 29 Sep, 2025 AJ Preller is the most interesting GM in baseball, by Brittany Ghiroli and Dennis Lin

  This is a great article on the most interesting GM in baseball: AJ Preller. Nice work from Brittany Ghiroli and Dennis Lin.

  1:18 p.m.

• 29 Sep, 2025 Morning weighted vest walks

  I've been doing a weighted vest walk for about 45 minutes to start my day for the last week-plus. It's been great. Wakes me up, easy exercise while listening to a podcast and enjoying the cooler fall weather.

  10:19 a.m.

• 29 Sep, 2025 2026 draft lottery odds

  With the regular season now complete, we have a better picture of the 2026 draft lottery odds.

  9:15 a.m.

• 28 Sep, 2025 Notes are live

  After a lot of tinkering, testing, trial and error—my custom notes feed is live.