Montero, Romine ranked the two best catchers in the FSL

October 8, 2009 by Mike Axisa 79 Comments

Continuing on with their league top 20’s, Baseball America named Jesus Montero and Austin Romine the second and tenth best prospects, respectively, in the High-A Florida State League. Montero was behind only Mike Stanton of the Marlins, and the pair were the only two catchers to appear on the list. In the subscriber only scouting report, Montero was called “the toughest out in the league,” while Romine was noted as having very few weaknesses in his game.

The Eastern League comes out on Friday, so Montero might be making an encore appearance.

Accent Shallow

Jesus has a chance to be a top 5 prospect in two separate leagues? Next level.
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
  
  And some of you bastards wanted to trade him for Roy Halladay, because we “needed him” to win this World Series.
  
  You people DISGUST ME! I FART IN YOUR GENERAL DIRECTION!
  - Mike Pop
    
    Well, I’d still make that trade if Montero was the only main piece of it. As in, no other top prospects.
    
    Too good of a trade to pass up.
    
    Montero is a long way from the bigs, and if does not stick at catcher he goes from being amazing prospect to above average prospect, right?
    - AndrewYF
      
      No, he’s still an amazing prospect.
    - Thomas
      
      He goes from excellent to just below excellent. A good way to think about it is to look at where other horrible fielding and good hitting prospects have ranked, like Ryan Braun and Matt LaPorta.
      - Mike Pop
        
        Oh, alrighty then.
        
        Good comparison there. Thanks.
  - whozat
    
    Can you imagine if they’d traded for him, and then he’d gone on to have the August he had?
    
    http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?n1=hallaro01&t=p&year=2009
    
    There were some BAD starts in there, against Boston and the Rays. People would have been KILLING the guy.
    - Bryan
      
      Did anyone notice how he never came out in the middle of an inning?
    - Mike Pop
      
      As soon as he did bad in the start of the all-star game, I knew he couldn’t handle New York.
    - http://www.wiredtowns.com Short Porch
      
      That’s what happened when he WASNT traded from a team in utter free fall.
      
      How depressing was that?
      
      August is excusable. Remember how he went through those poor starts then shut us down good?
      
      I believe anyone picking him up in August does not see this performance.
      
      That said, Montero’s a beast. For the fans sake and for the future prospects of the club, you keep these guys. Untouchables.
      
      Imagine if Steinbrenner hadn’t been in hot water with Howie Spira / Winfield and had traded his core prsopects for who knows who where the 1995-2001 dynasty would be?
      
      Hands off Montero so long as he remains incredibly awesome.
  - Klemy
    
    Fetchez la vache!
- Andy in Sunny Daytona
  
  Jesus actually played yesterday in the Instructional League and went 1-3 with a 2-run homer.
  - Doug
    
    is there a link with these results?
    - Andy in Sunny Daytona
      
      I read it on pinstripesplus.com
  - http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
    
    That’s awesome news.
    
    I used to think Daytona was all Pauly Shore and Dan Cortese running around places like this every day, now I just picture Andy running around in his Melvin jersey with a little pad in his hands, taking notes at instructional league games.
    - Andy in Sunny Daytona
      
      There are plenty of Spring Break stories. Now it’s a little of both. You have to have balance in your life. There is always drinking and sun at baseball games.
    - http://bronxbaseballdaily.com Matt ACTY/BBD
      
      Dan Cortese
      
      Step off, HCM.
      
      P.S:
      
      A dude I work with also graduated GHS in ’95.
      - http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        It wasn’t my fault… You asked me for a sandwich… I make such delicious sandwiches…
        
        (I was ’97, not ’95)
        
        http://bronxbaseballdaily.com Matt ACTY/BBD
        
        You want a rush? Drop a 16 pound ball on your toe! That’s a rush!
        
        (My bad. You’re not old.)
http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside

Romine was noted as having very few weaknesses in his game.

Just like the 2009 New York Yankees.

http://www.hiyoooo.com
- Marcus
  
  I think you mean 2009 Red Sox.
  
