This off-season, I’ve taken a look back at past Bowman releases. It’s more about the players and how they’re progressing in baseball within the hobby landscape, not an examination of how good or bad the product still is or can be – but that’s an easy measuring stick to summarize with. This is the seventh in this series. I previously wrote about 2018 Bowman Draft, 2019 Bowman, 2019 Bowman Chrome, 2019 Bowman Draft, 2020 Bowman & BC, and 2020 Bowman Draft.
This is our first release where the hobby significance of the prospects outweigh the players with MLB experience. What’s that a testament to? Lack of a J2/J15 class? Slow developers? Let’s take a look. One thing is for sure, the players who are retail paper-exclusive autos have far exceeded expectations.
Top of The Crop
Coby Mayo has so many hobby ingredients that we love – clear 30 HR power, a good approach at the plate, and performance at a high level. He might not be a 3B, but to me that’s only the difference between an Austin Riley ceiling and a Pete Alonso ceiling – that is to say, it doesn’t matter. Unlike some of the other high-end proximal Baltimore prospects, Mayo seems like a foundational piece to the club and won’t be traded. He’ll be up when his performance dictates it. There’s not much of a chance for opening day (he’s not on the 40-man) but if he keeps doing what he has been, I think his offensive upside, even as a rookie, is enough to supplant Ryan O’Hearn or Jordan Westburg, and maybe even Ryan Mountcastle.
The Rodney Dangerfield of consensus Top 40 prospects, Adael Amador is one of the easiest buys in the hobby, period. With a near MiLB-best 87% contact rate, nobody is putting anything less than a 60 on his future hit tool. In addition to that statement’s intrinsic meaning, for Amador it means he gets to significantly more pop than his raw power dictates. Amador missed six weeks in 2023 with a broken hamate so his counting numbers don’t stand out, but 27 XBH in 64 games is excellent game power for a player with such strong plate skills erstwhile – it’s the same rate as Jackson Holliday. That’s not a comparison – Amador is a full notch lower defensively and may be better suited to 2B, and his average speed dictates he’ll only likely steal a handful of bases per year. But there’s too many positives here for him to be significantly less in hobby value than riskier players like Termarr Johnson and Carson Williams.
Solid Major Leaguers
I don’t think anyone truly fits this category from this release, but Christopher Morel is the closest. He’s certainly shown the power and defensive versatility (mainly due to his arm strength) to be a nice piece of their lineup puzzle, but there’s flaws. He swings and misses a ton – he was bottom 10 in the league in Whiff%. That led to a K% over 30. Without a well defined approach to counteract it, he’s a bottom of the order bat. But 42 HR in the first two years of his MLB career is significant – if he makes a little more contact or develops a bit better of an approach he’d be in a power-centric everyday role. The Cubs have a lot of bright spots in their young core and with a robust card market to go with it, Morel could be a part of it. Note that Morel only has base Chrome in this release — his autos are in Bowman Chrome.
MLB
Johan Rojas is a superb defender in CF. He showed that in his 59-game debut. It gives him the floor of a 4th OF moving forward, but there’s clear potential for much more. He’s definitely missing our favorite ingredient - he’s never eclipsed 12 HR in any professional season or had an ISO over .170 - but his power is trending in the right direction. There’s potential for a 15 HR peak, and when we include his plus speed and that defense, through a hobby lens would be quite collectible at large. What I haven’t mentioned is the thing that’s preventing him from being a star – his lack of a hit tool. It boils down to having no discipline whatsoever – he chases a ton which leads to low quality of contact, and doesn’t take any walks. He puts the ball on the ground enough to run a high BABIP, but the .410 he had in his debut is an absolute fluke. I’d expect an OBP closer to .300 this year hitting in the bottom of the Phillies lineup. But still just 23 until August, there’s time to make improvements – he’s properly valued in the hobby for now.
There’s definite untapped potential yet in Liover Peguero. He hits the ball hard enough to be a mid-.200 or better hitter, but too often it’s into the ground. It completely hides the fact that he does have average power. He also has a hole in his swing on low-and-away pitches in the zone – to put a point on it, according to Baseball Savant he only had 4 hits on those pitches in a 213 PA sample.That will need to be rectified to make it as a league average bat. Peguero has excellent speed, but he’s not overly quick so it doesn’t translate perfectly to baseball either in the field or as a base stealing threat. Still, his total package is probably a better option than Nick Gonzales or Alika Williams as an everyday player. So the Pirates will stick Peguero at the bottom of the order and hope he makes those adjustments – not a great outlook for nearsighted hobbyists, but keep in mind he’s only 23 all year. Note that he is base-only in this release and his cards do not have the ‘1st Bowman’ designation. His autographs (which do have the 1st designation) are found in Bowman Chrome.
