What does Jacob Nottingham have to do?

[pacopete4]

Why are we trotting our Erik Kratz every other day when Nottingham looks like he’s ready to go? Nottingham just keeps on hitting with his 8th dinger last night. OPS is over 1.000 at home and over .800 on the road so while he’s having good success in Colorado, he’s also hitting away from it. I just don’t understand why we are not giving him a shot with the lack of any production from our catching spot this season.

[Fear The Chorizo]

He certainly looks the part, but keep in mind until this season he had struggled as a brewer following the Davis trade. Asking a prospect to come in at C midseason and make an impact in a playoff race is tough - I would much rather Nottingham get his shot at a permanent mlb roster spot next spring, and let him play everyday in CO Springs.

 

IIRC, Bandy has been raking ever since his demotion too. And Kratz can't hit a hr every start he gets, but he hasn't been terrible as a backup. Ultimately the best option for the brewers is for pina to be the backup to a better everyday catching option. Nottingham could be that guy, but not this year - if the marlins value him I wouldn't mind Jacob heading that way as part of a realmuto trade

[ClosetBrewerFan]

What has Kratz done to deserve being waived? He's hitting over 800 OPS as the backup. Or are you suggesting we should release Pina after 1/2 of a bad season. He was really good last year. He's still good defensively and has value even as a bC.

[pacopete4]

I’m suggesting that Pina becomes the backup to Nottingham. It’s nothing against Kratz he’s just not in the plans. Good chance he doesn’t even get picked up.

[CheezWizHed]

I’m suggesting that Pina becomes the backup to Nottingham. It’s nothing against Kratz he’s just not in the plans. Good chance he doesn’t even get picked up.

 

Long term plans no, but they didn't trade for him just to jettison him either. As long as he is half-decent, I'd guess Nottingham waits a year. No guarantees that he makes an immediate MLB impact...

[jerichoholicninja]

I feel like we're saying this a lot since Stearns took over. Maybe it was because the farm was pretty bare at the end of Melvin's time, or maybe because we're actually competitive now, or maybe it's Craig's/David's love for (s)crappy AAAA players.

[phnxcrew]

They clearly have been very high on Nottingham, and up to this point that trade looks horrible. He was regarded as a top prospect when traded, if I'm remembering correctly. I see no reason not to bring him up to see if he hits. We're just taking whatever crap teams are offering at SS/2b, why not give a talented guy a chance at C?

[CheezWizHed]

[sarcasm]Yes, but can he pitch?[/sarcasm]

[JohnBriggs12]

Personally, I don't think Nottingham is the best catcher in Colorado Springs.

 

Bethancourt has a more extensive record of performance. Their offensive numbers are close this year and Bethancourt has caught 13 runners (42%) to Nottingham's 5 (23%). Nottingham is more contact challenged, fanning 52 times in 156 AB's to Bethancourt's 48 K's in 224 AB's.

 

Now Nottingham is almost 4 years younger, so I get the argument his ceiling might be higher than Bethancourt, but for this year, if Pina went down, Bethancourt is the guy I'd want, as he'd be the better bet to perform in 2018.

[Mr Southpaw]

If he could play a decent 1b or rf, he would be an upgrade for sure.

[Boomer5]

Interesting question. I’m personally not high on Nottingham at all but the Brewers desperately need a catcher at the MLB level and they seem to have little interest in him in Milwaukee. They traded for him so they must have liked him a lot and he fills a position of massive need.

 

However, I do agree with Briggs that Bethancourt is the better overall catcher.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Interesting question. I’m personally not high on Nottingham at all but the Brewers desperately need a catcher at the MLB level and they seem to have little interest in him in Milwaukee. They traded for him so they must have liked him a lot and he fills a position of massive need.

 

However, I do agree with Briggs that Bethancourt is the better overall catcher.

 

Nottingham is on the 40-man. Bethancourt is not. For that reason alone I think Nottingham would be the pick if they decided to make a change.

[KeithStone53151]

I think Nottingham could find his way up. The last couple years, we've brought up significant prospects around this time. Woodruff, Hader, Arcia to name a few. This time around, if he comes up I want him to get significant playing time. A timeshare with Pina would be completely reasonable at the outset.

 

All that said, the catching position is a much different animal than any other position. It might make more sense to have him open with the club at the start of a season when he's deemed ready.

[Boomer5]

Interesting question. I’m personally not high on Nottingham at all but the Brewers desperately need a catcher at the MLB level and they seem to have little interest in him in Milwaukee. They traded for him so they must have liked him a lot and he fills a position of massive need.

 

However, I do agree with Briggs that Bethancourt is the better overall catcher.

 

Nottingham is on the 40-man. Bethancourt is not. For that reason alone I think Nottingham would be the pick if they decided to make a change.

