24
2012
A Look At The New York Mets Top Catching Prospects
An article by 
The catcher position is one that the Mets have been trying to address for a few seasons now. Josh Thole has started the most games behind the plate since the days of Mike Piazza and then Paul LoDuca, but Thole is far from the traditional offensive catcher.
Unless you are Charles Johnson behind the plate, the organization and fans are going to want some sort of offensive production. Johnson was never known for his offense, but he did have some very productive offensive seasons. There were years where he knocked over 20 home runs out of the park. If Thole could do that, we wouldn’t be having this discussion today. However, three home runs and a .260 average just isn’t going to cut it.
Due to Thole’s light hitting, catcher is a position that Sandy Alderson is trying to fix going forward. The team brought in Kelly Shoppach, but he hasn’t been much of an upgrade from what the Mets already have in place. Alderson can try to address the catching situation in free-agency, or trade. But when all else fails, there is a crop of catchers down on the farm for the Mets who may be looking to take advantage of the current catching situation.
Most of the top catching prospects are still in the lower rungs of the minor league system, so we can’t expect any of these guys to make an impact until at least 2014-more realistically not until 2015. Here are three guys that could be in the catching mix in the next couple of years.
3. Tomas Nido
2012 Stats: .242/2/15 in 38 games with Kingsport
Nido was drafted out of high school in the 8th round of the 2012 MLB draft. He has tremendous raw power. The problem with Nido is that due to mechanical flaws with his swing, he hasn’t been able to unlock that potential power. When everything clicks, he can hit the ball a country mile, but right now it has primarily been reserved for batting practice. He has a high leg kick and drops his hands to try and generate more power. The swing looks great during BP, and may have led to success in high school, but at the pro level the pitchers will eat him up.
Nido will have to work on quieting his swing – focus on getting his hands quickly through the zone and drive through the ball. He will learn that is the best way to take advantage of his power. He is still young (going to be 19 next spring), so he still has time to make adjustments. If he can get his swing together, he could be a Mike Napoli type of offensive catcher in the near future.
2. Camden Maron
2012 Stats: .300/5/47 in 93 games with Savannah
Everyone loves a local prospect. Maron was drafted out of high school in 2009 from of Hicksville, NY. He was once considered the top catching prospect in the organization, but was surpassed in 2012. He profiles similar to Josh Thole, which isn’t making many Mets fans jump for joy.
Maron is a slap hitting catcher with minimal power. He makes consistent contact and uses the entire field. However, the team already has a Josh Thole-like player in Josh Thole, so don’t expect Maron to be much more than a serviceable backup if and when he makes it to the show.
1. Kevin Plawecki
2012 Stats: .250/7/27 in 61 games with Brooklyn
Plawecki was taken with the 35th pick in the 2012 MLB draft. He’s an offensive minded catcher, and makes consistent contact. He’s not known for his power, but he can drive the ball to the gaps and put one over the fence every once in awhile. He has 20+ homerun potential.
Plawecki is a solid defender, and calls a good game. He has a very accurate arm and can definitely develop into a solid everyday catcher at the big league level. Expect him to start 2013 in Savannah, and potentially make the jump to Binghamton. After spending a few years in college, there should be less of a need to polish his game in the lower levels of the organization. If he continues to progress, expect Plawecki to join the Mets sometime in late 2014 or 2015.
Analysis
Plawecki seems like the most likely candidate to be behind the dish in the near future for the Mets. With Maron’s profile, he may also put on the blue and orange one day, but it would most likely be in a backup role. The wildcard in the prospect mix is clearly Nido. If he can develop and start tapping into his power, the Mets will have a very dangerous hitter at their disposal. Keep your eyes on Nido, he has the potential to give the Mets their first home run threat from behind the plate since Mike Piazza.
All of these prospects are at minimum two full seasons away from breaking in with the big league team. Unless Alderson is satisfied with waiting to see if one of these guys pan out and decides to stick with Thole in the mean time, they will have to address the catching situation in either free agency or trade.
About the Author: Mitch Petanick
Mitch is currently an Editor and Minor League Analyst for Mets Merized Online. His baseball experience includes being a former All-Conference collegiate baseball player who had numerous professional tryouts, and he is currently a hitting instructor. He has been involved with the game of baseball for over 30 years now as a player, coach, and consultant. Mitch is also a former Featured Columnist on Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @FirstPitchMitch.
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I’m very high on Plawecki and curios to see how Nido develops. If he can find some way to translate his amateur numbers at the pro level I agree that we might have something special in him. But that’s always the big question with all these draft picks, whether or not they can integrate the skills and tools scouts saw in them at the professional ranks.
Like we have been throughout our entire 51 year history, the next great Mets catcher will come from outside the organization. Grote-Carter-Piazza Stop messin’ with tradition!
