Tom Brennan - MINORS SPOTLIGHT - TOMAS NIDO
Catcher has not been a spot Mets fans feel settled on, with no need to look down towards the minors for future help.
Rene Rivera has exceeded all expectations so far, but is aging...Travis d'Arnaud is attempting to join the Guinness book for most injuries - catcher, and Kevin Plawecki never seems to break through as a hitter.
So...how about...Tomas Nido?
Tomas Nido made a splash in 2016 catching with St Lucie, winning the FSL battling title with a .320 average and a .459 slugging percentage, while gunning down a delightful 50 of 119 runners.
How would he do in AA?
In April he stunk, frankly. Maybe it was the miserable northern weather, but he hit just .196 in April. When would he start looking like a batting champ again?
May.
In May, through may 20, he was hitting .327, and .368 over his most recent 10 games.
He only has thrown out 4 of 21 in 2017, so there has been slippage there vs. 2016, but it is still early in the season.
This former 8th rounder, who just turned 23 in April, appears to be a real possibility for a major league career with the Mets, perhaps as a catching tandem with Pat Mazeika, a lefty hitting catcher who is tearing up AAA. Nido hit .361 against lefties last year, while Pat is hitting .362 against righties this year. Why not? Defensive whiz Ali Sanchez will also be in the future catching mix going forward.
I can't wait to catch them at Citifield.
The word on Mazeika is that he might not be a good enough defensive catcher to play the position in the bigs. In my opinion, you need a really big bat to make it worth playing a sub-par receiver. Maybe the bat is that good, or maybe he improves, or maybe his bat plays at 1B. In any case, it's nice to see anyone in the system hitting like he has.
ReplyDeleteI agree that, IMO, Mazeika's future is at first base.
ReplyDeleteIf so, and Mazeika can't catch sufficiently well to be a catcher in the bigs, it sure is nice to have a first baseman who can switch over and be your third catcher in a pinch. It would remove the fear of using your 2nd catcher as a pinch hitter and the starter then getting hurt.
ReplyDeleteIt'd be really nice if he could play 3B, huh?
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