It’s unfortunate that Endy Rodriguez tore up his elbow in November and will miss the season, because he showed the promise of being a building block for the Pirates. Now it’ll just have to wait until 2025. Being more of a premium-util than a true catcher is actually good for the hobby – it’ll help his playing time. But that’s really the most positive spin I can put on him right now. Never known for his power, his premium approach and bat-to-ball skills didn’t quite translate to performance at the majors. I definitely expect them to, but as the next time he’ll see the field will be in his age-25 season, he’s more of a fringy asset for the hobby.
I’m choosing to ignore what Jose Miranda did in 2023 – I’m a believer that his shoulder impingement was causing weakness all year whether he realizes it or not. He did have surgery in September to remove scar tissue, and is already playing this spring so it appears he’ll be full go for 2024. I’m high on him for what he is – a positionless bat with enough power and speed to make up for his defensive deficiencies. When all is going well I see a potential .350 OBP, 20 HR ceiling, but with a healthy Twins roster he’s probably the odd man out. As he’ll already be 26 in June and probably headed to AAA, I would be just a soft buy on him, and his retail-only paper autos are already affordable.
When I say in these retrospective write-ups that a player “could flll a utility role”, I mean a player like Ji-Hwan Bae. He spent his rookie year mostly playing 2B and CF for the Pirates, where just being able to play the positions at a league average level provided value. Bae essentially made good on what we thought he’d be offensively – little power, good speed, and decent ability to make contact. He hit a wall late in the season that makes his ratio stats look worse – but it doesn’t matter for the hobby. His part-time role is much more valuable to the team than it is through the baseball card lens.
Gabriel Arias also filled a utility role for his MLB team in 2023, and while his offensive value was close to the same as Bae, his speed & defense are easily lesser assets. That makes him truly a replaceable part in the offense. His raw power is actually very good, but he doesn’t make enough contact and won’t see enough playing time to get to the 25 HR that the raw power indicates he could get to. This coming year figures to be Arias’ last with an option, so the footsteps of all those young Cleveland infielders (namely Angel Martinez, Juan Brito, and Jose Tena who are on the 40-man) must seem pretty loud.
You’re a Blue Jays fan on September 8, 2023. Davis Schneider has just followed up a month of a .500 OBP in AAA with a debut for the ages - a ridiculous .403/.535/.881 slash with 7 HR in 21 games. Alright! Rookie stud! How do I collect him? What, just retail paper paper autos!? Bummer. Such are the breaks when you come out of nowhere as a former 28th round pick. I, of course, cherry-picked that date – he hit quite the wall afterward. Schneider is still in the mix to fill a utility role in 2024, but he’s not like Bae and Arias. He’s there entirely for his bat, and he’s clearly shown he can hit the highest of highs. His contact rate is, overall, too low but he makes up for it with an excellent approach – there’s no doubt if given the playing time he could put up a .330 OBP at minimum with decent power. I’m taking Schneider over Bae and Arias fairly easily, even with only paper autos.
The last of our four utility types with MLB experience, Nick Maton is a little different in that he’s already 27. He’s also proven what he is in the majors since 2021 – and let’s just say it’s not significant for the hobby. Traded to the Orioles for cash considerations a few weeks ago, Maton will look to carve out a bench role, or could be DFA’d later this spring.
Luis Frias and Austin Cox have made a significant amount of relief appearances for their respective big-league clubs, but neither has established themself as either a potential swing-man or as an option in high-leverage situations. They’re up-and-down injury replacement types for now. Clearly not what we want for the hobby.
