Catching Depth

[Duman]

In the trade rumor thread, there was a fair amount of discussion about catching depth in the minors.  I thought this might be worth a more indepth discussion here.  Let's look at what is left after Nottingham is gone to the A's:

Max Stassi is on the 40 man roster.  He is 24 and is hitting .188/.261/.366 in Fresno this year.  He has thrown out 27% of base stealers this year.  Has caught 61 games.

Tyler Heineman is 24 and in AAA.  He is hitting ..298/.333/351 between AA/AAA this year.  He threw out 54% of base stealers at AA (7 of 13) but has thrown out 28% of base stealers in 29 games at AAA (5 fo 18).

Roberto Pena is 24 and at AA.  He is hitting .240/273/.263 this year in 48 games.  He has thrown out 50% of stealers (17 of 34).  He won the minor league gold glove for catchers last year at Lancaster.  He has seen action in the middle infield this season (2 games at 2b and one game at SS). 

Alfredo Gonzalez has been a man on the move this year playing at three levels.  In his first year of full season ball, he is hitting .337/.423/.413 in 51 games (13 at Quad Cities/ 27 at Lancaster/11 at AA).  He has thrown out 49% of stealers but the numbers have dropped as he moved up (63% at QC (10/16), 45% at Lan (5 of 11) and 30% at CC (3 of 10).  He is 23. and never hit higher than .246 in SS ball. He also has the most passed balls of the bunch.

Jamie Richie is 22 and is hitting .274/.437/.386 mostly at QC (72 games) but has had a taste of Lan (6 games).  He has been splitting time between catcher and 1B

Everyone else is either splitting time with other positions or is in short season ball. 

I am partial to Pena because I like a defense first catcher. But Gonzales is pushing him with his offense.

[juliogotay]

I appreciate the analysis. It doesn't look that promising from an offensive standpoint but there are a couple of guys that may be average to above defensively it appears. Since the Astros took two catchers'  fairly early in this years' draft there must be a feeling of need internally. Luhnow always talks about the catchers they took when he reflects on this past draft.

[VirtualBob]

A couple of additions or qualifications:

Alfredo Gonzalez has been injured parts of at least two years in the past, and his stats at the plate should not be held against him.  This year's performance is probably more indicative.

Roberto Pena has appeared in 2 games at 2B and 1 at SS, but all three were late inning switches; as far as I know, he is not on the Biggio career track.

Jamie Ritchie has indeed split time between C and 1B, but has spent far more time at 1B.  I have not heard reports, but he does not seem to be a long-term solution behind the plate.

[Reuben]

Heineman has no power, but seems to do everything else pretty well. He won the NYPL batting title a couple years back with the Valleycats. And he runs very well for a catcher. So maybe he can turn into a decent MLB backup.

But unless Gonzalez is the real deal, I don't see any potential #1 MLB catchers here.

Maybe Hermelyn or Stubbs will turn out to be another Luhnow mid-round college hidden gem, or the kid from the Beltran Academy, Jorge Martinez, will become another Nottingham.