Astudillo

[Shaitan]

 

A baseball blogger who I respect, and at times even agree with recently posted that Astudillo has no business near any teams 25 man roster next year? I totally disagree. He isn't the greatest thing going, but due to his versatility, the dire lack of MLB capable catchers, and the short bench he certainly can play somewhere for someone. I appreciate defensive chops, but I really don't see any catchers the Twins employ who's glove mandates their starting position.

 

I see a useful Chris Hermann-type bench role for him. Except that Hermann couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag or play any positions usefully.

[Craig Arko]

This kid is rapidly becoming my new favorite Twin.

[stringer bell]

Astudillo has an interesting skill set. Extreme contact, average power, and he seems to be an adequate defensive catcher, taking into accounts all aspects of the position. 

 

I do note that he hasn't hit for this kind of power in the minors until this year. Also, he's always played all over the field. BBRef says that he belonged to the Phillies, Braves and Diamondbacks and they all released him. Certainly, he's someone to keep around this off-season, with a floor of being a third catcher who could bounce between Triple A and the majors and an undetermined ceiling.

[Platoon]

He suffers from that most non metric of all deficiencies. He doesn't look like a baseball player. I also think he's quicker than he looks. So whatever he does has to be better than normal. It's really nice to see a player who has such a high contact rate. As jorgen mentioned he does pull too many pitches too far when catching. This tends to make umpires reticent to call anything he moves. But I do like the way he plays. That was some effort on the bunt. Too bad he wasn't around when Gardy was. Gardy could have had his third catcher in case one catcher suffered a heart attack, and the other came down with lime disease, all in the same game. And he would have still had someone to play in the field with his two man bench.

[Otto von Ballpark]

BBRef says that he belonged to the Phillies, Braves and Diamondbacks and they all released him.

Technically, Astudillo has never been released -- just not added to a 40-man roster until this year, so he's been able to elect minor league free agency the past few offseasons. Like Dereck Rodriguez last offseason.

 

Still, the effect is largely the same -- 3 orgs passed on adding him to the 40-man before he came here. Although there were some mitigating circumstances to those decisions -- when the Phillies faced that choice, he was still in A-ball; the Braves, after he had his worst season as a pro, at AA; the Diamondbacks, after he missed most of a season to injury.

[mngopherguy]

 

I have (I think understandably) tuned out the Twins.  Anyone have a quick and dirty take on his defense so far?

 

A lot better than I expected.  I'll have a plate of Crow so far on that.  

[mngopherguy]

 

So he just made one of the most athletic plays I have seen from a twins catcher in quite some time. It’s inexplicable to me how he isn’t getting 75% of the remaining innings

 

I like watching him play and I'm happy for the guy, but this still seems like LaMarre.  Even with everyone going well for him, he's been on the wrong side of a .300 OBP.  I don't think it's sustainable, but it's fun to watch and I hope he proves me wrong.  

[Otto von Ballpark]

I like watching him play and I'm happy for the guy, but this still seems like LaMarre. Even with everyone going well for him, he's been on the wrong side of a .300 OBP. I don't think it's sustainable, but it's fun to watch and I hope he proves me wrong.

Are you looking at the wrong stat line? Astudillo has only been below .300 OBP once in his pro career, dating back to 2009. And it was clearly his worse season too. (2016, AA for the Braves)

 

Even when LaMarre was hot, he was striking out every other at-bat. That is what it made it unsustainable.

 

As long as he keeps making contact, Astudillo's bat should be useful. (And if the power somehow sticks around, he should be more than useful!)

[jorgenswest]

How much confidence should he Twins have in Astudillo? Do they address catcher in the off-season finding a veteran for the 25 man roster?

[Doctor Wu]

 

I just enjoy watching Astudillo play.  Miss seeing the hustle from others.

I enjoy watching him play too, perhaps one of the few players on this current team I can say that about. Stats aside, he's a fun player to watch and to root for. Oddball players like him are why I love the game so much. And if he DOES keep putting up good numbers, the Twins would be foolish to think he's a just a "small sample" flash in the pan and not worth keeping. Keep him!

[TheLeviathan]

 

I am hopeful. These observations come from watching TV and therefore probably aren’t worthy of writing down.

I love his energy and he seems athletic. The tag out play was awesome.

He seems to have a good arm and can block pitches.

His glove could be more quiet receiving the ball on the edges. He can try to jerk the ball into the zone.

