From The Desk - Adrian Hernandez, Jeff McNeil, Ethan Hearn, Tom Seaver, MLB Catchers

15. Adrian Hernandez, CF

Signed: July 2nd Period, 2017 from Dominican Republic (NYM)

Age     17.9    Height 5′ 9″    Weight            210     Bat / Thr         R / R    FV       40

Tool Grades (Present/Future)

Hit       Raw Power     Game Power  Run     Fielding          Throw

20/45        50/55                  20/50     55/50      40/50              50/50

Signed for $1.5 million in 2017, Hernandez is a physical power/speed center field prospect who showed a proclivity for pull-side lift as an amateur. Built like an M-80 at 5-foot-9, 210 pounds, Hernandez lacks body-based power projection, but he already has some pop, and his frame is so compact that it’d be surprising if he thickened enough to necessitate a move out of center field. He had a pull-heavy, somewhat limited approach to contact as an amateur, but his first pro summer was free of statistical red flags. How his bat-to-ball skills and plate discipline develop will dictate his future role, and it’s hard to have great feel for either of those variables. He’s here largely because we like the defensive profile and raw power.

PECOTA's 2019   Breakout Bets (Hitters) –

            Jeff McNeil, New York Mets

Top Three Same-Age Comps: Jordany Valdespin, Rob Refsnyder, Justin Turner

McNeil’s remarkable transformation from high-average, low-power non-prospect to potential impact big-league bat began in 2017 and really took hold last season. First he convinced the BP prospect team that he was worth viewing in a new light, then he convinced the Mets, and now he’s convinced PECOTA. McNeil is already 27 and he’s without an obvious fit in the lineup, thanks in part to the Mets’ depth—as you may have noticed, they have three guys on this list—and in part to his defensive limitations, but the outfield may hold the key to regular at-bats. PECOTA thinks he’ll hit .280 with good strike-zone control and gap power, but if last year’s over-the-fence pop is for real … well, Jarrett Seidler will never shut up about it.

2019 High School    Preseason All-Americans –

           Ethan Hearn, C, Mobile (Ala.) Christian HS  -  A muscular, lefthanded-hitting catcher, Hearn is praised for his work ethic and toughness, not to mention his big arm strength and big raw power. He will need to continue polishing the finer aspects of his game, like receiving and mobility behind the plate. Hearn has flashed 1.87-second pop times on throws to second base in the past, but overall he is an offensive-oriented catcher.

Mets   seaver shamsky harrelson world series –

           Seaver lives in Calistoga in the serenity of California’s wine country, where he tends to his beloved 116-acre vineyard while coping with a now years-long challenge to his health. “For the one-time fearless power pitcher . . . ,’’ Shamsky wrote, “his limitations are now practically unfathomable.’’

Shamsky wrote that Seaver suffers from short-term memory loss, which Seaver told him can be traced to Lyme disease, a bacterial infection transmitted by ticks, contracted in 1991 when he lived in Greenwich, Connecticut. “Hey, man, once you’ve got it, you’ve got it forever,’’ Seaver said to Shamsky.

Teams need catchers,   but don’t want to pay them –

          

PC - Mack

  Pitchers and catchers arrive to Major League camps before position players because the pitchers need extra time to get ready for the season and because without catchers, to paraphrase Casey Stengel, there would be a lot of passed balls. Teams bring so many extra pitchers to camp because they’re likely going to need them. Teams bring so many extra catchers to camp because someone’s going to need to catch those pitchers.

Like all players in camp, the catchers will earn no more than per diem stipends during the month and a half they spend in mandatory preparation for the regular season. Baseball players do not get paid for spring training.

Mack – So, when I post that the Mets have signed another .201 hitting catcher, don’t get excited with the hope that this guy could turn his game around and become a star on this team.

His job is to catch in the pen, and nothing more, in spring training.