That’s what that level forces players to do.At Peoria, pitchers couldn’t place their pitches well enough to get Gorman to chase, so they just walked him. His power is that good. He does have the arm strength for the position, however, and is praised for his instincts. Among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances, Gorman ranked 4th in isolated power with a .315 ISO. April 11, 2019 April 11, 2019 Eugene Tierney 2 Comments Baseball, Joey Gallo, Miguel Sano, MLB, Nolan Gorman, Pedro Alvarez, Scouting Report, St. Louis Cardinals Nolan Gorman DOB: 05/10/2000 The important thing to pick out from this is that Gorman showed a more advanced approach at the plate the longer he stayed at Palm Beach. Get the latest stats, rankings, scouting reports, and more about Palm Beach Cardinals player Nolan Gorman on Baseball America And though he would hit just six more homers with an elevated strikeout rate over his final 91 contests, he still received a promotion to the Class A Advanced Florida State League at age 19 -- an accomplishment for any prep pick in his first full season.Gorman generates massive raw power with his left-handed swing using a combination of physical strength, bat speed and a barrel path that's conducive to driving the ball in the air. In his first 16 games, he hit 6 homers and batted .250/.306/.547. The Cardinals were thrilled to find him still available with the 19th overall pick and signed Gorman for full pick value, just over $3.2 million. Gorman won multiple home run derbies and showed that his power played against some of the top pitching prospects in the game at a few of the bigger showcases, displaying easy plus power against mid-90s velocity.
Returning to the Midwest League in 2019, Gorman picked up right where he'd left off by homering nine times in his first 34 games.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 16: Nolan Gorman #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals in action against the Washington Nationals during a spring … Scouting Report. This screams that Gorman was trying to work counts and the stats back that up.Back to the point, Gorman improved, and while he fell from the 20s to the 40s on mlb.com’s top 100 prospect lists, he was named the #4 third base prospect by MLB Pipeline.This speaks back to the ceiling that Nolan Gorman has. Louis Cardinals: Way too early Trade Deadline speculations Additionally, Gorman has added to the questions surrounding his hit tool rather than answer them, particularly at USA Baseball's National High School Invitational, where he swung and missed often against offspeed pitches and also expanded his strike zone. The top slugger in the 2018 MLB Draft may be Arizona high schooler Nolan Gorman By Shaun P Kernahan Mar 19, 2018, 11:15am EDT Share this story The first two are very much still questions long-term, but they seem considerably less important in the wake of what he did to lower minor league pitching. That isn’t much, but it’s an improvement.
He has an above-average arm that's likely plus and he showed impressive glove work at the hot corner with Team USA, making plays on the run and while off-balance.
In what was a clearly pre-planned promotion, Gorman was pushed to High-A Palm Beach from Low-A Peoria.This was a gutsy move by the Cardinals given that Palm Beach is in a pitcher-friendly league and a young player can lose confidence and get buried quickly. Gorman will start the 2019 season at Peoria. Where he ends up, however, is a mystery. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)We knew Gorman would struggle at some point and that he couldn’t be this good in the Minors forever, and in his second season, he saw some adversity but it was an overall Gorman came out of the gates hot again with an OPS over 1.000 in April but then sputtered for just a .766 OPS in May and was even worse in June (.532 OPS). Still, when Gorman hits the ball he hits it harder than almost anyone in the class. Scouting Report 2020 Gorman separated himself from his 2018 Draft Class peers with prodigious displays of power during home run derbies on the summer showcase circuit, including the MLB All-Star High School Home Run Derby in Miami, as well as during games. His strikeout rate stayed high at 34.7%, but his walk rate jumped up to 7.4%. His slugging percentage was .664. However, his stock fell a bit this spring, when scouts noted that Gorman looked stiffer defensively, creating more reason to believe that he would eventually need to move to first base.
He had a .176 BABIP and a .034 ISO.
He had the highest average exit velocity at the NHSI at 102.1 mph, with an exit velocity a tick harder against breaking balls, specifically. That power does come with some holes in his swing and leads to some swing-and-miss tendencies, but there's no denying that Gorman has ultra-quick hands and bat speed. Would I draft Nolan Gorman? Evaluator: John Eshleman: Report Date: August 13th, 2018 Dates Seen: August 2-7, 2018 Level: Rk Affiliate: Johnson City Cardinals MLB Team: On 40-Man Roster: No Physical Description. Scouting report If a player's Draft status was tied directly to home run derby performances, Gorman might be the No. Louis Cardinals: A weird 24 hours with Nolan ArenadoSt. He was swinging a ton and not working counts.In Gorman’s final month at Palm Beach, he had a 32/7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. However, the increased stiffness he showed this spring won't help encourage those who already believed he would eventually move to first. Gorman separated himself from his 2018 Draft Class peers with prodigious displays of power during home run derbies on the summer showcase circuit, including the MLB All-Star High School Home Run Derby in Miami, as well as during games. That uphill bat path does create some holes in Gorman's swing, however, and he can be exposed by elevated velocity and well-sequenced secondary pitches.