Why Gabriel Gonzalez is the Hitting Prospect the Twins Have Been Waiting For

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Gabriel Gonzalez)

Prospect development is rarely linear. Twins fans have seen this firsthand in recent years as several of the organization’s top hitting prospects have struggled to convert promising minor league production into consistent performance at the major league level. From strikeout concerns to developmental stalling, it's been a rocky road for many young bats. But in 2025, Gabriel Gonzalez is doing everything he can to change that narrative. He might just be the hitting prospect the Twins have been waiting for

The Twins' trade of Jorge Polanco back in January will be remembered for different reasons. Some fans saw it as a tough goodbye, a salary dump of a longtime clubhouse leader. Others viewed it as a way to spread Polanco’s value across four different players, offering both short-term depth and long-term upside. Veterans Anthony DeSclafani and Justin Topa were expected to contribute in 2024, though injuries derailed those plans. The real intrigue, however, always surrounded the younger pieces: right-hander Darren Bowen and, most notably, outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, then a 20-year-old Top 100 prospect, entered the Twins system with significant expectations. His 2024 campaign in High-A Cedar Rapids was solid on the surface, though not overwhelming. He posted below-average numbers overall, but there were signs of promise underneath. His contact skills were clear as he posted a strong 14.5% strikeout rate over 81 games and was more than two years younger than the average Midwest League player. Adding to the challenge, Gonzalez dealt with a back injury that limited his time on the field. There was also the adjustment period that comes with changing organizations mid-development.

Twins farm director Drew MacPhail recently addressed that very challenge in discussing both Gonzalez and fellow trade acquisition Jose Salas (from the Pablo López deal).

“You can imagine if you are a teenager or 20 years old and all of a sudden you get a phone call that you have been traded to another organization,” said MacPhail. “I think it can be really jarring. I like to think we do a really nice job of getting those guys acclimated and making them feel comfortable, but I think it does take some time.”

“When you keep that in mind, these guys have been pushed aggressively,” MacPhail continued. “It’s sort of normal for them to take their lumps and struggle a little bit. They are still really young for their level and once they get acclimated, they go back and know what to expect. They start to take off when they get that comfort level back.”

That comfort level has indeed shown up in 2025. The Twins sent Gonzalez back to Cedar Rapids to open the season, and it didn’t take long for him to dominate. Despite still being over a year younger than the average player in the league, Gonzalez slashed .319/.378/.529 (.907 OPS) with five home runs, 12 doubles, and a 150 wRC+ in just 34 games. The performance earned him a late-May promotion to Double-A Wichita, where he’s been even better by posting a .938 OPS and 163 wRC+ over 55 games.

From the time of his Double-A debut through the end of July, Gonzalez was among the most productive hitters in all of minor league baseball. His .344 average in that span ranked second in the minors (min. 200 AB), and his .938 OPS was good for eighth. He led all Twins minor leaguers in batting average (.334), hits (117), and doubles (31) through the first four months of the season. Even more impressively, he posted a system-best 12.9% strikeout rate across High-A and Double-A. This is remarkable for a player with his power and age.

The Twins rewarded Gonzalez with a promotion to Triple-A St. Paul on August 1st, capping a meteoric rise in his age-21 season. Now, he’s knocking on the door of the big leagues. And with the team’s trade deadline fire sale opening the door for opportunities across the roster, Gonzalez could very well debut in Minnesota before season’s end.

He’s not the loudest name in the Twins’ prospect ranks, but his development this season should have him rising on prospect lists. Quietly and consistently, Gonzalez has made himself impossible to ignore.

What stands out about Gonzalez’s season so far? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[dxpavelka]

Play the kids

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Let's promote him to the Twins and see what he can do. 

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

Said it at the time and I'll say it again, that was a great trade. An expiring contract and Polanco hit .213/.296/.355 in that final year under contract. To get a top 100 prospect for 1 (awful) year of Polanco was highway robbery. 

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Let's promote him to the Twins and see what he can do. 

Let’s put the 4th grader in 6th grade and see how they do…….. it’s not fantasy baseball. He was a year younger in High A - even younger, on average at AA & not too many 21 year olds in AAA - let’s get him, I don’t know, 60 AB’s at least? I assume he’s a Spring Training invite for sure and could be up by June of ‘26 for the initial “look see”.