Prospects of Significance
For as high of a hobby ceiling as he has in the Boston market, Blaze Jordan is surprisingly undervalued in the hobby. In 2023 Jordan, Jackson Chourio, Jackson Merrill, and Jeferson Quero were the only 20 YO to reach AA with a 75% contact rate and 15 HR. In addition, a very nice 39% of his hits went for extra bases – to me that indicates that as he matures, there’s even more HR pop coming. And that contact rate indicates he’s already starting to mature. Nobody thought Jordan could potentially be a .280 hitter when he was drafted, but now that looks like a higher probability than the potential 40 HR pop he was touted for as an amateur. Doing both is still in the realm of possibility – he could grow into being a Matt Olson-type as an absolute ceiling. I don’t want to sound too glowing – he’s very likely just a 1B (though a pretty good one), and his speed is so poor that he’s likely to be replaced on the basepaths late games. But are we really concerned about such things in the hobby? He lives in a price range that’s too high for my taste, but man does he ever have a lot of room to grow.
He’s still rough around the edges, but Kevin Alcantara has a great frame for power and more importantly for now, has shown a great feel for the barrel. If he just maintains his current contact rate and projected growth from the 38 XBH% he had in 2023, he’d be an above-average MLB regular with 25 HR. The other contributing factor to that projection is enough speed to be a threat on the bases and play CF. He’s a 4-tool player, and his hit isn’t too much of a laggard at present. The fear is that as he plays more at AA (where he’ll start 2024) his 6’6” frame will be exposed as a hindrance and that contact rate drops too far. But still just 21 until July, I’m making the bet that it won’t happen and Alcantara is a star in the making.
Residual hobby status makes me put Austin Martin here. I don’t think the former 5th overall pick will ever be a star in the league – heck, I don’t know if he’ll ever get to 500 PA’s in any season. His defense has proven to be more liability than versatility (now mostly relegated to LF and 2B), and there’s a lot of pressure on his bat now. Even there it's mostly just his hit tool that’s the appeal. He also carries the albatross of an early-2023 UCL sprain that if it recurs, will likely result in TJ and delay his arrival further. With all those red flags, I will say that his hit tool is probably the best the Twins have in the majors or minors – he put up an elite contact rate in AAA and has an approach to match. Martin should put up a .350 OBP and steal 15-20 bases in the majors fairly easily – it’s just a question of whether he gets to even 10 HR.
While to date he hasn’t shown enough command to truly be an ace, Mick Abel has everything else we like in the hobby from a pitcher. He has the body of a workhorse, a fastball with great ride that sits at 95-96, a plus slider to complement it, and performance at AA that indicates that it’ll all work at higher levels. He allowed just a .187 BAA at that level with 10.44 K/9. While he did give up a fair amount of HR, it really just comes back to command – if he makes less mistakes, I think everything will tick back to having the projection of a #2 SP with a high-20’s K%. I think this is the year we get a brief glimpse of Abel in the majors (probably around the time he turns 23 in August), but I don’t think he’ll be near his peak for a few years yet.
I might catch some heat for putting Jake Eder up here, but he’s a player with proximity and a significant ceiling. Being a lefty with possession of a double-plus slider will do that. He returned from Tommy John surgery in June, and while his command was predictably (quite) rusty, he did strike out 70 in 47 innings. The swing and miss stuff is definitely still there. Added to the 40-man for the White Sox, I think he’s just those command improvements away from making his debut in the South Side. Question his place in the rotation all you want, but the high-K upside will keep him quite relevant for the hobby.
Other Prospects
Man, nobody seems to be on Victor Bericoto as a future everyday player, but with the improvements he made in 2023 I think we’re creeping towards that being a 50th percentile outcome. You have to believe in the power like I do to think that – his contact rate is definitely just “passable” as it is. But he made a massive power jump, slugging 27 HR, good for 5th most among players his age or younger. Bericoto has always hit the ball hard — but the difference in 2023 was the ability to get to more game power by modifying his swing path to put the ball in the air more - and it worked - he hasn’t been burned by quality of contact issues because of it yet. Bericoto doesn’t move all that well, so whether he sticks as a corner OF or moves fully to 1B, continuing to hit is important. While he’s only a retail paper-only subject in this release, I’m a buyer.