  /Kruk’d
Andy in Sunny Daytona

I read elsewhere that Dellin actually had both Tommy John surgery AND the ligament stabilization surgery. He now has 2 ulnar ligaments in his elbow.
- JMK aka The Overshare
  
  More importantly, did he get ripped in 4 weeks?
  - Bryan
    
    Yep, and he worked with pete to get ripped.
http://bronxbaseballdaily.com Matt ACTY/BBD

The only thing I’d like to see out of Romine next year is an increase in walk rate.
ds

It’s good to hear Montero and (especially) Romine are doing well. Lets hope they continue. If they do, maybe we can say goodbye to our everyday catcher. I won’t miss his “style”, attitude and selfish self-centered ego. I’m tired of his me before the team attitude, and his childish personality. We all know his defense is sub-par; his offense also is over-rated when you drill down into his stats.
- Mike Pop
  
  Really?
  - http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
    
    Come on… You at least have to give him credit for finagling a comment about Jorge Posada into a thread about Montero/Romine and managing to keep it somewhat, if tenuously, on-topic.
- http://bronxbaseballdaily.com Matt ACTY/BBD
  
  his offense also is over-rated when you drill down into his stats.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjwaqZfjIY&feature=player_embedded (safe)
- JMK aka The Overshare
  
  This is ridiculous on many levels.
  - http://bronxbaseballdaily.com Matt ACTY/BBD
    
    Dare I say…batshit insane?
    - JMK aka The Overshare
      
      http://failblog.org/
  - whozat
    
    If you read between the lines, you can see what he’s really saying is “I’m overreacting to a borderline HOF catcher being pissed that he’s getting benched in the playoffs and then getting crossed up twice last night”
    
    Did Jorge fuck up yesterday in the game? Yeah. Was the timing particularly bad? Yeah. Is it an accurate portrayal of how he usually does when catching? No.
- http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  “… his offense also is over-rated when you drill down into his stats.”
  
  How is his offense overrated? Please… Drill down.
  - Russell NY
    
    Well, well, he only got 1 hit the other day. Ummmm yeaaaaaa
  - http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
    
    http://instantcrickets.com/
- Thomas
  
  his offense also is over-rated when you drill down into his stats.
  
  I’m going to give you a little course in offensive statistics for baseball. For the vast majority of offensive statistics, the higher the statistical value, the better you are as an offensive player. Jorge Posada has high offensive values, hence is a very good baseball player (offensively speaking).
Russell NY

I wonder if the timing of this post had to do with Posada’s play yesterday lol
Hello

If you are having a bad day and want to feel better about your intelligence or you just want a good laugh check out Kruk’s new article on the Red Sox-Angels series. Some journalistic genius in there.
- http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  Can you link it up for us? Navigating espn.com makes my brain cry.
  - Mike Pop
    
    http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/notebook?page=bbtn
    - Mike Pop
      
      It’s one of the worst ‘previews’ I have ever read.
    - http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
      
      Gracias.
      - http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        I take it back, no gracias to you. I should know better than to read a Kruk-penned preview. What an irrelevant bunch of drivel.
    - Doug
      
      “Lackey and Josh Beckett are capable of demoralizing a team, and it’s unclear whether the Angels have that shutdown pitcher to counter it.”
      
      last i checked, lackey was on the angels, right?
      - Mike Pop
        
        If Jacoby Ellsbury gets on base. He’s going to steal.
      - Thomas
        
        Maybe he meant Lackey could demoralize his own team?
        
        Seriously, though ignoring the “analysis,” and just the writing style is incredibly painful to read. They should at least have a real write formulate Kruk’s ridiculous ideas into a fluent piece.
        
        Doug
        
        what “analysis”? a 2-year old could have written that. and it looks like, did.
      - http://bronxbaseballdaily.com Matt ACTY/BBD
        
        My favorite was the first paragraph. “The key for the Red Sox this time is pitching” followed by a discussion of Jacoby Ellsbury’s running game.
        
        JMK aka The Overshare
        
        Work has ESPN blocked, but I’m guessing, because it’s Kruk, it’s all kinds of stupid.
        
        http://bronxbaseballdaily.com Matt ACTY/BBD
        
        The following is in the same paragraph as, and directly after, “The key for the Red Sox this time is pitching.”
        
