The Mets made several moves last week to clear space on their 40 man roster. One of these decisions was to place catching prospect, Juan Centeno, on waivers. Centeno was quickly picked up by the Milwaukee Brewers, and he will likely compete for a spot on their opening day roster. While Centeno is certainly not a devastating loss for the Mets, he might have been the best internal option to backup starter Travis d’Arnaud
As a 32nd round draft pick, Centeno was always under the radar. He was never ranked highly on any prospect lists, and he was often overlooked due to his lack of power. Centeno only hit three home runs in his minor league career, and he has an extremely low .336 slugging percentage during eight minor league seasons.
Despite his low power numbers, Centeno made some improvements at the plate during the last few years. He batted over .300 in three out of the past five seasons, and the contact-hitting backstop never hit below .285 during this span. This progress does not completely make up for his disappointing power output, but it does show that he has more promise on offense than most give him credit for.
However, Centeno’s greatest strength is his exceptional ability on defense. Centeno is regarded as an excellent defensive catcher, and he also has an outstanding throwing arm. Baseball America rated him as the best catcher defensively in the entire Pacific Coast League this season. Mets fans also caught a glimpse of Centeno’s elite skills when he threw out Billy Hamilton stealing in September of last year. This type of defense from the catching position is valuable, and it would also give the Mets a nice complement to d’Arnaud’s production on offense.
Additionally, letting Cetneno go likely means that Anthony Recker returns as the Mets backup. While Recker launched a few impressive home runs this year, he struggled mightily overall. Recker batted just .201 with a dreadful.246 OBP during 174 at bats. This poor performance is also not the result of a small sample size or the consequence of a young player struggling to adjust in the majors. Recker is a career .197 hitter, and he is already 31 years old.
Even though this decision will not drastically effect the season, it is a mistake by the Mets. Centeno can easily exceed Recker’s average and on base percentage while also playing superior defense. Centeno is also several years younger, and he still has room to improve.
This just in…
As I finished writing this last night, the Mets signed catcher Johnny Monell to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training. He’s a local kid and was a 30th round pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2007.
Monell, who turns 29 in March, spent this season at Triple-A, splitting time between the Dodgers and Orioles organizations and hit a combined .238 with four home runs and 24 RBI in 226 plate appearances. He had a cup of coffee in 2013, batting 1-for-8 for the Giants.
