===  Meet for the Master's Use, Dept. ===

I/O HQ:  May well play in the majors as a defensive specialist.  Could possibly even wind up starting, in about eight years or something.

Man among boys physically, pretty to watch handling pitchers, locks down running game. 

Disappointing with the bat, of course.  (In fact, Baron was featured in HQ's section on train wrecks from the 2009 draft.)  But HQ allows for the idea that Baron could learn to hit like a backup catcher.

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I/O The Rest:  Everybody laughs at the Mariners for picking Baron in the first round.  The M's could release the 20-year-old Baron and draw no protest from anybody, anywhere.

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Baron's Results:  At 19 in regular A, hit like a pitcher, or like Jose Lopez if you like, with a remarkable 0.61 runs per 27 outs).  At short-season A, fanned 10 times for every walk and was simply overmatched - he shouldn't have been trying to hit such pitching, except that there was noplace else for him to be.

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SSI CRUNCH:  Again HQ refuses to make a joke out of a prospect who's flailing away in despair. 

The suggestion is an interesting one:  that a truly dominating defensive catcher, a Jeff Torborg type, will see action in the majors because of his specialty.  And that he's worth rolling the dice on for that reason.

We remember a conversation with James in which he dryly explained that the Red Sox were keeping an aging Pokey Reese "because the field manager considers him the best defender in baseball and that this makes Reese worth a 25-man roster slot."

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SSI Sez:   Dr. D hates the idea of any high school catcher in the first round, much less one who isn't a good high school catcher.

Baron obviously ticked off so many checkboxes on tools lists that scouts lost their sense of proportion.  I mean, you spend your life looking for X, Y, and Z, and here it finally is, so how can you pass it up...  it drives Dr. D batty when this occurs.

As a third-rounder, mayhaps.  But like we say, even if Baron could hit, he would have been a dubious 1st-round choice.

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All that said ... :shrug: ... Baron probably has a busher's chance of becoming Dan Wilson, - two notches hitting and + two notches defense.

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There's a story about a concert pianist who gave his greatest performance and finished to a thunderous standing ovation from the entire hall. 

He didn't smile.  He looked at the second row.  Finally an old man sitting there stood and applauded also, and the pianist relaxed and enjoyed the accolades...

The pianist's teacher, of course.  Performances look different, through the eyes of a maestro.

We M's fans have no use for an extreme glove specialist like Baron, but a man like Jack Zduriencik might have a use for him.