You skipped Hundley !
I thought we drafted Hundley?
Those are the “top” prospects? Thanks for not bothering to post the “other” prospects.
Maron has the potential to be a Paul LoDuca type catcher, I’m not ready to project him out as an MLB backup just yet. I do agree with your takes on Plawecki and Nido. Also keep an eye out for Centeno who is a good darkhorse candidate, but years away like Nido.
The reason I say Maron would be a backup is because I think Plawecki has the inside track now to be the future starter.
I understand, but that’s something I could see being battled out and decided in spring training of 2015. Too early to declare Plawecki being any better than Maron. They both are defensive minded and will stick at their positions, so that’s good. But offensively it could literally go any way. They are the same age (21), Maron is already 1 maybe 2 levels ahead of Plawecki, and Maron had almost one hundred more points of OPS at a more difficult level. Plus as a lefty, Maron’s odds at more MLB playing time would be greater than Plawecki’s.
Good points
Mitch,
Your “Good points” response to D. Meeker is a bit of a contradiction. You said K. Plaw is an offensive minded catcher. Which is what I have heard as well (admittedly I am not as well informed on the Minors as I would like to be). Which is it?
Sorry, I was replying from my phone-my good points comment was in reference to him saying its too soon to consider Maron nothing more than a backup at this point. Plawecki is definitely considered an offensive minded catcher at this point – but he’s right it could go either way. But you can say that about any two prospects – there’s really no such thing as a sure thing when talking about prospects. Maybe once in awhile there is, but it’s definitely not the norm. By mid 2013 we may have a completely different top three…you never know with prospects. Plawecki gets he nod because of his college experience he is closer than the others as of right now.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
It should be mentioned that plawecki had more walks than strikeouts last year.
It should be noted that Kevin’s Catching skills were so great….they had him at DH for almost half the year…
Centeno is 23 years old. If he’s “years away” he’s not very good. He also has absolutely ZERO power with 2 career homers and 28 career doubles. Career.
Centeno hit .285 and played excellent defense last year in AA
If they promote him to AAA and he puts up similar numbers…and we continue to have sub-par production from Thole and friends…I think he would be next in line to be called up…
Thole has unfortunately regressed both defensively and offensively last year. Shoppach is garbage filler…so is Nikeaus…
Centeno may flame out as well…but I think in a 2013 rebuilding year…trying him may be worth a shot…esp if we come up empty in the Travis D’anaurd sweepstakes
I guess the only question that remains now is which plyer gets a statue erected in front of Citi Field first, Tom Seaver or Juan Centeno.
Centeno is 5’9
His statue would cost less to make
My money’s on him
Thanks for the analysis Mitch. After reading your post I went to see if I can find video of Nido and I thought you and others might be interested in seeing it if you had yet to do so.
The 1st clip is of Nido with Under Armour All-America back in 2011.
http://youtu.be/o9MoUz-giDM
The 2nd is according to the description is of Nido’s 1st half highlights of his 2012 season and is almost 5 minutes worth of video.
http://youtu.be/Soy5ixVbdao
I actually wanted to use those videos but I couldn’t find anything on Maron and didn’t want to dis him by having two guys with video and none for him.
You can see in the video what I was referring to with his swing.
This is all I could find on Cam. It’s from this season.
http://youtu.be/Mq2kcb73ESo
A top prospect list that excludes the guy who is the best defensive catcher in the system and one who also hits for the highest average
LMAOOO Met fans …
u guys crack me up sometimes
Cordero?
Centeno of lifetime .646 OPS fame?
and that incredible 5’6 170 frame…
Now we need size behind the plate…
I mean Juan is 5’10 and 175 lbs…
Should we have Duda catch instead ??
lmaooo
no worries…should Juan get promoted again…you guys probably will say Juan’s astrological sign is not compatible with the rest of the major league pitching staff
yeah…the same guy who is the best defensive prospect out of any of the catchers…
last i checked, playing defense was important at the catcher spot
plus centeno has a higher batting average and contact rate among all those catchers
I guess catcher is where you wanna put your defensive liabilities at…
How many playoff / world-series winning teams have poor defensive catchers…
Posada comes to mind.
I wouldnt label Posada as poor defensively…he was middle of the pack…
the fact remains that damn near all consistent winning teams have strong catching behind the plate.
the fact that most met fans go out of their way to downplay their best defensive catcher who ALSO hits for average is a bit of a head-scratcher…
then you guys wonder why most baseball fans think we are idiots.
The only baseball fans on the face of the earth that for years cried and moan about their team being too latin and having Los on their uniforms
Coincidence?
