Mack’s 25-man: C Josh Thole

It’s funny… Josh only hits one way, which, when he came up, writers said positive things about. Now, the same guys say Thole’s approach to hitting is boring.

Thole would be the first one to tell you that he had the talent to play in the majors, but he never said he’d wind up in the HOF. He’s a spray hitting .275 hitter who will have spurts of .300+ weeks. Defensively, he led the league in passed balls, but he also spent the entire year catching R.A. Dickey.

Right now, Thole is the best catcher in the system. I’m sure he’s working hard on his arm strength during the off-season and, hopefully, he’s hired some knuckler to come to his backyard and toss it around daily.

He’ll bat seventh, in front of Ruben Tejada.

I still go back to my first meeting with Josh. I asked him, in 2007, what position he was going to play and he said he didn’t know. He was primarily a first baseman back then, which is where he played most of his games that season for the Sand Gnats. I forgot to get either his telephone number or email address and I miss talking with him. He truly is one of the nicest human beings one could meet.

Lineup:  Blank, Murphy, Wright, Davis, Duda, Bay, Thole, Tejada, Pitcher

That’s ten down, 15 to go.