Feliciano, Reetz, and the Prospects for Catching Prospects.

[Playing Catch]

Seeing some of the posters that were discouraged that the Brewers did not land Luis Campusano as part of the Hader trade brought this opinion to mind. I am curious what you guys think.

I don't like catching prospects. I feel like the position is too important for a team (even a rebuilding team maybe) to entrust to an unproven rookie. I feel like most of them are either big-time bats masquerading as a catcher, or they are flawed hitters, or flawed receivers with a great arm.

I realize that there have been complete catching prospects that have been everything and more (Posey and Mauer come to mind). But it seems like so many others simply fade off into MLB obscurity at the position (Zunino, Hedges, Jansen, Mejia), or get moved off the position (Kiner-Falefa, Varsho).

I would rather entrust the position to some AAAA journeyman with a questionable bat, but excellent defensive skills, like Manny Pina, than count on my uber-catching prospect to blossom into a legitimate MLB receiver right away. I worry about Feliciano and/or Reetz to be able to be a reasonable back-up on a good Brewers team next year.

[Robocaller]

Manny Pina is not a AAAA journeyman. He hit over .700 OPS every season with the Brewers.

There are 3 catchers in Nashville who could be a backup in the majors right now.

[Lathund]

3 hours ago, Robocaller said:

Manny Pina is not a AAAA journeyman. He hit over .700 OPS every season with the Brewers.

 

I imagine his point was that when he first made the Brewers roster, Manny Piña was the very definition of a AAAA journeyman. With the Brewers being his 5th organization, and him having reached AAA for the first time 6+ years earlier. He turned out to be  more than that in the end, but that's what he was at the time. 

[folly412]

Backup is where it starts.  Feliciano or Reetz will only be catching once or twice a week, with Caratini (presumably) or another veteran as the primary.  One or two of the AAAA type players will be added to AAA in case Caratini is injured, and would get at least half the starts if the younger player hasn't proved solid.

[Playing Catch]

Yeah. Upon further reflection, those Manny Pina types have to come from somewhere. They may as well come from within your own organization. I guess what I was thinking is that if you had a big-time catching prospect in your organization, it may be better to trade them than to expect top-level catching from them in their first few seasons.

That is true of any rookie at any position, but that catching position is really important to get right.

[markedman5]

 

[Playing Catch]

Haha, that's awesome. I've been excited about him for years, now!

[edfunderburk]

On 8/1/2022 at 6:02 PM, Playing Catch said:

Seeing some of the posters that were discouraged that the Brewers did not land Luis Campusano as part of the Hader trade brought this opinion to mind. I am curious what you guys think.

I don't like catching prospects. I feel like the position is too important for a team (even a rebuilding team maybe) to entrust to an unproven rookie. I feel like most of them are either big-time bats masquerading as a catcher, or they are flawed hitters, or flawed receivers with a great arm.

I realize that there have been complete catching prospects that have been everything and more (Posey and Mauer come to mind). But it seems like so many others simply fade off into MLB obscurity at the position (Zunino, Hedges, Jansen, Mejia), or get moved off the position (Kiner-Falefa, Varsho).

I would rather entrust the position to some AAAA journeyman with a questionable bat, but excellent defensive skills, like Manny Pina, than count on my uber-catching prospect to blossom into a legitimate MLB receiver right away. I worry about Feliciano and/or Reetz to be able to be a reasonable back-up on a good Brewers team next year.

I believe Severino passed though the DFA process & will stay in the Brewers organization. 

He doesn’t have a great glove, but he was Stearns’ choice to backup Narvaez this year before his 80-game suspension. 

Do you consider him a better option behind Caratini in 2023?
 

[Playing Catch]

I haven't watched these guys (Feliciano/Reetz/Jackson) enough to know. I can't remember now where I saw it, but I did see a scout's opinion on Feliciano's defense. The scout said that he was "unplayable" defensively. Now that was a while ago, so I'm sure his defense continues to improve. I just think for a "run-prevention" team, you need good catching, so my instinct says that Severino will be back with the big club next season with Caratini.