Not unless you think Tom Nido was worth even mentioning
Fact is that the past 4 WS champs have had + to ++ offense from their catchers. Prior to that it’s pretty clear there’s were other factors. You’re not going to build a winner around Centeno. You’re not going to win because of him, you’d win despite of him.
Regarding Nido, same thing. One dimensional that will fade as he progresses. The reality is that the Mets system is pretty bad for any position other than pitcher. Flores’ “massive year” wasn’t so “massive” especially when you factor in his lack of position.
The Braves, Phillies, Tigers, Angels, Giants and Cardinals coincidentally all have above avg DEFENSIVE catchers who ALSO hit well
RedSox 2004 – Above avg DEFENSIVE Catcher
White Sox 2005 – Above avg Defensive Catcher
Cardinals – 2006 – Above avg DEFENSIVE Catcher
RedSox – 2007 – Above avg Defensive Catcher
Phillies – 2008 – Above avg Defensive Catcher
Giants – 2010 – Above avg Defensive Catcher
Cardinals 2011 – Above avg Defensive Catcher
Giants – 2012 – Above avg Defensive Catcher
Must I continue or do you need more proof ?
The Catcher position affects the entire starting rotation, bullpen, infield defense, outfield defense and has more effect on the game than any other single position.
Please do not sit there and tell me that you want to put a guy behind the plate just because he can hit..
A catcher who hits HR’s but cant handle a staff, handle balls in the dirt or throw out runners is like a Center who cant rebound or play defense….but hits three-pointers…
I’d switch nido with forsythe. I think you’re exaggerating nido’s power potential a lot. Nice job though.
He has plus-plus power his problem is taking advantage of it during game situations. It’s like the kid that shoots the lights out when there is no defender in front of him but in a game situation can’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
Isn’t that minus-minus ability to hit in game situations? And if he can’t do it at Kport then what happens when he starts seeing actual pitching? And if he starts changing his swing then won’t his plus-plus batting practice power disappear?
He’s definitely a wildcard…he could go on to hit 30hr someday in the bigs or never make it past double-A ball. The potential is definitely there though.
Sylow59
“And if he can’t do it at Kport then what happens when he starts seeing actual pitching?”
Uhhhhhm…this is what the minor leagues is setup to do….TEACH & TRAIN kids whom have talent to harness those skills….Thats like saying a 5 yr old in kindergarten who cant say his ABC’s will never catch up with his classmates. If he practices with time he will LEARN and as he goes up each level he may very well surpass his peers.
Nido is only a “teenager” you cant judge him yet you can only project what you think he might become based on natural ability. His body hasnt even finished growing.
FYI Batting stance doesnt project power, sure some people load up to generate more bat speed but for big kids like Nido it is unnecessary, overkill if you ask me
Nido sounds and looks an awful lot like Davis at the plate….
Good comparison but Davis was more of a polished hitter due spending a couple of years in college.
Nido was headed to Florida State before signing w the Mets. Sometimes I think it’s better for some of these kids to gain some experience in college first.
Personally I think th entire MLB would be better off if they required all kids to finish college before they could enter the draft.
Just bad for the kid as he has to choose between education and lots of money and we know what will always win.
Better for the MLB as they will have more experience, be better educated and will move quicker through the MiL system.
But good luck on ever seeing that as the Agents lobby the players to keep that cash cow open for them during the CBA Negotiations.
“Personally I think th entire MLB would be better off if they required all kids to finish college before they could enter the draft.”
David stern loves you idea.
“Just bad for the kid as he has to choose between education and lots of money and we know what will always win.”
They aren’t choosing between education and lots of money. they are choosing between playing college ball and minor league ball. They can take some of that money and use it for tuition, they just can’t play for the school team.
“Better for the MLB as they will have more experience, be better educated and will move quicker through the MiL system.”
Better educated is very debatable.
“But good luck on ever seeing that as the Agents lobby the players to keep that cash cow open for them during the CBA Negotiations.”
Agents really don’t have the pull in CBA negotiations in MLB that they do other places. Its all about the union. that is why amateur players got screwed by the last CBA.
“They can take some of that money and use it for tuition”
Yeah and thier choice of colleges is in the city they are assigned or in the city they are assigned.
So a guy in A Ball could go to NYU but the second he gets promoted to AAA he has to go to UNLV.
great educational opportunity to you apparently.
Agents are the ones who advise their clients what to accept or decline during CBA Negotiations. Who stands to lose the most if the leagure ever caps salary? The Players? Or the Agents who represent all the players who will be limited not just the few superstars who will still make the big bucks at the expense of all those lower skilled players…
And because most of these players don’t HAVE a good education they have to rely on thier agents to tell them if those CBAs they vote on are good or bad.
Many of the new drafting techniques include telling the player that they will pay for his education after his playing career is over. So basically they get their signing bonus and a free education at some point.