The write up is about acclimating and adjustments - gonna take a bit, IMO.

[JD-TWINS]

43 minutes ago, CCHOF5yearstoolate said:

Said it at the time and I'll say it again, that was a great trade. An expiring contract and Polanco hit .213/.296/.355 in that final year under contract. To get a top 100 prospect for 1 (awful) year of Polanco was highway robbery. 

DeSclafani wasn’t assumed to be a bust, happened - Topa, when available has been a real piece in the PEN - if Gonzalez pans out it’s an All-Time TWINS trade.

[FlyingFinn]

Now, I see what the Twins saw in trading for Gonzalez. I have claimed he was a bust. 

He has to go on the 40 man roster so I guess he could be called up in September. I'm betting not though. Sure would like to hear, "and his defense continues to improve." If his defense is at least equal to Larnach and his bat is better than his, we have something here.

I can see a new regime going with Culpepper at SS, Jenkins in the OF and Gonzalez at DH/OF to start 2026 (Rodriguez in the mix if he ever gets healthy. The Falvey regime, not so much.

[Dman]

I think getting his walk rate to 10% in AA has been the difference maker for him.  He has great contact skills, but hitting more balls in the zone I feel pushes his numbers up because you generally do more damage with those pitches.

It has been hard for this organization to find good right handed bats to counter the lefty arms they face.  So Gonzalez could be very helpful in that regard.  Hoping for a good debut in AAA with maybe a MLB debut in September, That would be quite the year for the young man.,

[tony&rodney]

The improvements from Gonzalez have been substantial pretty much across the board. Based solely on my viewing (via milb.com), there isn't a player in the Twins organization that has improved so markedly. Last year Gonzalez stood out for his complete incompetence in the outfield more than anything else. If that seems harsh one needed to watch him play a couple dozen games. I'm not caring why he was so atrocious then but rather very encouraged by his gains in tracking fly balls and approaching base hits during 2025. Gonzalez has a chance, with some more improvement, to play in the field for the Twins. I'm not talking about just putting him in the game, as we have so often seen the Twins do with pure DH guys, but referring to a player who can make the routine plays on a regular basis. This has been an exciting transformation to watch and I'm very hopeful the next steps are taken.

Gabriel has solid bat to ball skills and his biggest improvements at the plate have been his increased ability to look for pitches he can crush. He had great leadership in front of him in Kaelen Culpeper and Walker Jenkins at Wichita. MLB pitchers will test the limits of young players chasing and the hope is that Gonzalez cleans up that part of his game. 

I have no idea what was the cause of the problems that were evident in the outfield prior to this year but I'm hoping the young man can practice with 250 fly balls a day for a couple of months this winter in addition to his usual hitting routines. The Twins could have a solid corner outfielder in Gabriel Gonzalez.

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

16 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

DeSclafani wasn’t assumed to be a bust, happened - Topa, when available has been a real piece in the PEN - if Gonzalez pans out it’s an All-Time TWINS trade.

If eating DeSclafani's contract was the cost for getting Gonzalez, you do that 100/100 times. Money is fungible - someone should tell the Pohlads. 

[NYCTK]

25 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Sure would like to hear, "and his defense continues to improve."

I'm a bit worried about this as well. Would love to close the book on pure defensive incompetence. 

26 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I can see a new regime going with Culpepper at SS, Jenkins in the OF and Gonzalez at DH/OF to start 2026

Not impossible but I think people need to show a bit more patience. The odds of all three demonstrating they're ready by the beginning of the year are low. We should be hoping they've all forced themselves into the bigs by midseason. Some cheap vets should be brought in with the intention of getting passed up. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, CCHOF5yearstoolate said:

Said it at the time and I'll say it again, that was a great trade. An expiring contract and Polanco hit .213/.296/.355 in that final year under contract. To get a top 100 prospect for 1 (awful) year of Polanco was highway robbery. 

Maybe we can retire conversations from the past. The ifs and what ifs and thens are not relevant to a discussion of whether Gabriel Gonzalez can be a guy the Twins turn to in a corner outfield position as soon as next year.

