Take 75 North runs down all of the catching roster moves that took place in the wake of the Pudge Rodriguez trade. The Tigers organizational catching situation has been described as barren, and that’s not quite fair. There are a couple intriguing prospects who are worth following as they will now be tested at higher levels.
Dane Sardinha was called up to Detroit.
Dusty Ryan went from Erie to Toledo.
James Skelton bumped up from Lakeland to Erie.
Adrian Casanova moved from West Michigan to Lakeland.
Angel Flores will be taking a drive west from Oneonta to West Michigan.
Oneonta doesn’t have to replace Flores because they already have Joe Bowen and Tyler Weber on the team.
The two to keep an eye on are Dusty Ryan and James Skelton. Ryan has burst on to the scene a little bit with his bat this season. Baseball America rated him as the organization’s top defensive catcher. But up until this year the bat hadn’t played with his highest OPS season was the 693 he posted as a 21 year old in West Michigan. However this year he has a 255/345/472 line for AA Erie.
He only has a 15% line drive rate so his .326 BABIP is inflated. But there is something to be said for the 14 homers he has to date. The season hasn’t exactly been a model of consistency. His monthly OPS from April through July have been: 1.022 – .730 – .893 – .675. So his promotion to AAA either coincides well with the up and down nature of his season. Or it coincides horribly with a time where he is either a)regressing to the mean or b)tiring out.
James Skelton has swung a high average, low power bat for the last couple of seasons. That has continued into 2008 where he has a 308/465/409 line. He missed time in June due to injury, but has come back with a little more pop. He picked up 7 of his 12 extra base hits in the month of July. The biggest knock on Skelton is that many feel he’s just too small to be a catcher if he weighs 165 pounds. I have no idea if this is true or not, but the dude is tiny.
Between Ryan, Skelton, and even Alex Avila (290/362/331 at West Michigan) the position isn’t completely empty in the organization. While it does lack top flight prospects, the Tigers aren’t unique in that regard. And with the promotions of Ryan and Skelton the Tigers get another month to evaluate each as they are one step closer to the bigs.
I am intrigued by Skelton as well. His OBP is awesome. I hear he is doing ok defensively. The size issue has more to do with his endurance I guess than his in game receiving skills. He also bats left which is a huge plus. He could turn into an ideal back up at least. I don’t know much about Ryan, but I like the power.
I’d like to see them pick up a veteran catcher. Sardinha looks ok behind the plate but has no stick. Greg Zaun wants out of Toronto and would probably get through waivers. But he wants to start.
Re Lakeland: has anyone seen them? Streiby is near the league lead in a bunch of power categories. Is he as good as Larish? Sizemore has held his own after a rough start. He seems like a Mark Ellis type. And Nickerson has pitched well. Could he be a 4th or 5th starter or is he too much of a soft tosser?
A last farm system question: has anybody seen Chris Lambert pitch at Toledo? His numbers are good, and as an ex #1 pick I figure he has good stuff. What’s the scouting report?
It’s hard to say Sizemore has held his own. He’s been out with a broken wrist for two months now, and is likely out for the season.
Bill, last winter when I penned the Tigers Top 5 prospects I was consulting with Matt (in Toledo) on it and he said that Skelton’s bigger than the 165 he’s been listed at. I believe he was closer to 180 but I might be wrong about that.
when I saw Skelton at spring training he looked 135 to me…but I did like the way he handled himself both O and D