Royals Catchers Look to be Average, Again, in 2012

I expect Sal to be good, but not this year.

Just to be clear, I’m not just talking about hitting. I’m talking about average total value overall (let’s say 2.0 WAR). Even adding in defense and positional adjustment, my bet would be that those four positions are below average for the Royals, although three of them could be very close to 2 WAR.

and +1

I think those numbers for Escobar, Cain and Perez are nuts. I’d be shocked if any of those three hit 3 WAR in 2012.

I could see Escobar with 3 if his hitting improves, if not then no chance. Gia’s about right. Perez…yeah, not 3.3.

meaning there are some seriously self-deluded people walking around.

Everyone thinks they are in possession of three qualities that most other humans don’t have: common sense, sense of humor, and being good in bed. Very few will admit to being deficient in any of these three areas and yet it’s been my experience that most people are lucky to possess even one of these attributes. (btw, I don’t have common sense, I would be the wrong person to assess my prowess in the sack, and given that I’ve been a professional stand-up comic for over 20 years, I’ll give myself a pass on whether I have a sense of humor.)

Like Yadier always does, fans will love him no matter how much he stinks behind the plate.

Heck, I know fans that still love Kendall.

Giving Monty time to prove in AAA and possibly kelvin Herrera… Maybe JUST maybe Noel Arguelles …

For $500 Alex..

does it for me I don’t crunch a bunch of numbers about guys, but what I do is watch the games. It’s hard to deny that the guy has excellent bat control, good bat speed, with a monster frame you put those things together and you’re going to get a hell of a batter in time.

He pretty much came out of nowhere to become a good prospect, and I guess the thinking is he is still on an upward trajectory. I don’t know.

I know Goldstein was high on him heading into the season. If the Royals hadn’t been so aggressive in their promotion of him, I think you’d have likely seen him on at least a few Top 100 lists this year.

He hit at or above league average in three of the four most-recent seasons, and he was young for the level each time.

In 2007, he had 99 PA at Rookie ball with a wRC+ of 70.
In 2008, same level, wRC+ of 133 in 95 PA.
As I look again while typing this, 2009 must have been what soured most evaluators. He started fine at the Rookie ball level, 104 wRC+ for 259 PA, then his move to A didn’t go well, 29 wRC+ in 137 PA, and they moved him back down a level.
But in 2010, he hit exactly league average in a full season at High A.
In 2011, he hit well enough in AA (100 wRC+), then again after moving to AAA (108 wRC+).

I’m trying to find some other average-ish hitting catchers to compare MiLB wRC’s with, but most of them are too old to have MiLB stats on Fangraphs. My question – is hitting around league average in the minors good enough for a catcher? We know guys like Weiters or McCann put up numbers more like 120+ throughout their minor league careers, but those guys are on a different level. The only comp I’ve found is Ryan Hanigan who put up average-ish numbers in the minors until he repeated AAA a couple times, and now he has hit league average in two MLB seasons.

My eyes are untrained. But that’s what they saw.

I don’t recall any scouting reports that ever projected him as a power hitter, so I’m curious whether something has changed in the last year or so or whether my untrained eyes are wrong.

Enough said, I think…