Jul
08

Montero added to Eastern League All-Star roster

By

Despite playing in just 26 of Double-A Trenton’s 83 games this year, catcher Jesus Montero has been added to the Eastern League’s Northern Division All-Star Team as a replacement for the injured Josh Thole. He’ll be the sixth … uh … Thunderer to make the team, joining Zach McAllister, Josh Schmidt, Jorge Vazquez, Reegie Corona, and Eduardo Nunez, not to mention Trenton’s coaching staff. Montero is hitting .299-.364-.505 as a 19-yr old in a traditionally pitcher-friendly league and a very pitcher-friendly park.

This year’s Eastern League All-Star Game is being played in Trenton’s Waterfront Park, so here’s your chance to catch some of the very best prospects in the game all in one place without too much hassle. I’ll have a preview of the game up in the coming days.

Categories : Asides, Minors

49 Comments»

  1. Salty Buggah says:

    Hooray for Montero!

  2. Montero is all kinds of awesome. He is more exciting to follow than Hughes was in his prospect days.

  3. All praise the Jesus.

  4. jsbrendog says:

    now reegie corona is an allstar and ivan nova is so far tearing up aaa……looks like we’re lucky they were returned from the rule v teams that picked them….question is, are they eligible again next year? I know we don’t have the roster flexibility on the 40 man to protect them….

    could we flip them for something worthwhile? what’s the play here?

    • Mike bk says:

      we have more flexibility in terms of spaces than most think. molina, tomko, pettitte, matsui, nady or damon probably, cash, ransom and hinskie who are on it now probably wont be protected, so that is is 8 spots without counting edwar who never know if they leave him off the 40 man.

      • I’d say unless Edwar pulls a 180 with the quickness and gets back to 150 ERA+ level dominance, he’s firmly in the non-tendered crosshairs this winter.

      • jsbrendog says:

        good point, i was thinking more of right now. i wonder how it wil all play out… but at the same time, you have to replace matsui, nady, and damon and there isn’t anyone on the 40 man you could do that with realistically. so that’s 3 less. Hughes slides in for pettitte and then another amr on the 40 slides into the pen. cash isn’t needed..i thought he was dfa’d

        speculation!

        • Mike bk says:

          melancon up but doesnt take a new 40 man
          pena replaces ranson
          frankie molina
          hughes for pettitte.

          jackson replaces matsui so that takes 1 spot away
          one of nady or damon is probably back

          we need 1 OF, maybe a DH.

          so probably 6 prospects can get covered.

          • Free agents/vets not likely to return:
            Matsui, Pettitte, Tomko, Molina, Cash, Hinske, Ransom (7)

            Youngsters on the edge:
            Edwar, Miranda (2)

            Two guys for likely one spot:
            Damon or Nady (1)

            I’d say, before we make any additions to the club (which we will), we’ll have between 7-10 spots on the 40-man this winter.

            • Mike Axisa says:

              Miranda’s out of options next year and has absolutely no spot with the organization. He’s a goner at some point.

              • Salty Buggah says:

                Trade him for Romero and Halladay

              • Mike bk says:

                Axisa, name the 10 prospects we are most likely to cover this year and who is likely to be left off.

              • Miranda and Edwar to Washington for Justin Maxwell.

                Think about it. Maxwell’s stalled out a bit in his development, and the Nats are still inundated with outfielders who are passing him on the org chart. Edwar and Miranda give them cheap and fringy major leaguers who can hold down spots in the short term enabling them to trade Joe Beimel and Nick Johnson for larger prospect hauls.

                We get some quality OF depth.

  5. Drew says:

    Jesus>>>>>>Double A

  6. Mike bk says:

    i asked this question a couple days ago and dont remember anyone answering so i will ask again. with each talk of Jesus’ numbers someone add that it is a very pitcher friendly park making it more impressive. So how much less impressive is what Z-Mac is doing because he pitches in that park and you cant claim none to have it both ways. How much is the park deflating where Z-Mac’s numbers would be in a more even park? thanks.

    • BklynJT says:

      The one knock on Z-Mac coming into this year was his low strike out rates. It would look at his FIP numbers to really tell if Z-MAC is as good as the hype. I think his strike out rates have increased from last year. Maybe also look into his gb-fb ratio.

    • cult of basebaal says:

      you cant claim none to have it both ways

      Zach McAllister – 2009

      Home:
      2.36 49.2 1 15 49 (9 starts)

      Away:
      1.22 37.0 28 2 11 23 (6 starts)

      Anything else?

      ps … teh Googles is your friend.

      • cult of basebaal says:

        left one off, should be 41 hits allowed at home

      • cult of basebaal says:

        Oh, yeah, and here’s the 2008 Park Factors for Trenton:

        R/H/2B/HR/BB/K
        .90/.97/.96/.89/.98/1.05

      • Eastern League Ballpark Dimensions (LF, CF, RF):

        Mercer County Waterfront Park (Trenton Thunder) – 330, 407, 330
        NYSEG Stadium – 330, 400, 330
        Dodd Memorial Stadium – 309, 401, 309
        New Britain Stadium – 330, 400, 330
        MerchantsAuto.com Stadium – 325, 404, 325
        Hadlock Field – 315, 400, 330
        Canal Park – 331, 400, 337
        Blair County Ballpark – 325, 405, 325
        Prince George’s Stadium – 309, 405, 309
        Jerry Uht Park – 312, 400, 328
        Metro Bank Park – 325, 400, 325
        First Energy Stadium – 330, 400, 330

        Trenton is a pitcher’s park, but basically all the other parks in the EL are also pitcher’s parks. So the fact that Z-Mac’s road numbers are better doesn’t per se mean that his good numbers aren’t merely inflated by friendly home park effects. He’s also benefiting from friendly road park effects.

  7. Mo >>>>> Monstero >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Everyone else.

  8. He’ll be the sixth … uh … Thunderer to make the team, joining Zach McAllister, Josh Schmidt, Jorge Vazquez, Reegie Corona, and Eduardo Nunez…

    I believe the plural of thunder is “thundii.”

  9. MikeD says:

    Montero. Isn’t he about to become the new Fred McGriff? Traded to Toronto?

    I hope that doesn’t happen, as much as I respect Halladay as a pitcher. If it did happen, though, the deal couldn’t be any worse than trading McGriff (along with Dave Collins and Mike Morgan) to the Toronto Blue Jays for Dale Murray and Tom Dodd. Really, what the hell were they thinking? Forgetting the near-HOF career of McGriff (who would have been a HOFer, most likely, if he was allowed to take his left-handed power swing to Yankee Stadium) they also traded Mike Morgan, who granted wasn’t a great pitcher, but had some good years while playing for about twenty years!

  10. Mike bk says:

    he has nothing left…let the mets grab him.
    best place for bj though is florida where he can work with mark wiley again

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