Alberto Rodriguez rebounded from a mediocre 2022 to slash .300/.381/.504 across High-A and AA last year. He simply showed a tremendous feel for the barrel, with a 25 LD% and slashing 56 XBH. Added strength simply gave him the skill to pull the ball into the right center gap very well – he does have 15-20 HR pop in his future. While his average won’t be .300, there’s definitely a possibility it’ll end up at .260-ish or better higher levels. Sounds like a pretty good projection for a player you’ve barely heard of, right? Well that’s because he’s a stocky 5`10” corner OF with poor speed. There’s just a massive amount of pressure on his bat – he’ll have to improve in the OF or really take another step forward offensively to be a MLB regular. He’s another retail-only paper auto I’d take a chance on.
It’s very safe to think Jose Rodriguez will play in Chicago this year. The White Sox acquired Paul DeJong and Nicky Lopez to man their middle infield – not very inspiring offensive options. It seems the Sox are content with them until the bevy of MI’s in their high minors show that they’re ready. Of these youngsters, Rodriguez has better offensive upside than all of them except Colson Montgomery. That’s not to say Rodriguez is an offensive dynamo – his aggressive approach isn’t a perfect fit to his fringe-average power, but he does make enough contact, and it’s quality enough that I think he can get to double digit HR as it is. I think he’d be at least equivalent to the MI vets the Sox have now, but it completely makes sense to have him spend time at AAA to see if he can refine his approach. I don’t think Rodriguez has much star potential, but he could definitely be the guy to play alongside Colson Montgomery for years to come.
If I could smash org-mates Angel Martinez and Juan Brito together to make one light-powered 2B prospect, I’d be all over that profile as one to be a lineup mainstay for years to come with the Guardians. But since they’re not the same guy, I’ll take Martinez for the hobby – he has the better speed and defense of the two. While his hit tool is definitely lesser than Brito’s, it still has potential to be an above average asset. It just depends on the adjustments he makes to his plate discipline. He was more aggressive in 2023 and it mostly worked – he just needs to blend that back into his ability to take walks like he did in past years. All this said, Martinez smells like a prospect who’s ceiling is around 12 HR annually with an OBP around .325 – certainly not a star in the eyes of the hobby.
He’s more of a SS than a 2B for now, but it’s pretty funny that in Jose Tena the Guardians have basically three of the same player, following Martinez and Brito. And that’s the order I’d put them in too. Tena profiles more as a utility defensive replacement at the end of the day, as he has a hair less hit, speed, and power than the other two. But his defense is good enough to fill a bench role now behind Brayan Rocchio and company. He’s not really a name to consider for the hobby.
Yunior Severino hit 35 bombs in 2023, so his power is very apparent. He’s down here because there’s a reasonable certainty that the power is his only tool that will be of MLB quality. He ran a 61% contact rate across AA/AAA and has just an average approach to go with it – he swings too often to be productive with even just a high-60’s contact rate. He’s also a poor defender in the field and not a threat on the basepaths. With all those negatives aside, the 24 YO does now occupy a spot on the Twins’ 40-man so it’s fair to think he debuts sometime this year with a good showing at AAA. And if he does debut, watch out for the inevitable brief power surge to get out, because this isn’t a player that’s likely to carve out regular playing time in the majors.
Despite falling pretty far from where expectations were at release, Max Acosta isn’t too far off from a trajectory as a MLB regular. He was 20 at High-A all year, and put together league-average numbers while playing SS. He was one of only 16 players of his age or younger to hit 10 HR and steal 25 bases. To me he looks pretty much like the same player he was when he was one of the top chases at release - he’s just hit the lower end of expected outcomes so far. He hasn’t made exponential growth on anything we were projecting of him, and it’s fair to question if he ever will. There’s a bit of a “full sell” in the hobby right now – but he’s not a fading asset. He’s just not what we thought he was.
Heriberto Hernandez has always been at the fringe of hobby interest, and he remains so now entering his age-24 season. His hit tool isn’t an average asset overall, but his excellent approach has yielded an OBP over .360 at every stop since 2020. He also has some decent pop, but he took a step back in 2023 from the 24 HR he hit the previous year. His main problem is that the total package of his offensive skills have never added up to overcome the major deficits he has in speed and defense. Right now I think he’ll get a shot in the majors at some point, but I don’t know when and it’s not likely to be a large window.
