Catcher Depth
Posted on November 10th, 2010 by Jeff in Bryan Anderson, robert stock, Steven Hill, Tony CruzWith the recent news that the Cardinals outrighted Matt Pagnozzi and made him a minor league free agent and AZ’s article about the place of Bryan Anderson on the big club, it seems like as good of a time as ever to look at the catcher depth and depth chart in the minor leagues. Assuming that Bryan Anderson makes the Cardinals as the left-handed, slick hitting backup catcher, that leaves us with an interesting group.
The candidates for Memphis are Steven Hill and Tony Cruz. Neither is a “pure” catcher and both are known for their hitting. Cruz has been very productive so far in the Arizona Fall League and Hill got a few call ups to St. Louis. Both have valid claims to the starting job in Memphis and they will probably end up splitting time at catcher with the other at DH. Should be interesting to see how it shakes out over the season.
Around the Springfield level, we have another group of guys. Charles Cutler is a high OBP catcher who ended last season on the DL and is down in Columbia getting at-bats this winter. Luis De La Cruz is an organizational catcher who will go anywhere he is assigned, playing at 3 different levels last season. De La Cruz has failed to make much impact with his bat, which could be a result of his wanderings or his lack of punch with his bat could have turned him into the Wanderer. Nick Derba is another light-hitting catcher, with a career OBP under 650, he may be headed back to Palm Beach or a backup somewhere else. Springfield is the big question for catching this season with a gap between the youngest guns and Cruz and Hill.
Cody Stanley and Robert Stock both have the credentials to be promoted to Palm Beach after both ending up in Quad Cities last year. Stock has had a full season and could be following Shelby Miller if he moves up to Palm Beach. Cody Stanley was just drafted in the 4th round and made it to Quad Cities in his first partial season. Stanley may stay in Quad Cities for at least the beginning of 2011. However, there is another name in the mix at Quad Cities: Audry Perez. Perez has been getting a lot of buzz around the organization this season and offseason and should be moved to his first full season minor league squad this season. That leaves two teams, Quad Cities and Palm Beach and three potential starting catchers. My guess is that Robert Stock starts in Quad Cities with one of the minor league catcher farmhands like Roberto Espinoza or Ivan Castro. Espinoza ended last season on QC and Castro was the 3rd catcher in Palm Beach at the end of the year. Next, Stanley and Perez should split time at catcher in Quad Cities since neither has played a full minor league season yet in their careers. Depending on how each
The Cardinals have two interesting hit-first catcher prospects in Cruz and Hill ticketed for Memphis this season and a gap at Springfield before the higher profile prospects like Perez, Stock and Stanley are at Palm Beach and Quad Cities. With this gap, this season could represent a big opportunity for Charles Cutler to prove himself at Springfield. Tony Cruz and Steven Hill are very interesting catchers to have on the cusp of St. Louis, especially with Cruz’s success in the prospect finishing school in the Arizona Fall League and Hill’s appearances in St. Louis. The Cardinals are also in the enviable position that they have multiple high upside catchers in the low minors. As we have seen with Bryan Anderson, a lot can go wrong between potential and arrival in the major leagues. But, with 3 potential young catchers, the Cardinals do not have all their proverbial eggs in one basket or even two.
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dollar to a donut anderson starts the year at memphis and one of the cruz-hill pair starts as springfield
if they are all cardinals
no bet
The other positive about Cruz and Hill is that if Anderson was a left handed hitting backup, possibly in 2012 either Cruz or Hill could be a bench player capable at 3b, 1b and OF (Cruz) and 1b and Of (Hill), giving them a third catcher on a 5 man bench, which would allow Anderson from time to time to be a left handed pinch hitter, with Cruz/Hill available as the catcher in the event of an injury. Such a configuration of the bench would also allow for a pinch runner for Molina in certain situations. Stavinhoa or Freese could be considered to be the third catcher in 2010 so as to allow for that type of manueverability.
I like the thinking. Particularly if Hill continues to hit but doesn’t have a position.
I really hope Stavinoha is not on our bench next year but if he is, I think the scenario you propose works well.
Stock does not have the credentials to move to PB!
First hand reports have indicated to me that Cutler will never stick at catcher. He may stay there this year if we need him at Springfield but my guess is he doesn’t make it through the season in the organization.
