Bethancourt On The Way???

KB21 said:
The move doesn't make sense from an offensive standpoint other than it gets Gattis's bat in the line up on a daily basis as opposed to him sitting for 2 games every week as a catcher. With that said, catcher is the one position where you can make an exception if the guy is an elite defender, and based on everything I've read, Bethancourt is just that.

I mean, at some point, Bethancourt will very likely be the Braves full time catcher due to his defense.
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35% Caught Stealing % this season - right in line with what he's always had. (Molina's career % is 45.)
 
clvclv said:
35% Caught Stealing % this season - right in line with what he's always had. (Molina's career % is 45.)
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Molina is also otherworldly when it comes to controlling the running game, and that is not the only measure to evaluation a catcher's defense.
 
Bethancourt has that bat speed/contact ability/free swinging mentality that makes me think he might come up and be hot because pitchers will challenge rookies and he will see more strikes similar to when Andrelton came up and hit .289/.335/.416 in the 50 games to finish the season when he came up. He strikes me as a very similar hitter to Andrelton for better or worse.

I wonder if we could start him at catcher and Gattis in left and if Bethancourt isnt hitting we pinch hit for him after 1 at bat and then move Gattis behind the plate. Unless we are scoring runs its going to be the 4th or 5th inning by the time his second ab comes around. If we have a lead or he comes up with 2 outs and no one on base leave him in the game and if he comes up with RISP his first ab go ahead and pinch hit earlier.

Anyways, not sure I am okay with the Laird losing playing time. Talent of his magnitude is never third string. He is hitting .303 in the last 30 days.
 
OK, sure, we all hate BJ Upton, but the odds of Bethancourt coming up and even replicating BJ's crummy 2014 numbers (low-to-mid .600s OPS) strike me as awfully long. And as others have mentioned, you manage to severely weaken the outfield defense in doing this. I don't know that we had a better option than Gattis-Heyward-Upton last October, but that's not a sight I'm anxious to see again.
 
If I thought Bethancourt would actually be an offensive upgrade I'd be all for it, as I didn't think Gattis' LF defense was as bad as some here. However I don't think Bethancourt is ready. If I recall correctly he has always taken a while to adjust to new levels. Is that something we really need to deal with right now?
 
Gattis' defense in LF was bad. Certainly worse than the defensive metrics suggest. Plus his defense there will be worse this year given he did not spend any time in the off-season or spring training preparing to play outfield. It is a bad, bad idea.
 
MadduxFanII said:
OK, sure, we all hate BJ Upton, but the odds of Bethancourt coming up and even replicating BJ's crummy 2014 numbers (low-to-mid .600s OPS) strike me as awfully long. And as others have mentioned, you manage to severely weaken the outfield defense in doing this. I don't know that we had a better option than Gattis-Heyward-Upton last October, but that's not a sight I'm anxious to see again.
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This.
 
Gattis is bad out there, and as much as I enjoyed watching Jason play CF, he's got a lot off mass to haul around CF—I'm a little bit of a worrywart about injury risk.
 
And honestly...I don't want to **** with Gattis right now. I don't know if there's any statistical support for the idea that defensive transitions can affect a player's offensive ability, but I don't want to find out unless it would present a clear upgrade. Christian Bethancourt is many things, but a clear offensive upgrade to anyone he is not. As dominant as Gattis is at the moment, I'd rather just toss him a bat and some catcher's gear and tell him not to worry about doing anything else.
 
It's a pretty bad idea to replace BJ with Bethancourt and put Gattis in LF. That doesn't make us better. It makes us worse.
 
So, some of you are OK with either taking Gattis's bat out of the line up at least 2 times a week or putting more wear and tear on those knees with him catching daily?
 
KB21 said:
So, some of you are OK with either taking Gattis's bat out of the line up at least 2 times a week or putting more wear and tear on those knees with him catching daily?
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We shouldn't exaggerate this. No catcher plays every game, even when he has an alternative position. The Giants play Buster Posey some at first. But not every game he isn't catching. He has not played at all in 9 of their 71 games. He has also come in as a pinch hitter 4 games. So 13 of their 71 games he has been on the bench.
 
Don't think it happens, but I would strongly consider it. Defense at catcher is far more important than defense in left field. Probably helps the offense with Gattis not taking a beating and playing everyday. Defense behind play gets huge upgrade.
 
nsacpi said:
We shouldn't exaggerate this. No catcher plays every game, even when he has an alternative position. The Giants play Buster Posey some at first. But not every game he isn't catching. He has not played at all in 9 of their 71 games. He has also come in as a pinch hitter 4 games. So 13 of their 71 games he has been on the bench.
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Posey also has 221 at bats to Evan's 185 right now, and Evan has an OPS more than 200 points higher.

The fact of the matter is, no other team has a catcher that can hit like Evan with the exception of Lucroy, and Milwaukee doesn't take him out nearly as much as Atlanta takes out Evan.
 
KB21 said:
So, some of you are OK with either taking Gattis's bat out of the line up at least 2 times a week or putting more wear and tear on those knees with him catching daily?
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Yes.
 
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