Former 1st-rounder Aaron Sabato has also never had defensive value – there’s always been a lot of pressure on his bat. The hope was that his plus raw power and good approach would translate at a prototype low-average, high OBP 30 HR-hitting 1B. That’s always a very specific path to hit and Sabato hasn’t done so perfectly. His approach has been solid, but at AA in 2023, even after he got going in June, he just did not make enough contact to have the high OBP or for his power to play as better than above-average. That’s been a multi-year trend with Sabato. Now entering a year where he turns 25 in June, there doesn’t seem to be much proximity to the majors. We can hope he flips the script on his contact rate, but it’d take an unexpected development for that to happen.
Nothing wows me from a hobby perspective about Brainer Bonaci. He’s hit enough, and there’s been enough power to have a future as a MLB utility player, and being a switch hitting, good defender elevates him to having a good chance to compile 350-400 AB’s annually. But he’s never going to be the best offensive option. He’s the type of player that’s team-collectors only, but I don’t know if/when he gets to the majors, he’ll still be with the Red Sox.
My brain can’t earnestly discern between the two double B’s in this release, but I think Brayan Buelvas is the lesser of the two by a small margin. Buelvas is an OF with a shot to stick in CF, though his shorter frame and thickening lower half might knock his speed down enough to be pushed to the corners. His speed and defense are his best tools, and they project as above average assets at maturity. His bat was good enough for a promotion to High-A by late May, but his offensive performance was pretty miserable there so he was sent back down where he resumed his tirade on the lesser pitching talent. Promoted again to AA where he got different coaching, there was again a complete lack of success. He’s still only 21 until June, but those inabilities to make adjustments make me think his hit tool has just fringe-average projection – far off from where evaluators peg it. I’ve buried the lede here as I try to talk my way into Buelvas as a future 4th OF – he has almost no power, doesn’t project for more, and is in a bad team context. So, for the hobby he’s justifiably a near-zero.
I’ve been hoping Ivan Johnson puts it all together as a sum-of-the-parts utility-type since release, but it’s never quite happened. It’s contact issues that have been his bugaboo – there’s plenty of gap-to-gap pop as evidenced by 45% of his hits going for extra bases. He also has plenty of speed and is a highly efficient threat on the basepaths. He would absolutely fill a utility role or maybe even a little more, if only that contact rate ticked into the low-70’s. But at 64%, he’s just an age-25 MiLB role player.
We still don’t know if the 20 HR, .334 BA season Jairo Pomares put up in 2021 was a complete fluke. In 2022 he was exposed in High-A, as he didn’t get away with his hyper aggression as much, but the offensive results were still decent. Could he make adjustments, make it work better in 2023? Well, we don’t know. He started late due to a quad injury, re-injured it after 8 games, then re-injured it again in rehab and never came back. Yikes. At the very least, he deserves to be a fading asset for the hobby. I still like the power – there’s a wide range of outcomes yet – but he hasn’t shown enough of a hit tool to date to project to the MLB. And now at 23 and likely not seeing AA until at least June, I don’t think I’d be a buyer.
There’s not a lot of pitching in this release to write about, but Dylan MacLean remains relevant, at least from a real-life perspective. As a 4th round prep lefty from the 2020 class, he was always going to be a project. He did a lot of piggybacking in 2023, totaling 76 innings and putting up a good ERA. It was all based on limiting hard contact – I don’t think the big lefty is close to a finished product, but he’ll surely get a chance to prove himself at High-A in 2024. He’s still just 21 until July.
Kohl Franklin built up to 105 innings at AA, and he possesses a plus change-up. But his command was wildly inconsistent and that led to the sum total of his season looking quite sub-par. Command issues have been the issue for him all along. He’s actually trending positively with that, but the question now is whether it improves enough for his fringy fastball and secondaries to be effective enough to get MLB hitters out. Not a name to consider for the hobby at this juncture, as from what I see it’s a swing-man profile.
Where hath thou power gone, Alexander Ramirez of the Angels? I think I have an answer. While he bullied pitchers in complex ball with his athleticism, he hasn’t developed the baseball acumen to do the same thing in full season ball to date. Whether he ever develops that acumen is a fair question at this point – he’s never improved his swing decisions and his ISO has dropped each of the last two seasons as his K% has risen. Still, he’s a good athlete that’s both a threat to steal and a premium body in RF – not a profile teams are wont to give up on easily. He really needs to move past having an inchoate hit tool soon though.
