Martin Maldonado as a Major League prospect

[The Truth]

Roenicke said today that Maldonado is the best defensive catcher of the bunch in spring training, and while he'd like to see Maldonado getting regular time in AAA, he wouldn't count Maldonado out of the current race...

 

A quick look at Baseball-Reference shows that Martin hit .253 with a .735 OPS in about 50 games in AAA ball last year... not awe inspiring offensively (and a small sample) but then Kottaras and Nieves are generally below average hitters and Kottaras is truly a liability defensively...

 

I find this an interesting development, Maldonado is only 24... personally I'm rooting for Mike Rivera but wouldn't mind seeing Maldonado as the back-up catcher in MLB until Lucroy gets back...

[The Truth]

Oh, meant to add these links http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=maldon001mar

 

"Maldonado's a great defensive catcher," said Roenicke. "I'd rather see him maybe get more playing time (at Nashville), but I'm not going to say (making the club) is out of the question. When we come down to the end, we'll see where we are."

 

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/117444808.html

[trwi7]

His career OPS is barely over .600 in the minors. There is no prospect there, just minor league depth.

[DHonks]

I like Kotteras being lefty, liking walks, and having power. But he does need to learn to catch the ball

[GormanHarvey]

I like Kotteras being lefty, liking walks, and having power. But he does need to learn to catch the ball

 

 

And throw it

[YoungGeezy]

I think that he must have a little there if the Brewers felt it was mandatory to add him to the forty man, want to get him a lot of time in AAA this season, and actually has an outside chance to make the club. From the stats and the way he was developed as just a filler for whatever club needed a catcher but it sounds like they are high on him so who knows. Defensive stats are pretty impressive with him throwing out runners at a career 43% clip, pass balls are not that big of an issue, and a career .988 fielding% but offensive is kind of yikes

[And That]

This is strange, but I'll point it out... Maldonado's OPS by level:

 

Rk: 568

A: 572

A+: 573

AA: 615

AAA: 735

 

He has fewer than 300 PA at AAA, AA, A, or Rookie ball (and only 446 in A+), so it's hard to get a read on how much meaning to put in his AAA numbers. But he did put up a passable 735 OPS last year in AAA as a 23 year old. And he's a very good defensive catcher. The Brewers clearly like him and think enough of his bat to protect him.

 

He'll be climbing up the Power 50, for sure.

[valpocrewsader]

a passable 735 OPS last year

To be fair, isn't "passable" a bit of an understatement? A full-season MLB line of .735 would be the best OPS for a regular Brewers catcher since Damian Miller's 2005 season. And among qualified MLB catchers last year, only five catchers posted an OPS higher than 735 -- familiar names like Wieters, Pierzynski, and Y Molina were all sub-.700.

 

I'm not saying Maldonado will hit that well at the big league level, just pointing out that 735 OPS for a catcher is nothing to sneeze at. We put up with Kendall's 640 OPS as an everyday catcher, even in our playoff year, so sign me up for a *backup* catcher who can hit north of that and play great defense (reportedly).

 

 

[sbrylski]

His career OPS is barely over .600 in the minors. There is no prospect there, just minor league depth.

Starting catcher OPS in Milwaukee:

 

2004 - .568 (Moeller)

2005 - .753 (Miller)

2006 - .711 (Miller)

2007 - .699 (Estrada)

2008 - .658 (Kendall)

2009 - .636 (Kendall)

2010 - .628 (Lucroy)

 

Now, because we've had crappy hitting catchers in the past doesn't mean we should accept one in the future, but a mid-.600's OPS isn't ungodly awful when comparing it to our recent past, especially when Maldonado may provide the best defense of the bunch.

 

In a perfect world, Lucroy OPS's .750 with good defense and Maldonado backs him up with a .650 OPS and even better defense. And that's much more than we can say of our catching corps in a long time.

[trwi7]

Those guys posted better OPS's in the majors than Maldonado has in his minor league career.

[bullox]

Those guys posted better OPS's in the majors than Maldonado has in his minor league career.

And many current Brewers have posted better OPS over a full season in the majors vs their minor league stats.

[greeg35]

And many current Brewers have posted better OPS over a full season in the majors vs their minor league stats.

 

 

But its not something that should be expected.

A good backup has to do at least one thing well, in my opinion. For our catchers i like Maldonado because he provides great defense. I also like Kotaras because i like his bat the best. I have no use for Nieves who seems to do nothing well except be a veteran.

[YoungGeezy]

Its nothing shocking, players are in development while in the minors. They are still learning and physically developing. Not all players develop and reach potential equally. Often for catchers, the bat is the last thing to come. I think you will find that more players than you taught actually follow that suit and get better with age and higher levels

[greeg35]

They are still learning and physically developing. Not all players develop and reach potential equally. Often for catchers, the bat is the last thing to come

I agree that it happens; but again it should not be planned on, mostly because of the increase in pitching quality and defensive abilities as you move up the minor league systems and the dramatic leap for both in the majors. For most of the catchers I've watched that were drafted by the brewers it seems like the bat was the first thing to go.

[And That]

a passable 735 OPS last year

To be fair, isn't "passable" a bit of an understatement?

In the PCL (granted he played in a pretty pitcher-friendly home park; no, I can't find his splits), with a below-average BB/K ratio and OBP, I think "passable" is pretty fair. His OPS was very SLG-driven and he's never flashed close to that much power before. Maybe the power is real, maybe it was the PCL.

 

As others have noted, a 735 OPS in AAA does not translate into a 735 OPS at the major league level. Using minorleaguesplits's MLE calculator, Maldonado's PCL numbers translate into a .223/.272/.357. That's not quite wretched for a MLB catcher, but that barely reaches "passable."

[dadofandrew]

He's on the 40, so the Crew thinks he is likely to at least be a reserve. If he can hit .320/.375 in the majors, and he's that good behind the plate, he'll have a long career. Have to see if his '10 line was a fluke.

[sbrylski]

Those guys posted better OPS's in the majors than Maldonado has in his minor league career.

And many current Brewers have posted better OPS over a full season in the majors vs their minor league stats.

He's above .650 over the past two seasons and at the highest levels.

 

But minor league stats aren't a great predictor of major league success anyway. I was just trying to frame up the expectations of what a good hitting catcher is and what a poor hitting catcher is.

[JohnBriggs12]

Isn't Maldanado essentially this year's version of Carlos Corporan? Frankly I liked Corporan more myself. He had a solid year in AAA with an .870 OPS and now is in Houston's camp where catching jobs are available.

 

Point is nobody thought much of Corporan as a prospect but he's worked himself into being able to compete for a major league backup job. Same could happen for Maldanado.

[pogokat]

I remember Maldonado being lean and lanky in A balll...has he gotten bigger? Corporan was always bigger...i think Martin is just developing slower...he's pretty fun to watch as well..

 

but the main point here for me has been how ungodly awful our catchers have been over the last 5 years...ugh

[Baldkin]

I really, really like Kottaras.

 

He seemed to take a huge step forward at the plate last year, which may not show in his BA, because he was incredibly unlucky (.209 babip).

[monty57]

As a backup, I'd also imagine his PAs were pretty sporadic for the first few years, which makes it tougher to hit. It will be interesting to see how he does if he gets regular PT at AAA. It would certainly be nice to have a MLB catcher come "out of nowhere" for the Crew.