With Salta's current struggles in AA, is he still the best Catcher keeper prospect for next year and beyond? Can anyone predict the ETA for all 4 of these catchers? Thanks.
Salty's not the best catcher prospect because both McCann, who should be the Braves' all-star rep, and Brayan Pena are in front of him. Until he changes positions to 1B or possibly 3B, he's not on the quick road to the majors barring a trade.
Saltalamacchia- Brian McCann. Many suspect that Salty will either change positions to 1B, or 3B or be traded. I'd rather see the Braves trade this kid. I think the Braves could get quite a bit in return for him. Saltys' value decreases as far as I am concerned if he has to move to another position. My estimated time is 2008 unless traded then 2007.
Kottaras- My guess on his ETA is 2007 or even this year depending on if Mike Piazza gets injured. I don't see him making much of an impact in 2006. I think he'll be their starting catcher in 2007.
Mathis-With Napoli as their catcher at the moment and the fact he's (Napoli) a good prospect in his own right Mathis' ETA is hard to predict. I can see him coming up in September, or next year. However, I can also see him being traded at some point. If he's traded I think we can expect an earlier ETA.
Clement- Kenji Johjima. I like Clement but, I think he could use another year or two in the minors. My ETA for Clement would have to be late 2007 early 2008.
My order of value:
1.Jarrod Saltamacchia- If he sticks at C
2.Jeff Clement
3.George Kottaras
4.Jeff Mathis
I think it's fair to say that Clement has become the #1 catching prospect in baseball thus far. He's been promoted to AAA after having a good start at AA. He's got excellent power for a catcher.
Chris Iannetta, as mentioned earlier, also deserves talks in these discussions. If he can keep it up, it's very possible he could be the #2, or even overtake Clement as the #1 catching prospect next season.
If Clement is the # 1 catching prospect then thats not saying much. Unless things have changed recently he's struggeling badly . Last I knew he was somewhere around .238
Started off poorly (as in, had a bad first few days to the season), started hitting the ball much better, then tore some meniscus in his knee and had to have surgery to fix that, as well as having surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow.
Anyways, 2006 is his first full season in pro ball, after playing just 30 games at A+ last year after signing (and he hit the ball very well there as well). At AA to start this year, he hit .288 / .386 / .525 for San Antonio with 2 homers, 6 doubles, and a triple in 59 at-bats with a 7 to 8 BB:K ratio, which is very impressive. Keep in mind that this is within his first few weeks of full season ball at AA.
For some reason, the Mariners sent him directly to AAA Tacoma after his injury. He started off slow in his first few games, though that's to be expected after such a long lay-off and because of a promotion to a new level. He's hit it better lately, but the sample size is still way too small (33 ABs, 8 games) to really say anything about his AAA stats.
That being said, catching in the MiLB's is not very strong.
What does Mike Napoli's success in LA do to Mathis? Is it fair to say that Napoli stays and Mathis never sees an AB in LA--is he going to be traded? I don't see LA carrying Mathis, Napoli, and the young Molina kid.
Anybody hear anything about any possibilities with this situation?
Who should have the better major league career? Napoli or Mathis?
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by CT Smash » Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:39 pm 