I’m not going to lie – I wasn't at all familiar with DJ Gladney before now, but the 19 HR in High-A at age-21 stand out on the surface. Digging deeper, I see why I’m not familiar. He’s hyper aggressive at the plate and doesn’t have a good contact rate, leading to a high K% and low OBP. He has a big frame and has worked hard to maintain enough athleticism to stick as a corner OF, but his body could also easily become 1B-only. Now turning 22 in July, we’ll see if the former 16th round pick can develop a little more discipline. If he does, we’ll talk about what he could be in the majors, but there’s not a trajectory right now.
Daniel Montano is very similar to Heriberto Hernandez in his iffy contact ability, good plate approach, and lack of defensive chops. His raw power is a bit less, but there’s a chance they just overlap as it translates to games. At 25 he is now without a team after electing free agency, but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of him after a AAA season where he had a .350 OBP.
Jeremy De La Rosa now has over 500 AB’s in High-A and hasn’t showed marked improvement. He’s just not great at making swing decisions, and while he does have good raw power he’s continued to hit the ball on the ground too much for it to show. But with plus speed and plus raw power in tow, he’s not so easy to give up on.
Jake Vogel is a bit maddening. He doesn’t have good power, but he hits the ball in the air a ton and with low quality of contact. For a player with top-of-the-scale speed like Vogel has, I want to see him fail after a swing change before I label him a bust.
Darryl Collins, Adinso Reyes, Marcus Smith, and Eddy Diaz are still young enough, but were injured for too much of 2023 to get a good read on their progress. They were far away and trending negatively previous to that though. Ismael Mena also got a late start and didn’t look good, but he’s a year younger and will get his second crack at Low-A at 21.
Hitter quick hits: Yoelqui Cespedes was an intriguing prospect at release because of his bloodlines and power potential, but it really hasn’t panned out to anything that looks like it’ll work in the majors. He enters 2024 at age 26 without a 40-man spot…Herbert Perez and Jose Salas were also good names in this product at release, but neither is close to having a projection to the MLB right now and have faded drastically. The only thing they have going for them is youth…Alexander Vargas and D’Shawn Knowles (lesser names at release) also still have youth going for them and while they’re speedy and good defenders at SS, their offensive tools are very much lacking…Antonio Gomez’s defensive chops aren’t enough to wash his complete lack of a hit tool. He should remain in the org for awhile though – it’s not easy giving up on catchers with good defense…Released by the Astros mid-season last year and immediately picked up by the Tigers, Luis Santana is probably just an MiLB role player moving forward…Jaylen Palmer made it to AAA, but a K% that’s been over 35 at every stop since Low-A also just leaves him as an MiLB role player…I don’t know where James Beard is (sharing a name with a legendary chef doesn’t help in finding information). There’s no injury report I could find, and he’s still in the White Sox organization but didn’t play in 2023 – but it was a definite downward trend with him as well.
Pitcher quick hits: Colby White has always been a reliever and has been limited by many injury issues, but he has an excellent fastball and has been good when active. He’s touched AAA...I think Beck Way will be fully converted to reliever in 2024 – his command has just never improved enough, and he does have some interesting pitches that should play up in the bullpen…Likewise, Riley Thompson is probably better off as a relief option because of command issues, though I’m less sure about his stuff…failed starter Stevie Emanuels made some nice strides in his first year in his RP role in the A’s system…Jared Kelley’s poor control and command had him pushed to a bullpen role early in 2023, and he hasn’t quite learned how to leverage his plus change-up in those shorter spurts yet…Hyun-il Choi is entering his age-24 season without any experience at AA and hasn’t shown enough bat-missing acumen to think he’d be successful there, but was OK at High-A last year…Jeremy Wu-Yelland has not returned to full season ball yet following his April 2022 TJ. He’ll be 25 in June and will need to quickly earn a promotion to AA to gain back a shadow of relevance…Eddy Yean is still pretty young but didn’t pitch well at High-A last year…Breidy Encarnacion and Yohanse Morel did pitch well at High-A, but as 23 YO’s with very limited experience in the high minors, they’re still a ‘no thanks’ for the hobby.
Summary
This product has a nice high end and an awful lot of future MLB role players. The pitching quotient is low, which increases the overall appeal, but without many future all-stars it’s one of the lesser products I’ve written about. It’s not really Topps’ fault on this one - without an international crop from 2020 they loaded it up with the best of what they had available. Most of those just haven’t come close to their respective ceilings.