=== Waterboy Dept. ===
Folks on the radio have been talking about 19-year-old Steve Baron in the first few days of training camp. Calls reporters "sir" and "ma'am," can't do enough to please people, runs everywhere he goes, etc. etc.
Think it was Larry LaRue laughing about Baron's reaction when Ken Griffey Jr. walked in... for two days "it was like the puppy following the tennis ball, you move your hand right, his head tracks with you..."
"He's a charmer" was a phrase we heard about 42 times on the radio.
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What had happened, according to Baron in his live segment, was that Baron's dad wanted Steve to go to Duke and study medicine. Roger Hanson camped out around the Barons' house for two weeks, did the wine-and-dine, and when they spread the contract out in front of Steve, "it was just tough to turn down."
According to Steve, the Barons were looking at a baseball career at Duke and then Steve being drafted VERY high when he came out after college. Lots more money, and med school after baseball etc.
The clincher, apparently, was when the M's offered Baron an invite to this year's spring training... would that be a little tough for you to turn down? Now for me that would be quite the sweetener... bear in mind that a lot of minor leaguers never get that experience...
Mama was supportive of whatever Steve wanted to do. Heh.
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=== Addicted to Glove Dept. ===
From various sources around the 'net, Baron is special-class with the catcher's mitt.
As SSI readers know, catchers do have to have big throwing arms, but what separates is the quickness of feet.
It's a stretch to "scout" a catcher based on a bullpen session, but Baron drew praise from several sources for the way that he caught Felix Hernandez -- the soft mitt that "absorbs" and "welcomes" a ball from the pitcher.
Funny story Drayer told about Baron finally having one get away in front of him, and instinctively (nervously) scrambling out to get it -- right in the firing line of several pitchers ready to take his head off. Range instructor has to ring the alarm and screech, "Gentlemen, open your actions and put your guns on the table"... :- )
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=== BaseballHQ ===
MLBA has Baron in their book already (available at this link). Their take:
They've got Baron as going 19-for-106 (yowch) in his rookie league debut, with a 6% BB rate and 36% K rate. Against rookie-league pitchers.
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As a rule, SSI views this archetype as a waste of time, since there are any number of pretty receivers who can't hit the ball out of the infield against Jered Weaver. Ninety percent of these highschoolers peak at a 40 OPS+ ...
If the Mariners (or G and J) were to tell us, no, he's got a shot to hit for the league average ten years from now, then fine.
It's one of those things where, okay, suppose he becomes everything you expect. Do you want him then?
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One ML comparison is Jim Sundberg, who had the rep for being a clinic behind the plate, with mediocre-poor hitting skills.
Actually, Sundberg got to where he could chip in with the bat, and Sundberg was the starting catcher for the Bret Saberhagen 1985 Royals championship squad ... I'd like to see Sundberg's CERA's compared to his teammates'. In 1985, the Royals' ERA+ was 119. Sensational.
HQ grades the teenaged Baron 7D, meaning, 30% chance to start in the majors. That's a significant org resource.
Cheers,
Dr D
with better defense (I don't know much about Barajas' D, to be honest).
But offensively, anyway. Based on his size, Baron should have some legit power down the road, and the draft reports say as much, but he may not hit for average or draw many bases on balls.
How valuable is a .240/.300/.410 catcher with great D?
As wonderful receivers who are a boom-or-bust 15-20 homers at the plate... that's a great way to think of it...
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.240/.300/.410, if a guy is one of the best receivers in the game, is a starting ML catcher for sure...
Question is whether *you* want to try to win your pennant with such a player, or whether you're aiming higher. Where are you on that one Jon? Would you be happy with a .240/300/.410 GG candidate as your starter for 6, 8 years?
Needless to say, we're not claiming Steve Baron won't hit. Who has any idea what he'll hit. :- )
We're just asking the question 'on draft day' so to speak, yeah, if you get that 240/300/410 guy with a good glove, is that what you want?
Me personally, I lean against, but of course you don't always get to pick-and-choose your catcher, and you've got to thicken the minor-league pyramid...
or aiming higher for my catching position in general?
I think Seattle sees him hitting a lot better than that if they're picking him right there.
I didn't like this pick at all (and Baron's awful offensive performance didn't change things), though I really liked the Nick Franklin pick.
We'll see I guess. Prospects are unpredictable.
If he hits even a little, he'll be interesting.
His swing mechanics are all FUBAR'ed, but that maybe with some conditioning help, he can wait on pitches longer and cut down on the K rate a tad. Not saying we should expect miracles, but the kid is 19 and huge. He could turn into Jason Varitek just as easily as he could turn into a career AA player.
The perception was that Baron was picked as a cheap signing after Ackley at the top. In the end, i think he cost the M's a bit more than expected. Even if he meets expectations for his development, hindsight might still show there were better players available. However, if he becomes an MLB player of any sort, it was a good pick. Draft picks don't come with guarantees.
I had the luxury of tracking down some YouTube video of him on draft day before they took it down, and his swing mechanics were not good. They seemed to be geared twoards making good with the aluminum, but I suspect that he'll have a bit of trouble transitioning to wood because he won't be able to get away with as much.
The defense though, that's another story. He's probably one of the best backstops I've seen, and that he's just a kid on top of that is astonishing. It's not just that he blocks pitches and is good at framing everything, it's that he has this smooth way of responding to every little change in movement. It's very fluid how he'll move back and forth to get the pitch, and the transitions are so easy, not even quick-twitch jump into the path of the ball, that it's like he knows exactly where it's going before it even leaves the pitcher's hand. I skipped over the parts where he was hitting, but the defense, man, I must have watched that five or six times before it was taken down, and still wanted to see it again weeks later!
I hope that he'll be able to put as much effort into getting his swing straightened out as he has into his defense.
All draft reports said the same thing: The swing has to be completely scrapped. It is not good.
With that, I'm going to turn a blind eye on his offensive numbers for the next year or two and hope that they are able to get him doing something better. Having him in big league camp working with big league coaches can't hurt, either.
I think that was just a lot of fans and analysts trying to justify taking a prep catcher who was considered a reach over the high upside arms that were there for the taking (Paxton, Scheppers, Brothers, Oliver, etc etc). In the end, as mentioned, he wasn't a bargain pick, and cost about slot if I remember correctly. Cheaper than some of those arms? Sure. But not enough to justify if you're going for the best player available.
Of course, maybe the Mariners thought they got the best player available.
Much better than the post. I'll take a million of 'em just like that.
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Jay's description of Baron behind the plate reminds me of a kid who came up in 1968 or 1969 for the Reds...
Bench's entire body was just fluid like liquid metal behind the plate, the whole presence casually dominant back there, just a huge pleasure to watch him even toss the ball back to the pitcher, like a dad patiently tossing a wiffleball back to his 5-year-old son...
Bench did not hit in his first go-round the minors either, though at 19 slugged .500 in AAA :- )
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Appreciate the description about the tennis-style volley with the big metal sweet spot on the bat. That's a big problem.
But nobody has any idea what Baron will hit, at 19, so am willing to give the offense a complete pass and see what happens the next couple years.
One more thing I caught this time... even when he has to block the pitch and it skates away a few feet away from him, no one wants to run on him :)
You'd think with that sort of catching eye, he'd hit well too.