Braves Catching Future (PART ONE)

rico43

<B>Director of Minor League Reports</B>
Lucas Herbert was touted as a high schooler as being the "best catch and throw" catcher in the 2015 draft. The scouting report (or, one of them):

Herbert’s athleticism is most obvious when he puts on the tools of ignorance and starts catching the Rome staff. He has great lateral movement and even better ability to get into the dirt to block a ball with great flexibility. His arm isn’t elite, but he gets up very quickly, which makes up for it in the run game.

The biggest area I could see for improvement in Herbert’s game behind the plate would be his framing skills. He presents a good target, but he tends to sit narrow to remain able to be flexible in his movements, but getting wider would allow him to “steal” more pitches for his pitchers.

What MLB.com said the time:

"Lucas Herbert has excellent catch and throw skills to go along with the natural leadership teams covet in a catcher"

This season, at age 20, he was made the primary catcher at Rome. His backup was a revolving door of five other catchers, but Herbert has been a revelation, batting .354 in the second half after a .410 average in June.

Working with young pitchers, he took his lumps throwing out base stealers, but his and their improvements are dramatic.

In April, Herbert was only 3 of 20 throwing out runners

In May, Herbert was 12 of 33. Threw out 6 of 13 at the end of the month

Continued in June.

In June, Herbert was 7 of 15 with a pickoff

In July, teams are not running with nearly as much confidence, going 1 for 7 so far with another pickoff.

For the season, he's made four errors, three of them throwing.

With Cumberland trying to figure it out, with Jackson trying to figure it out, I want Herbert to be treated like the McCann-in-waiting by the Braves.
 
The coda to this is that nowhere have I found, from Shanks on up, anyone who has disclosed or learned what Alex Jackson's injury was/is.
 
Optimism is nice, but don't we require a bit more before even thinking about McCann comparisons?
 
Herbert is repeating low A and posting a .730 OPS at the same age Mac was in A+ posting an .830 OPS.

When Herbert shows he is an actual prospect the Braves will likely treat him like they did Mac.
 
Herbert is repeating low A and posting a .730 OPS at the same age Mac was in A+ posting an .830 OPS.

When Herbert shows he is an actual prospect the Braves will likely treat him like they did Mac.

I agree

I like Herbert. Seems to be a very good defensive guy who can prob be a back up in MLB as a floor. He had the knee injury. He's showing some bat skills.

Catcher is awful most places. I like what the braves are doing. They have Herbert as the d guy. They have several bat guys to see i they can catch. They have international guys. Keep a lot of irons in the fire and see what happens.
 
I agree

I like Herbert. Seems to be a very good defensive guy who can prob be a back up in MLB as a floor. He had the knee injury. He's showing some bat skills.

Catcher is awful most places. I like what the braves are doing. They have Herbert as the d guy. They have several bat guys to see i they can catch. They have international guys. Keep a lot of irons in the fire and see what happens.

Better to have one McCann or a Salty than lots of irons in the fire. We need to extent the late bloomer because none of the current catching prospects in full-season ball project to be anything more than backups at the major league level. Surprises are possible, but we should not count on them.
 
Better to have one McCann than lots of irons in the fire.

Of course. But that's not easy. How many top 100 prospects are catchers? Maybe 3. How many catchers in MLB with over 750 ops?

It's not like there have been top catcher prospects we passed on
 
Of course. But that's not easy. How many top 100 prospects are catchers? Maybe 3. How many catchers in MLB with over 750 ops?

It's not like there have been top catcher prospects we passed on

Yeah. Its not easy. We drafted a catcher in round 4 in 2008, one in round 5 in 2011, one in round 3 in 2012, one in round 4 in 2013, one in round 2 in 2015, one in round 3 in 2016. Still waiting for one of those to pan out.
 
There is one very much under-the-radar international signing I have some hope for at catcher. But I will not divulge his name for fear of jinxing him.
 
The thing to remember on Herbert is that he tore up his knee in his first or second game in the GCL and missed the rest of the season. He probably should have been in Danville last season, but the Braves aggressively pushed him to Rome. I don't think anyone in their right mind is comparing Herbert and McCann, but Herbert may develop into someone who contributes at the big league level.

One thing I do see happening is that the Braves are filling up the low minors with catching prospects. Contreras in Danville is off to a good start with the bat and he's only 19. Owenby and Lugbauer are older, but may have something, especially Lugbauer with the bat. If Cumberland and Jackson develop behind the plate (and Cumberland's contact rate improves), there are two more options. And we can't forget about Gutierrez in the GCL.
 
The thing to remember on Herbert is that he tore up his knee in his first or second game in the GCL and missed the rest of the season. He probably should have been in Danville last season, but the Braves aggressively pushed him to Rome. I don't think anyone in their right mind is comparing Herbert and McCann, but Herbert may develop into someone who contributes at the big league level.

One thing I do see happening is that the Braves are filling up the low minors with catching prospects. Contreras in Danville is off to a good start with the bat and he's only 19. Owenby and Lugbauer are older, but may have something, especially Lugbauer with the bat. If Cumberland and Jackson develop behind the plate (and Cumberland's contact rate improves), there are two more options. And we can't forget about Gutierrez in the GCL.

Yeah, we don't have any C prospects close, but man we have quite a few with some real potential.
 
I think short term it will be Lucroy (signed in the offseason at a bit of a discount due to off 2017) and Flowers. I think the FO will value the pitching aspect of catching in the near term over offensive production.

If Herbert is the future it will be in 2020 or later. But then, by that time, it could be anyone.
 
I think short term it will be Lucroy (signed in the offseason at a bit of a discount due to off 2017) and Flowers. I think the FO will value the pitching aspect of catching in the near term over offensive production.

If Herbert is the future it will be in 2020 or later. But then, by that time, it could be anyone.

Lol... there is almost zero chance Lucroy will be a Brave.
 
I think this is why getting a guy like Garver from the Twins in a deal centered on Garcia might be a good idea. Garver is 26 and the Twins aren't strong at the C position, so it's a bit of a red flag that he's not in the bigs. But he could serve as a cheap bridge. We have a growing list of possible contributors and a couple of those guys could develop into something special. Herbert's done much better with the bat this season and Contreras, Gutierrez, and Rodriguez all look promising. I still think Jackson and Cumberland are guys who play "bat" and I don't know if their defense would hold up at the big league level. But things look better than they did.

Flowers and Suzuki are fungible, but long term we will need improvement at the position.
 
Have a feeling Herbert is going to need at the very least 3 more years. Contreras might even pass him.
 
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