[P Meyer]

1 hour ago, FlyingFinn said:

Now, I see what the Twins saw in trading for Gonzalez. I have claimed he was a bust. 

He has to go on the 40 man roster so I guess he could be called up in September. I'm betting not though. Sure would like to hear, "and his defense continues to improve." If his defense is at least equal to Larnach and his bat is better than his, we have something here.

I can see a new regime going with Culpepper at SS, Jenkins in the OF and Gonzalez at DH/OF to start 2026 (Rodriguez in the mix if he ever gets healthy. The Falvey regime, not so much.

I think the better/likelier plan is to have all three start 2026 in AAA and see how they handle that. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

The improvements from Gonzalez have been substantial pretty much across the board. Based solely on my viewing (via milb.com), there isn't a player in the Twins organization that has improved so markedly. Last year Gonzalez stood out for his complete incompetence in the outfield more than anything else.

Can we give some credit to the minor league development staff?

[Nashvilletwin]

Another option to develop for a decent run in ‘28.  There are starting to be quite a lot of them across the board; infield, outfield, catcher, starters, relievers (converted starters).

’26 will be a developmental year and we should expect it to include offseason trades of both Ryan and Lopez to reduce payroll and build for ‘28 (both should return a haul of almost ready top prospects from teams looking to win pre lockout).

’27 will most certainly see an extended lockout.  No expectations for that season.

’26 (and the rest of ‘25 for that matter) will be enjoyable to watch, despite the growing pains, as the prospects develop.

But ‘28 will be when the fun really starts. 

[Jeff K]

11 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Another option to develop for a decent run in ‘28.  There are starting to be quite a lot of them across the board; infield, outfield, catcher, starters, relievers (converted starters).

’26 will be a developmental year and we should expect it to include offseason trades of both Ryan and Lopez to reduce payroll and build for ‘28 (both should return a haul of almost ready top prospects from teams looking to win pre lockout).

’27 will most certainly see an extended lockout.  No expectations for that season.

’26 (and the rest of ‘25 for that matter) will be enjoyable to watch, despite the growing pains, as the prospects develop.

But ‘28 will be when the fun really starts. 

I'm between a thumbs and and thumbs down.  I agree about 26 as a development year and 27 as a likely washout season.  That said, I hope the Twins don't trade our best starters.

[Nshore]

Bring him up!  Embrace the Twins development team!  

Unless they really catch lightening in a bottle, small market teams are in the business of selling hope - as another article said.  The enjoyment of the game will come in watching players like Gonzalez develop before they become too expensive.  

Cleveland hasn't been to a World Series in over 70 years, and they just got done trying to trade off one of their best players, Steve Kwan.  The Twins haven't been there in over 30 years, and they just ditched a bunch of good players with plenty of team control.  

Watching Jenkins, Gonzalez, and Keaschall will be enjoyable, and they'll keep a face of the franchise like Buxton for marketing purposes.

[jmlease1]

I'm betting that the biggest difference-maker for GG is simply good health this season. No injuries, fully healed at 21 and he's shown excellent development.

For the people already wanting him in MLB: he hasn't exactly crushed it out the gate in Saint Paul. .558 OPS in a hitter's ballpark and hitter's league isn't someone that should be thrown into the fire in MLB at 21. Let's give him the proper development time, let him adjust to the new level (hopefully when he settles down he'll start showing the patience he had earlier in the season, along with a little more pop in his bat; right now his BA is higher than his OBP, so he's got some work to do).

I'm a fan, but it would be malpractice to call him up right now. Let him finish the season in AAA, continue to work on his defense in the outfield, show he can be the guy who earned his promotions at the plate, and put himself in contention to be in the running with a strong spring next season. Twins need his right-handed bat for sure, but letting him get his butt kicked in MLB (and he will right now) when he's scrabbled a bit in his first few games in AAA and still has things to work on isn't going to help him out.

[GNess]

Gonzales is an interesting prospect. He is showing signs of being potentially a big-time force at the plate. Sure seems like the Twins lineup has plenty of room for such a hitter.

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Can we give some credit to the minor league development staff?

Sure.

The coaching is pretty similar across baseball. Some times the atmosphere is perceived as better, which may be true. The separation is in how players use suggestions or choose to work on skills.