I had one of my basketball players who was drafted by the Mariners in a late round and they offered basically the same thing. For guys drafted at the bottom there isn’t much incentive to sign with the MLB team over a college scholarship so teams are trying to get them to take the risk.
Cause college is so much more fun when your 40 right?
Yes your right they say that and make that offer but most don’t ever take it.
If you are playing pro ball until about 40, college probably isn’t an issue at that point.
The deal TRS refers to is meant more for guys who probably won’t stick it for long and be done before they are 30. They would get some good mileage out of a few years of college.
“So a guy in A Ball could go to NYU but the second he gets promoted to AAA he has to go to UNLV.”
And if he gets injured playing college ball, what are his options then?
“Agents are the ones who advise their clients what to accept or decline during CBA Negotiations.”
Do you know what the C in CBA stands for? Agents have no say what so ever in a strong union and the MLBPA is an insanely strong union.
“Who stands to lose the most if the leagure ever caps salary? The Players?”
Yes.
” Or the Agents who represent all the players who will be limited not just the few superstars who will still make the big bucks at the expense of all those lower skilled players…”
No, the players. Agents make a percentage of what they make. So, no matter what the agents lose (and under your scenario, not much) the players lose more.
“And because most of these players don’t HAVE a good education they have to rely on thier agents to tell them if those CBAs they vote on are good or bad.”
No, they rely on their union reps.
“And if he gets injured playing college ball, what are his options then?”
Same as they are if he gets hurt in A ball!
“Agents have no say what so ever in a strong union and the MLBPA is an insanely strong union.”
Yeah a union made up of people they advise on all matters involving baseball business…
Say it with more even conviction maybe the lie will sound even truer!
“Agents make a percentage of what they make. ”
Yes and they have a lot more clients than just one.
the Losses add up and they no longer have the MegaDeal to offset and pay the bills that used to cover thier living expenses while they take on the lesser players hoping he becomes the next mega Free Agent.
I wasn’t aware the Mets even had any “Top” catching prospects.
How do you mention Maron but not point out he threw out 10 out of 80? 10 out of 80! Over the past 2 seasons 22 out of 109. He’s not going to be a big leaguer unless something drastic changes with his throwing.
The only reason he is still catching is because he cant play middle infield, and would have zero value at any other position. But, yeah, if he even makes it to the majors, it won’t be as a catcher unless that caught stealing percentage gets drastically better.
Because throwing out runners is such an over-rated aspect of being a catcher…
lol
his mediocre BB walk, slightly above avg OPS more than make up for the fact that he was below average defensively
Of course Juan Centeno threw out more runners than anyone in our system and had the highest batting average…
but these folks still treat him like the invisible man in the room…
I wonder why….
Mediocre bb walk? 13% walk rate last year. Centeno’s was 7.3
I was actually kidding when I brought up the BB walk rate…I had no idea what his walk rate was, but now looking at it, it is actually pretty good
would you like to really compare stats…
BOTH defensively and offensively ?
Cam CS% rate – 13%
Juan CS% rate – 41%
This is the reason why Cam spent over 30% of the season as a DH
A 13% CS rate in A ball means Cam will be a 1B or a DH somewhere, not a starting catcher
And before you even bring up Joe Mauer or most of the great catchers in MLB…he was throwing out 57% of base-runners in the minors before he was called up…
we can go line for line…most of the catchers in baseball were able to handle minor league baserunners….they werent sitting on the pine as DH’s because they sucked at throwing runners out
Would you like for me to further embarrass you or are you finished yet?
lol you’re embarressing yourself, not me. I’m not a fan of Maron either.
In a discussion about top catching prospects, you bring up Juan Centeno’s height and weight
Are you trying to date the next Mets best catching prospect or do you want the one who is better at being a catcher
FYI – Juan is actually 3 inches taller than what you stated…since I know every inch counts for you
Please show me starting MLB catchers who throw out 20% of runners at the big league level. Maron threw out 13% this year.
It looks like they at least have a future replacement for Nickeas.
LOL!
On a somewhat related note, it looks like the Red Sox (according to CBSSport.com) are hot after Mike Napoli. That would give them a log jam at Catcher. Maybe they would be open to trading Mike Lavarnway? Any info on him and his availability?
I think the plan is to keep Lavarnway and trade Saltlamacchia(or however you spell his name) since Napoli insists he wants to Catch and not DH.
Short season ball stats are near worthless. The higher level you move up the more important they become. What is far more important at the lower levels is tools, coachability and whether a prospect is able to adjust.
Plawecki, Maron and Nido are the Top 3 C prospects who could be starters in a best case scenario but remain far away.
Juan Centeno >>>> All 3 of those guys
Why don’t they just re-obtain Omir Santos? With a Thole-Santos tandem we’ll be set for the next decade.