 

We have some 40 man fat to trim if it meant bringing up a guy who can help.

 

But I guess the question remains why Milwaukee hasn’t promoted Nottingham?

[And That]

But I guess the question remains why Milwaukee hasn’t promoted Nottingham?

My guess would be that they feel he has things he needs to work on before he's ready for regular playing time at the big league level. Otherwise, one would assume, he wouldn't still be in the minor leagues.

 

While he's having a very good offensive year production-wise, his BB%, K% and CS% have all backed up from last year. The good news: he just turned 23 years old a few months ago.

[TigerUppercut]

To address the question in the subject line, how about we start at putting together a solid full season at the plate above A ball? Yes, he's only 23 but outside of his one year playing A ball, his numbers are unsightly. I, for one, would like to see him prove he can cross the finish line this year at the level he's been performing at. I'm just not ready to buy into him being ready because he's now hitting in arguably the best hitting environment in the world.

[FVBrewerFan]

Have we really not learned by now that AAA stats don't tell anywhere near the whole story on whether a player is "ready" for MLB?

 

Phillips- great stats last year and MLB performance pretty bad. Brought up again this year, looked pretty lost at the plate.

 

Brinson- Huge numbers in AAA, brought up last year and completely lost. Even this year, has some HRs but hitting .188 or whatever it is.

 

Those are two examples, but there are many. It's more than just the CS effect too. AAA is filled with a lot of pretty bad pitchers. So you need to look at things like whether the numbers are inflated hitting avg to below avg FBs off of bad pitchers? Is a player handling good off-speed stuff? Will the swing work at the MLB level?

 

So many factors need to be considered, and that's just with the bat. Not to mention defense, handling the pitching staff (which I agree is over-rated, but is sill " a thing" at some level.)

 

You just can't look at a guy and say ".894 OPS, he deserves a shot!" No, he doesn't deserve anything. Neither did Orf or anyone else. I would love to see him get a chance, but I'm not going to second-guess the organization when they have far more info to go on than we do.

[pacopete4]

I would be okay with bringing them both up. New, young blood behind the dish. Maybe they’d actually perform too. That’d be neat.

[Humans Need Water]

As someone mentioned earlier, yes, he was a Top 100 (66 on BP list) when we acquired him. People somehow forget that when he arrived the Brewers hit the pause button on his bat to focus on his defense, which is why his offensive production that first year in AA was garbage (was also 3yrs young for level). Last year they got back to what seems equal split on both offense and defense and while the offensive numbers aren't sexy, and he was definitely unlucky, his overall production across the board improved and his wrc+ was 102. Defensively he made significant strides last year. All of this is why he's having success in AAA - it's all coming together after busting his butt the past 2yrs to get to this point. Because that's the entire point of the minor leagues - development. I've always been a staunch defender of his on here and I've always seen a solid starting MLB catcher. I don't care if they bring him up this year or next I just want him to be ready when they do.

[istanbultaye]

I would think he'll be a September callup at least. It's always nice to have 3 catchers on the active roster, once that wouldn't have a negative impact on the bench. I imagine the Brewers are still wanting him to work more on the defense, and I for one think Pina will be likely to end up at or near .700 OPS by year end, so having the defense and familiarity with the pitching staff is worth more to me on the ML roster than bringing up Nottingham right now. If Pina drops off from his current mediocre production, I reserve the right to change my mind though...

[Humans Need Water]

Personally, I don't think Nottingham is the best catcher in Colorado Springs.

 

Bethancourt has a more extensive record of performance. Their offensive numbers are close this year and Bethancourt has caught 13 runners (42%) to Nottingham's 5 (23%). Nottingham is more contact challenged, fanning 52 times in 156 AB's to Bethancourt's 48 K's in 224 AB's.

 

Now Nottingham is almost 4 years younger, so I get the argument his ceiling might be higher than Bethancourt, but for this year, if Pina went down, Bethancourt is the guy I'd want, as he'd be the better bet to perform in 2018.

Nottingham's OBP is 2pts higher at CS than the road and his OPS is 145pts higher (he's still OPSing 834 on the road). Bethancourt's OBP is 50pts higher at CS and OPS is 220pts. Nottingham is the better bat and he's doing this in his first year in AAA whereas Bethancourt has been between AAA/MLB since 2014.

 

Defensively, Bethancourt is better with a stronger arm but he's also 4yrs older so he's much more experienced on this side of the ball. In saying that, Nottingham is going to be an average catcher with a strong arm with nothing to worry about anymore with him on that side. The Brewers don't need a worse Maldy behind the plate right now (Bethancourt) - they need Pina to get back on track and if he doesn't this month then I'd bank on it either being Nottingham back up or Stearns acquiring someone.

[pacopete4]

Yesssssssssssss!