[NYCTK]

51 minutes ago, Nshore said:

Cleveland hasn't been to a World Series in over 70 years, and they just got done trying to trade off one of their best players, Steve Kwan.  

 

Presumably you mean win, because they've been to 3 since the Twins have last been in the World Series. Losing two in Game 7, ouch. 

[chpettit19]

58 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I'm betting that the biggest difference-maker for GG is simply good health this season. No injuries, fully healed at 21 and he's shown excellent development.

For the people already wanting him in MLB: he hasn't exactly crushed it out the gate in Saint Paul. .558 OPS in a hitter's ballpark and hitter's league isn't someone that should be thrown into the fire in MLB at 21. Let's give him the proper development time, let him adjust to the new level (hopefully when he settles down he'll start showing the patience he had earlier in the season, along with a little more pop in his bat; right now his BA is higher than his OBP, so he's got some work to do).

I'm a fan, but it would be malpractice to call him up right now. Let him finish the season in AAA, continue to work on his defense in the outfield, show he can be the guy who earned his promotions at the plate, and put himself in contention to be in the running with a strong spring next season. Twins need his right-handed bat for sure, but letting him get his butt kicked in MLB (and he will right now) when he's scrabbled a bit in his first few games in AAA and still has things to work on isn't going to help him out.

That's a 5 game sample. I don't think it's the end of the world that he isn't called up, and don't expect him to be called up at all this year, but if he had a 2.000 OPS after 5 games would you be calling for him to be called up because he solved AAA? I don't think pointing to a .558 OPS after 5 games is proof that he'd be overwhelmed by major league pitching. Luke Keaschall never tore AAA apart either. .727 OPS when he first got called up. .693 OPS during his rehab. Career .710 OPS in that hitter's league and I don't see anyone suggesting he should be sent back down.

Malpractice is an incredibly strong word to use because of a 5 game sample size. Did you watch those 5 games? Or are you basing the idea that he'd get his butt kicked in MLB off of his 5 game OPS of .558? If he homers today and his OPS skyrockets beyond anything Keachall ever did should we call him up? 

Again, I'm not saying it's the end of the world that he isn't in the majors, and I don't expect him to see the majors this year. But the certainty with which you're saying he'd "get his butt kicked in MLB" and calling it malpractice to call him up right now based on a 5 game OPS is pretty wild. There's plenty of 21-year-olds who've skipped AAA altogether and succeeded in MLB. Many even had worse AA numbers than Gonzalez.

[jmlease1]

1 minute ago, chpettit19 said:

That's a 5 game sample. I don't think it's the end of the world that he isn't called up, and don't expect him to be called up at all this year, but if he had a 2.000 OPS after 5 games would you be calling for him to be called up because he solved AAA? I don't think pointing to a .558 OPS after 5 games is proof that he'd be overwhelmed by major league pitching. Luke Keaschall never tore AAA apart either. .727 OPS when he first got called up. .693 OPS during his rehab. Career .710 OPS in that hitter's league and I don't see anyone suggesting he should be sent back down.

Malpractice is an incredibly strong word to use because of a 5 game sample size. Did you watch those 5 games? Or are you basing the idea that he'd get his butt kicked in MLB off of his 5 game OPS of .558? If he homers today and his OPS skyrockets beyond anything Keachall ever did should we call him up? 

Again, I'm not saying it's the end of the world that he isn't in the majors, and I don't expect him to see the majors this year. But the certainty with which you're saying he'd "get his butt kicked in MLB" and calling it malpractice to call him up right now based on a 5 game OPS is pretty wild. There's plenty of 21-year-olds who've skipped AAA altogether and succeeded in MLB. Many even had worse AA numbers than Gonzalez.

I would not be saying call him up if he had crushed those first 5 games either; I think you've read and commented on enough of my posts to a) know better, and 2) not put words in my mouth. GG started this season in A-ball after having an unimpressive season where he battled injuries. He's already on his 3rd level this season, having earned 2 very deserving promotions. What's the benefit to throwing him in the fire one more level up at 21? Appeasing the fanbase? They can do that by selling the team.

