[Jokestar]

Baker had an article about the M's snail pace getting Montero time behind the plate. He looked pretty good to my nontrained eyes the two times I saw him catch. But, one time, he stuck his hand out and got clipped by a foul ball. Stung him pretty good. I cringed and thought "Oh no, I hope his hand is all right". The M's are hurting so bad for offensive power that I think that's the main reason he has had so little time behind the plate. I expect he'll be catching Noesi regularly but, until the rest of the team starts hitting on a consistent basis, that could be the extent of his time there. I think he will eventually turn into a pretty good catcher. Like I said, he looked fine, defensively, to me and he seems to call a pretty good game, too.

One thing that cracked me up, though, was the deer caught in the headlights look he kept giving League while trying to catch all those splits in the dirt. I thought "welcome to the bigs, kid".

[xarmyguy78]

The biggest thing I will be watching for in this weeks series against the Indians will be how much Olivo catches (or hits in the DH spot) with righthanders Masterson, Lowe, andTomlin throwing for the tribe and how many games will Jaso get to catch?
Personally I would have Jaso catching all three games

This post has been edited by xarmyguy78: 17 April 2012 - 01:06 PM

[BattingPractice]

Per Shannon Drayer:

Tonight's Mariner lineup vs the Cleveland Indians

1 Figgins LF
2 Ackley 2B
3 Ichiro RF
4 Smoak 1B
5 Seager 3B
6 Montero C
7 Saunders CF
8 Ryan SS
9 Jaso DH

Millwod P

----
I was hoping that Wedge was going to keep Montero and Noesi paired up to give Montero a regular start. But if he gets more work in that will free up more DH for Carp when he returns and others like Jaso.

[Leo Gomez]

BattingPractice, on 17 April 2012 - 02:26 PM, said:

Per Shannon Drayer:

Tonight's Mariner lineup vs the Cleveland Indians

1 Figgins LF
2 Ackley 2B
3 Ichiro RF
4 Smoak 1B
5 Seager 3B
6 Montero C
7 Saunders CF
8 Ryan SS
9 Jaso DH

Millwod P

----
I was hoping that Wedge was going to keep Montero and Noesi paired up to give Montero a regular start. But if he gets more work in that will free up more DH for Carp when he returns and others like Jaso.

Wow, the Ms must be very much afraid of Jaso's jelly arm. Or they expect Olivo to crash or get injured, so they're trying to save Jaso's legs for the long haul. I find that second part to be unlikely.

[OutfieldGrass]

I don't get how minimal time behind the plate is beneficial to his long term progression as a catcher. They either think he can handle full time duty or not. At the very least give him a 50/50 split with Olivo.

[Vidya]

Olivo needs playing time to get his numbers up, and hence his trade value. For now they can rotate the three catchers through the catcher and DH positions. When Carp returns that will have to change. Wedge can also add in the first base position and Smoak if he wants.

[AlMoStLeGeNdArY]

I'm not sure how much of a factor this however, here's some interesting Montero numbers

.357/,375/.857/.1232 1 double 2 HR's 5 RBI's
.200/.214/.200/.414 0 XBH's 3 RBI's

The first stat line is Montero as a C the second is when he's DH'ing......could be meaningless but he seems to hit better when he's behind the plate as opposed to being the DH thus far.

[phredmojo]

AlMoStLeGeNdArY, on 23 April 2012 - 11:54 AM, said:

I'm not sure how much of a factor this however, here's some interesting Montero numbers

.357/,375/.857/.1232 1 double 2 HR's 5 RBI's
.200/.214/.200/.414 0 XBH's 3 RBI's

The first stat line is Montero as a C the second is when he's DH'ing......could be meaningless but he seems to hit better when he's behind the plate as opposed to being the DH thus far.

thats not that uncommon. very few players hit as good dh'ng all the time then playing the field all the time. edgar was the excepion. its not easy just sitting on the bench and waiting 2-3 innings to bat

[Pirata Morado]

AlMoStLeGeNdArY, on 23 April 2012 - 11:54 AM, said:

I'm not sure how much of a factor this however, here's some interesting Montero numbers

.357/,375/.857/.1232 1 double 2 HR's 5 RBI's
.200/.214/.200/.414 0 XBH's 3 RBI's

The first stat line is Montero as a C the second is when he's DH'ing......could be meaningless but he seems to hit better when he's behind the plate as opposed to being the DH thus far.

You forgot to mention something very important there:

PA1 = 16
PA2 = 42

He has had 16 plate appearances as a catcher, versus 42 as a DH, that's a very low sample size to infer anything.

But I support the idea of letting him catch more. The more he catches the less we'll see Olivo.

[AlMoStLeGeNdArY]

Pirata Morado, on 23 April 2012 - 01:08 PM, said:

You forgot to mention something very important there:

PA1 = 16
PA2 = 42

He has had 16 plate appearances as a catcher, versus 42 as a DH, that's a very low sample size to infer anything.

But I support the idea of letting him catch more. The more he catches the less we'll see Olivo.

Small sample size indeed but there seems to be something there for now at least.

[Huindekmi]

You know... there MIGHT just be something to this. Miguel Olivo has similar splits!!

As C: .178/.196/.222/.418
As DH: .000/.000/.000/.000

The problem is obvious. Players can not be successful batting as the DH. It seems intuitive that the DH rule should be scrapped for the good of the game!

Or that we're looking at really small sample sizes.

[Vidya]

AlMoStLeGeNdArY, on 23 April 2012 - 01:58 PM, said:

Small sample size indeed but there seems to be something there for now at least.

Coincidence. I would say the numbers show that Montero has been improving since the start of the season, and coincidentally, Wedge has been giving him more starts as catcher. I'm sure PM would be able to prove that the sample size is too small to justify either belief, but it's a good discussion point.

What I really think is that many are upset at Olivo being given so many starts at catcher. If this was how Wedge plans to manage for the whole season, I would agree. My belief is that Wedge is just playing the older players more to force the kids to prove on the field they are better. Once that happens, as we all expect it well, then will be the time for Olivo to watch the games from the bench until he is traded.

What I have learned is that Wedge puts Jaso into the same category with the rookies and not the more veteran players.