Castro OPs’d .791 in the 2nd half at QC and I’ve heard good things about his defense/game calling. Most certainly moves up to PB. (Also 6th year in the org so needs to move up so the org can see if their is any reason to keep him around when he hits minor league FA’s)
Klein was supposedly chosen as a strong defensive catcher and OPS’d .795 at Batavia (tough hitters league) and .955 in 31 ab’s post AS break. He may be the other PB catcher.
I wont be surprised to see Stanley at PB or QC.
As usual, Juan Castillo is over looked. The guy is a good defensive catcher and OPS’d .885 across JC and Batavia as a 20 y.o. I’d say he might be back in Batavia except 2010 will be his 5th year in the org and he has to move up so they can see what this guy’s got at higher levels prior to becoming a minor league FA (he moved up quickly, coming to the US in his 2nd pro yr but got set back by a drug suspension in 2009.) I think he will be at QC and possibly even PB.
Espinoza may stick at EST to fill in somewhere if needed but I see him as a casualty of the numbers game.
Don’t discount Derba as long as TLR is manager. Derba had a .670 OPS last yr between PB and SPFLD which is higher than Pags ever had in in his minor league career. I’m told Derba’s defensive skills and particularly his handling of pitchers is far above anyone in the organization including Pagnozzi’s. If he can hit decently again in 2011 (he sucked in 2008 and 2009) he could jump over Cruz, Anderson, and Hill to get big league playing time late next year or in 2012.
I dont see how Stock survives the competition to be honest. I think he may see the writing on the wall and beg to be moved to pitcher.
Audry Perez is the Zack Cox of our catcher’s group.
In 2009 he only hit .258 but had an ISO of .281. In 2010 he hit .315 but only had an ISO of .140.
Much like Cox, my guess is he changed his swing to get his average up. The question is now can he refine it further to find the happy medium of average and power. (of course some of the power loss was going from JC to Batavia – people dont realize it but Batavia is just as tough on hitters as is PB).
It will be interesting to see who gets the Spring Training invites as catchers. There are usually 4-5 not on the roster who get them to catch the extra pitchers. Assuming Cruz is on the 40 man roster I think you’ll see Derba, De La Cruz, Stanley and ?????. I think it will be telling for Cutler whether he gets one or not. Possibly Stock as well.
Stock was invited to ST last year (partially I think to be included as Miller’s battery mate). I’m thinking the same will hold true again this year.
I think it is a stretch to think that Miller and Stock will ever be battery mates together again! I guess maybe in Spring Training but if that’s the only time what’s the point.
Same old litany: Stock is still very young for his level. He’ll have to repeat QC while Shelby moves on, but if he does figure out this hitting thing, I could see a career path for him where he kind of tags along half a year behind Shelby, getting time with him at the end of minor-league seasons. I wouldn’t bet on it, but weirder things have happened to very young players — he can’t even drink legally until next weekend.
Stock’s problem is not being too young. Its he cannot hit enough. Sad, but so.
Casey Stengel used to manage the Mets. Of a 20 year player, Stengel said: “In 10 years, he has a chance to be 30.” Reminds me of Stock.
Cruz’s “caught stealing” rate — 47%
Wow, that’s interesting. It seems like for all of these guys we’re lacking specific information on their defense. Other than Hill (bad defense) and Derba (great defense) the reports are pretty vague. If Cruz is pretty good I like IC’s plan as a 3 postion bench man. It would give Tony much more in game leverage for making moves with his catchers (an option that he really hasn’t seemed to care about alas).
I agree with others that Anderson will not be on the big team this year, or any other year if Tony stays, which makes projections for all these guys hard to figure.
CS% is only one aspect. The other hard thing (which I think Cruz is weak at) is blocking pitches in the dirt. The 3rd aspect is game calling and handling pitchers which I have no feel for with regard to Cruz.
According to this article/analysis Hill ranks better defensively than Anderson, who ranked better than Pagnozzi. Extrapolated (per # of batters) Hill ranked better than Larue (and even better than Molina) — The power of small sample sizes!!!
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2010/11/10/1803183/2010-beyond-the-box-score-catcher-defense-rankings