There seems to be a communication problem at times. Some at bats are lengthy and he gets shaken off. Is that because he isn’t executing the game plan? Take a look at the last at bat. Hildenberger got ahead and then they couldn’t connect on how to proceed. At 2-2 Perez asked for time twice as Hildenberger and Astudillo couldn’t get on the same page. Pitchers have to have confidence in his pitch calling. He has to know the plan though I am not sure the Twins have any clue on how to pitch to Perez.

From my view on the couch it seems like he has enough skill to be at least a mediocre defensive catcher.

 

That's really awesome to hear.  Given the dearth of viable two-way catchers around the league, his bat doesn't have to be amazing as long as his defense holds up to your observations.  And I'd say, at this point, his bat would play very well for this level of defense.

 

Let's hope this is a player.  Going into the offseason with Garver/Astudillo/Castro is something I'm comfortable with at this point.

[Otto von Ballpark]

How much confidence should he Twins have in Astudillo? Do they address catcher in the off-season finding a veteran for the 25 man roster?

Isn't that Castro? Unless you want to trade Garver, I don't know if there is realistically room to add another catcher this offseason.

[yarnivek1972]

How much confidence should he Twins have in Astudillo? Do they address catcher in the off-season finding a veteran for the 25 man roster?

Yeah. Jason Castro.

[dbminn]

Gleeman just published a nice - and free - article on Astudillo at BP. If Willians can get in a little better shape and be just a tad more patient, he could be a really good major leaguer. Watching last night, it seems like he's already making good on the patience thing. 

[Eris]

I don't see this mentioned here.  I was listening to the game last night on MLB At Bat.  Astudillo's streak of at bats without a swinging strike ended last night at 33 plate appearances.

[Battle ur tail off]

It's a no brainer for me to keep this guy around for next season. He plays harder than anyone on the team. Let's also be honest here, neither of the other 2 guys are any better than average or below average and one or both of them is hurt.

 

Great in the clubhouse, plays his heart out, guys love him. I'd give him a spot. 

[stringer bell]

Astudillo with three more hits last night. Good for him. To play the contrarian a bit, I do want to examine his previous call-up and the angst about Bobby Wilson supplanting better options for backup catcher. 

 

Astudillo hadn't been catching in AAA when he was called up. I don't know the exact situation, but the usual for minor league teams is short benches. Since Willians was the one catcher with versatility, perhaps he was forced to play other positions because of no other options, plus I am guessing the AAA manager wanted to see what they had in the signees to the Twins organization, knowing what they have in Willians.

 

The Twins called Astudillo up as a third catcher, with position players nicked everywhere except catcher. Astudillo played other positions, including center field, because no one else was available. Third catchers don't catch much and second catchers don't play all over the field. That is true for every manager I've seen operate in the modern era (one with 12 and 13 man pitching staffs). 

 

Why play Bobby Wilson? Well, guys like him are comfortable for pitchers to pitch to (there are a bunch of them around the league and the best example is Drew Butera). The Twins at least pretended they cared about winning in Astudillo's first stint on the major league team and they didn't want to supplant a well-respected defender and put games in the hands of a guy with zero big-league experience who had been let go by three franchises.  There's an argument to be made, although I don't buy all of it.

 

In his second stint with the Twins, Willians has exclusively caught (IIRC) with perhaps a DH assignment or two. My non-professional eyes are convinced his receiving skills pass muster and his hitting is intriguing. I would hope that he learns to stay in the zone with his swings and draws an occasional walk, but the contact rate is special and shouldn't be ignored and he can reach the seats. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

Astudillo with three more hits last night. Good for him. To play the contrarian a bit, I do want to examine his previous call-up and the angst about Bobby Wilson supplanting better options for backup catcher.

 

Astudillo hadn't been catching in AAA when he was called up.

My criticism is that Wilson was called up on May 5th. Astudillo stopped catching on June 2nd. He didn't get called up to MLB until the end of June when our season had pretty much already spiraled out of control. I would have liked to see if Astudillo could have provided a spark no later than the beginning of June.

[jorgenswest]

I think the starting catcher job needs to be Astudillo’s to lose next year. Let Castro and Garver come in and try to beat him out but if they don’t really stand out, I am going with Astudillo.

 

I know I can’t see how well he preps the game plan or communicates with pitchers but he sure seems like the leader I would want at catcher. He seems to provide some of the fire and energy Escobar brought.

 

I can’t imagine the how the AAA staff would remove him from catcher in order to give it to an older journeyman like a Rupp. They could just have easily signed a journeyman infielder if there was a need at 3B and kept him at catcher. That lost 4 weeks at catcher prior to his call up is inexcusable. Several teams missed on this guy. The Twins almost missed on him. I could be really wrong. September call ups can be tell a misleading story at the plate. I don’t think playing behind the plate is that different in September though. I think he is a starting catcher.