        The key for the Red Sox this time is pitching. Jon Lester, who opens the series, has to keep guys off base, especially the guys who can run. Jacoby Ellsbury will be a key factor against Angels starter John Lackey. If Ellsbury gets on base, he’s going to steal. He will need to use his legs to create runs. Even though Lackey struggles against Boston, he has done some pretty good things in the postseason, including when he stepped up in 2002 and the Angels won the World Series.
        
        http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
        
        Okay okay, can we end the discussion about Kruk’s idiocy here? It’s horrendously off topic.
        
        Thanks.
        
        JMK aka The Overshare
        
        I wonder if Kruk wrote that in crayon on the computer monitor. The editor will off himself later today after the knowledge that this man is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for that drivel, festers and sores.
        
        Doug
        
        “Another important point the Red Sox must consider is to allow Lester to go deep in the game.”
        
        what does this even mean? i personally think the sox will strongly “consider” it if lester in fact, pitches well.
        
        SouthernYankeeFan
        
        MY favorite “lackey and Beckett are capable of demoralizing a team and its unclear if the angels have that shutdown pitcher to counter it”
        
        He had to mean Lester. why would you say Lackey is that type of pitcher and say they dont have those types?
      - http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        “Jon Lester, who opens the series, has to keep guys off base…”
        
        This is not untrue. Kruk’s not always wrong.
  - Hello
    
    http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/notebook?page=bbtn
Christos

I know Mike Stanton, and no offense to him, but Montero is the better prospect due to the fact that Stanton strikes out a REDICULOUS rates. I’m going down to Jacksonville next spring again and i will personally count how many times he strikes out. Great guy, but still super raw.
- Doug
  
  he strikeout rate in the FSL was not terrible. wasn’t until he was promoted to AA that it really spiked up.
  - Christos
    
    I’ve seen first hand in AA how many times he strikes out.
    - Doug
      
      and that’s why he won’t be that level’s top prospect. he was phenomenal in HiA and that’s why he’s the top dog.
- http://bronxbaseballdaily.com Matt ACTY/BBD
  
  But his strikeouts are coupled with absolutely great power and a good walk rate.
  - Christos
    
    And a bad right field. He dropped like 3 fly balls when i was batboying for the Suns (Marlins AA affiliate)
    - http://bronxbaseballdaily.com Matt ACTY/BBD
      
      We’re talking about his offense, not his defense, though. It’s also probably not wise to enter into a discussion about defense when saying Montero > Stanton because from what we hear, Montero’s defense isn’t all that wonderful either.
      
      Regardless, each one of these guys has the bat to do some serious damage in AA/AAA and eventually the Majors.
  - Will
    
    Not to mention insane athleticism.
mryankee

I dont understand all the talk about moving Montero to left field. isn’t left field in Yankee Stadium harder than right field? If you move to the outfield I woul think right field would make more sense.

I dont care if Montero throws out a ton of guys I would prefer him call a good game, block balls in the dirt. Not many catchers are Pudge Rodriguez or Joe Mauer. I am sure he will produce a lot more runs that he allows.
Christos

Also, i know Lucas May (quoted in SI in Mariano issue on being world champion with team USA) the absolute nicest guy you will ever meet.
- http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  You’re the man.
  - Christos
    
    Thanks, but how?
    - http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
      
      Just messing with you.
      - JMK aka The Overshare
        
        Big meanie putting down the name dropper.
        
        http://www.newyorkjets.com/image_assets/8997/052109_coach_rex_ryan_presser_320.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        Heh, I know, that did feel mean. My bad.
Mike bk

what are the chances that Montero is higher than Stanton in the AA list because Montero’s numbers didnt decline while Stanton’s numbers other than just HR’s dropped pretty significantly when he moved up?
- Doug
  
  100%
  - Christos
    
    They werent in the same AA league, Stanton was in the Southern League.
    - Doug
      
      then greater than 100% ;-)
    - Doug
      
      btw, the Southern league list came out and Stanton was “only” 4th, behind some guys named Heyward, Beckham, and Jennings.
Christos

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