Keaschall is a reasonable comp, but notably did NOT jump from A-ball to MLB in the same season. And even without the surgery, it seems unlikely that he would have skipped past AAA entirely in 2024. We'll never know if the Twins would have tried to call him up during the collapse last season if he'd been healthy, but at least going for the playoffs might have made it justifiable. Why do it now? The argument for calling up GG right now mostly seems to be "screw Roden, Gasper, Larnach, Outman, etc I wanna move on to 2026 now!" rather than what might actually be best for his development.

[chpettit19]

1 minute ago, jmlease1 said:

I would not be saying call him up if he had crushed those first 5 games either; I think you've read and commented on enough of my posts to a) know better, and 2) not put words in my mouth. GG started this season in A-ball after having an unimpressive season where he battled injuries. He's already on his 3rd level this season, having earned 2 very deserving promotions. What's the benefit to throwing him in the fire one more level up at 21? Appeasing the fanbase? They can do that by selling the team.

Keaschall is a reasonable comp, but notably did NOT jump from A-ball to MLB in the same season. And even without the surgery, it seems unlikely that he would have skipped past AAA entirely in 2024. We'll never know if the Twins would have tried to call him up during the collapse last season if he'd been healthy, but at least going for the playoffs might have made it justifiable. Why do it now? The argument for calling up GG right now mostly seems to be "screw Roden, Gasper, Larnach, Outman, etc I wanna move on to 2026 now!" rather than what might actually be best for his development.

The point of the 2.000 OPS question was to point out the lack of usefulness of the .558 OPS number. You used it as an argument to show he wasn't ready and would "get his butt kicked in MLB." I wasn't putting words in your mouth, I was countering your argument with an OPS on the other side of the spectrum to show that his current OPS should have no bearing on anything as it's proof of nothing.

The benefit is that if that's the level he's ready for that's the level he should be at. What's the argument for keeping him in AAA? He started in A+ ball so he shouldn't go further than AAA? Who cares where he started? What does that have to do with his current abilities? I'm legitimately asking. My argument for calling GG up absolutely isn't "screw Roden, Gasper, Larnach, Outman, etc I wanna move on to 2026 now!" It is that an argument can be made that calling him up to get him MLB experience in a lost season IS what's best for his development. I wouldn't call him up now necessarily, my argument has been to call him up in September. 

My argument is against the idea that his current AAA OPS means anything at all. My argument is against the idea that him starting the season in A+ should have any bearing on his callup at all. My argument is against the idea that his age should matter at all. None of that should matter. What is best for his long-term development? A very reasonable argument can be made that getting him MLB experience this season to allow him to have an offseason to make adjustments to what he learns and come back as best prepared to challenge for an opening day spot next year is what's best for his development. This default that everybody needs to go level by level and hit some magic number of ABs or OPS or whatever is nonsense. Plenty of other teams completely ignore that. The Twins seem to have convinced people that that's the only way it can be done, though.

[P Meyer]

2 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Another option to develop for a decent run in ‘28.  There are starting to be quite a lot of them across the board; infield, outfield, catcher, starters, relievers (converted starters).

’26 will be a developmental year and we should expect it to include offseason trades of both Ryan and Lopez to reduce payroll and build for ‘28 (both should return a haul of almost ready top prospects from teams looking to win pre lockout).

’27 will most certainly see an extended lockout.  No expectations for that season.

’26 (and the rest of ‘25 for that matter) will be enjoyable to watch, despite the growing pains, as the prospects develop.

But ‘28 will be when the fun really starts. 

Without taking into account the Twins ownership situation, there is an argument where the Twins hold onto both Ryan and Lopez with the intention of signing them to extensions if these young/inexpensive players show they can produce at the MLB level. Payroll is pretty much broken down to Lopez, Buxton, ARB players and pre-ARB players. The ARB players that matter are Ryan, Ober, Jeffers, Lewis and Larnach. You could easily move Ober and Larnach for cost savings in 2026 or 2027. Depending on your view of Jeffers long term, you can essentially head into 2028 with Lopez, Ryan, Lewis, and Buxton along with a bunch or ARB or PreARB guys who are still cheap.  

 

Unless the goal is to get the budget under 100 mil, you can probably swing the 25-30 per year for both Ryan and Lopez extensions (just a high estimate). Buxton will stay at 15 which is fine. Lewis would be the only other real potential to make a big salary jump in the near future.