[DocBauer]

The last month I haven't watched as many games as normal. But I like what I've seen behind the plate. One Twins announcer, i forget who now but want to say Thome, indicated he looked "quiet" behind the plate, which is, of course, a good thing. I agree he could be a little smoother with his hands pulling balls back in to the zone.

 

Arguements can be rightly made about his lack of walks. But his eye appears pretty good and the contact is refreshing. You don't hit .300 for your milb career, and do what he's done so far with the Twins, unless you actually have some "hit" ability.

 

Even average defense at a couple of additional spots only adds to his value for a bench.

 

Not on a hype train, but he has to be kept around. There is just too much to like here.

[Linus]

I think he is better behind the plate than Castro or Garver. He is energetic and athletic. Seems to throw well enough. I agree the Twins should make it his job to lose. Make some of these guys play

[Riverbrian]

 

I think the starting catcher job needs to be Astudillo’s to lose next year. Let Castro and Garver come in and try to beat him out but if they don’t really stand out, I am going with Astudillo.

I know I can’t see how well he preps the game plan or communicates with pitchers but he sure seems like the leader I would want at catcher. He seems to provide some of the fire and energy Escobar brought.

I can’t imagine the how the AAA staff would remove him from catcher in order to give it to an older journeyman like a Rupp. They could just have easily signed a journeyman infielder if there was a need at 3B and kept him at catcher. That lost 4 weeks at catcher prior to his call up is inexcusable. Several teams missed on this guy. The Twins almost missed on him. I could be really wrong. September call ups can be tell a misleading story at the plate. I don’t think playing behind the plate is that different in September though. I think he is a starting catcher.

 

I agree with this post 99%. The only thing slight disagreement is the naming him #1 and that's only because I'm against naming anyone #1. I just want him to get a fair chance at #1 but I agree that Castro and Garver need to beat him for the job while adding that he also needs to beat Castro and Garver for the job. I'm also not opposed to upgrading at the position... I'm not opposed to upgrading at every single position regardless of who is coming back. However... Astudillo has those options so there is no reason not to put him on the 40 man roster.  

 

I really can't get my arms around how they handled him this year. 

 

 

[Riverbrian]

 

Astudillo with three more hits last night. Good for him. To play the contrarian a bit, I do want to examine his previous call-up and the angst about Bobby Wilson supplanting better options for backup catcher. 

 

Astudillo hadn't been catching in AAA when he was called up. I don't know the exact situation, but the usual for minor league teams is short benches. Since Willians was the one catcher with versatility, perhaps he was forced to play other positions because of no other options, plus I am guessing the AAA manager wanted to see what they had in the signees to the Twins organization, knowing what they have in Willians.

 

The Twins called Astudillo up as a third catcher, with position players nicked everywhere except catcher. Astudillo played other positions, including center field, because no one else was available. Third catchers don't catch much and second catchers don't play all over the field. That is true for every manager I've seen operate in the modern era (one with 12 and 13 man pitching staffs). 

 

Why play Bobby Wilson? Well, guys like him are comfortable for pitchers to pitch to (there are a bunch of them around the league and the best example is Drew Butera). The Twins at least pretended they cared about winning in Astudillo's first stint on the major league team and they didn't want to supplant a well-respected defender and put games in the hands of a guy with zero big-league experience who had been let go by three franchises.  There's an argument to be made, although I don't buy all of it.

 

In his second stint with the Twins, Willians has exclusively caught (IIRC) with perhaps a DH assignment or two. My non-professional eyes are convinced his receiving skills pass muster and his hitting is intriguing. I would hope that he learns to stay in the zone with his swings and draws an occasional walk, but the contact rate is special and shouldn't be ignored and he can reach the seats. 

 

I get the pitchers being comfortable throwing to Wilson bit, if that is indeed what happened. However, on a team starving for offense like we were, you can't let the pitchers dictate the roster decisions. 

 

Catchers typically don't hit but there is still a comparable standard at the position that Wilson was miles away from.

 

If the pitchers were dictating this, I'll add the pitchers to my list of people responsible for all the things that went wrong with the season.   

 

[Riverbrian]

Looking at all MLB Catchers with at least 85 AB's. (Yeah I specifically chose 85 AB's because that is how many AB's Astudillo has)

 

Astudillo leads in OPS .888

 

Only Ramos, Realmuto, Grandal and Cervilli have an OPS over .800