WHY ROMINE MAY BE THE FUTURE, NOT MONTERO

(In Photo: Austin Romine)
Austin Romine is the other catcher when you think about these two super catching prospects. Whenever you hear about these two guys you hear about Jesus Montero first. And rightfully so. He has light tower power, and is number nine on the MLB Top 50 prospects list. You can read that list HERE.(In Photo: Austin Romine)
With a few of those guys already in the bigs, Montero is currently higher up on the list.

Now, for those of you who don't know, Montero is more of an offensive catcher. He has 63 career minor league homers in 439 career games which span through five seasons, and five different levels in the minors. But, the knock on him is his defense, or lack there of. He's made 17 career errors behind the plate in 2363 career chances--with one E this season. Also, he's thrown out a career 21% of potential base stealers, with a 17% rate this year. You can check out a full scouting report of Jesus HERE.

With that in mind, It'smy opinion that I'm not so sure that Montero can be a first string catcher for years to come with the Yankees. That scouting report tells it all. So, you'd think they could just move him to DH. If the Yankees do that, they will create a major log jam in years to come with A-Rod, Jeter, and Teixeira not getting any younger.(In Photo: Jesus Montero)
Let's take a look at Romine. He is head and shoulders ahead of Montero defensively. This season he's thrown out 23% of base runners. He's made two errors, but he's dropped the number of errors committed since 2008. But offensively, he's very underrated when compared to his counterpart. This year he's hitting .298 with four homers and 31 RBI in 44 games this season. And in five seasons in the minors, which spans through four different levels, he's hit 37 homers in 382 career games. Sure, he's not going to be a 30+ home run guy in the bigs, but not every great player is. You can check out his scouting report HERE.

So, with Montero not having the ability to be a strong defensive catcher, and with the Yankees having a log jam at DH in years to come, I wouldn't be surprised one bit down the road if the Yankees trade Montero for a needed piece. I think Romine has what it takes to be a very solid major league catcher for the Yankees.



--Jesse Schindler, BYB Staff Writer




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