[Dman]

25 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

A very reasonable argument can be made that getting him MLB experience this season to allow him to have an offseason to make adjustments to what he learns and come back as best prepared to challenge for an opening day spot next year is what's best for his development. This default that everybody needs to go level by level and hit some magic number of ABs or OPS or whatever is nonsense. Plenty of other teams completely ignore that. The Twins seem to have convinced people that that's the only way it can be done, though.

This is what I was I thinking as well.  I don't think August is the time to call him up, but why not September when rosters expand.  He has to be added to the 40 man this year anyway.  Just add him early and get his debut jitters out of the way.  Let him see what MLB pitching is really like and then go from there.  I think that makes a fair bit of sense if you want him to hit the ground running in 2026.

I'm fine if they don't do it as well and they might not if they are more concerned about service time than getting him MLB experience.  It will be up to the front office and how they view 2026 IMO.  If they don't see the team competing in 2026 because they plan on more trades or a larger tear down then maybe it doesn't matter if they give him time at the end 2025 or not.  He'll have most of 2026 to try to break in anyway if they plan a larger tear down.

[Nashvilletwin]

7 minutes ago, P Meyer said:

Without taking into account the Twins ownership situation, there is an argument where the Twins hold onto both Ryan and Lopez with the intention of signing them to extensions if these young/inexpensive players show they can produce at the MLB level. Payroll is pretty much broken down to Lopez, Buxton, ARB players and pre-ARB players. The ARB players that matter are Ryan, Ober, Jeffers, Lewis and Larnach. You could easily move Ober and Larnach for cost savings in 2026 or 2027. Depending on your view of Jeffers long term, you can essentially head into 2028 with Lopez, Ryan, Lewis, and Buxton along with a bunch or ARB or PreARB guys who are still cheap.  

 

Unless the goal is to get the budget under 100 mil, you can probably swing the 25-30 per year for both Ryan and Lopez extensions (just a high estimate). Buxton will stay at 15 which is fine. Lewis would be the only other real potential to make a big salary jump in the near future.

Let’s see how the sale works out.  I’m in the “I”ll believe it when I see it camp” and wouldn’t be surprised to see the Pohlads hold on through the next CBA.

If that’s the case, the $1000MM payroll metric goes to $60-75MM.  Thus, Ryan and Lopez are gone this offseason and Jeffers is gone when at least one of the two catching prospects is ready.  Ober, Larnach, meh.  Ideally Lewis is someone we could grow around.

[twinstalker]

6 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Let's promote him to the Twins and see what he can do. 

How about let's watch him at AAA and see what he can do?

So far .286/.273/.286 no xbh, no walks, 6 Ks in 22 PAs (27%).  Too small a sample size, but it's definitely not MLB material (yet).

[jorgenswest]

5 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

DeSclafani wasn’t assumed to be a bust, happened - Topa, when available has been a real piece in the PEN - if Gonzalez pans out it’s an All-Time TWINS trade.

Hopeful on Gonzalez.

Can’t agree about Topa. He has allowed the highest percent of inherited runners to score. His WPA as a Twin is -1.3. He has pitched best in low leverage. They needed a piece that could put out a fire and handle higher leverage. So far he hasn’t been that piece. I think they should look elsewhere next year. That low leverage mid game role should go to a younger pitcher they are developing.

[MikeNC]

Finally someone brings up the ARB.  I like your plans.  Much criticism regarding Jax and Varland loss of team control, but Jax is eligible for ARB and Varland in 2027 (assuming he's not a Super 2).  ARB salaries cost a lot more than the MLB $760k minimum that all those Prospects will come in at.  Jax at $2.365M this year will be higher in 2026.  How high?  Guerrero got $28.5M, Soto $31M.  No they won't get that, but Millions, yes.  Twins are betting their pitching coach continues his magic at making castoffs and retreads effective.   As for hitters, It suddenly looks like Jeffers, Larnach, and Wallner are currently playing like they have a 50 game audition, I think they do.  Maybe Ober too.  (But wouldn't it be nice to have 1 primary catcher who combines Jeffers hitting and Vasquez' arm?).