Twins
- Joe Mauer- My view on Joe is i think he is the best defensive and offensive catcher in the game and the sky is the limit. The only question is can he stay healthy for a whole season. It started in '04 when he only played in 35 games because of injury and then last year when he played in 109 games. If he can stay healthy the sky is the limit for him based on his career .313 average. I really believe he will be fine and when its all said and done he will be a hall of famer and i just hope we can keep him in a Twin's uniform his whole career.
Rochester
- Jose Morales- My view on Jose is I think he has a lot of talent and has put up some solid numbers in AAA the problem is his path to the majors is blocked by Joe Mauer and Mike Redmond. That said he is pretty good defensively not in the league of Mauer or Redmond, but not bad at all and offensively he is very good. I view him as an ok prospect at catcher but i dont see him anything more than a third catcher for the Twins and there are better catching prospects in the Twins organization. I view him as a career AAA player who would probably be better served in another organization where he would get a better chance to play.
New Britain
- Drew Butera- My view on Drew is I think he is excellent defensively, however he struggles a bit with the bat. I base that on the fact that he is a career .213 hitter in 3 seasons in the minors. When it comes to Defense though you are not going to find many other catchers with the Defensive capabilities that Drew brings. His Arm is very strong and he has good flexibility to block pitches and he calls a good game. He is a very smart catcher who if he can improve his hitting could become a solid 2 catcher. I look for Drew to make it to the majors whether its with the Twins or another team i think Drew will be a major league player in 2 or 3 years.
Fort Myers
- Wilson Ramos- Now this is the top catching prospect in the entire Twin's organization. I have a lot of hope for this kid he is very good defensivly, but what i really like about him is his potential Offensivly. He has dominated in every level the Twins have put him at and he is only 20 years old. I view him as the long term answer if the Twin's ever decide to move Joe Mauer to another position. He has everything a team is looking for in a catching prospect and i am really high on him. I look for him to reach the majors around the '10 season when the Twin's move into their new stadium.
Beloit
- Daniel Lehmann- To be honest i dont know alot about this guy he played in rookie ball last year and struggled. He got promoted to Beloit this year and the hope is that he can find his game offensively and improve catching with the Twin's taking him in the 8th round out of Rice. I really dont see alot of future for the guy but he needs to develop an offensive game and develop a better work ethic or he wont be in this organization very long.
GCL
- Danny Rams- There is a lot of pressure on this guy considering that the Twin's drafted him in the 2nd round of the '07 draft. Its a very small sampling so i dont know how much he can base what he did last year on the fact that he only played 27 games. He hit .258 with 22 strikeouts in 97 at bats. His plate discipline is something that he is going to have to work on, but he is someone to keep an eye on for the future based on how highly the Twins Brass viewed him coming into the draft.
The Twins catching position starts and ends with Joe Mauer that is why its so important for the Twins to sign Mauer long term again because other than possibly Wilson Ramos they really dont have anyone to take his place. I would really welcome comments on this let me know if you liked it or not and if you want me to continue with this theme at other positions.
