HT: 6’3” WT: 190 H/T: L/R
School: De La Salle (Stanford Commit)
State: CA
ETA: 2030

Report

Tyler Spangler is a prominent prep prospect due in large part to his pure hitting ability. This summer, he has been filling into his + frame, yet still has a high level of strength he can build. Spangler is a long-legged athlete with narrow shoulders who has present lower body strength, but can add more there, and certainly can add more to his upper half. At the plate, he has an open stance and slightly tilts his body to the pitcher pre-load. He closes his front half as he strides with a slight leg kick, and has a strong body tilt as he unloads through his swing. There’s some slight bat tilt and natural lift in the swing, but neither is drastic, & he has the bat control to get to all quadrants of the zone. This comes out to slightly short swing length, but he can still get to average bat speed, largely due to his good hand speed. Spangler has an advanced hit tool where he makes contact at a terrific rate and rarely expands the zone. This ability was held when he participated across the various top circuits in the Summer. He tracks the ball well and, thus far, has not shown any signs of struggling to make bat-to-ball or recognize pitches against the top arms. It’s an easy plus projected tool. His power is developing, but there is a clear path for him to have the raw strength to be a consistent HR-threat. Still, I am skeptical if this power will consistently play on a game-level. Spangler has an oppo-CF approach at the plate, which plays into his hit tool strength, but this greatly comes at the detriment of his HR output. Additionally, he has run a high GB% against the top arms. All this to say, if he wants to get to the 25+ HR power that his body can grow into, he will need to do an approach reset at the plate. The way he swings now can still play, but it will be heavily 2Bs over HRs. Spangler is an above-average runner who could regress to average as he adds mass, but for now, it is more than capable to keep him at SS. He’s a natural defender who has the body control to handle SS, but his better defensive skillset is with his consistent fluidity for all types of GBs hit to him. If he does outgrow the ability to play SS, he should handle 3B very well. Spangler has an above-average arm that will also keep him on the left side of the infield. A flaw in his defensive skillset is how he can lose his fluidity on the arm path for his throws to 1B. Still, across the board, Spangler has an above-average defensive skillset. Tyler Spangler projects to be a consistent MLB INFer & worthy of a 1st Round pick, although he has a lower chance to become an impact star than most players at his level.

-Will Dodge