Why Isn't Mitch Garver Playing More?

It's probably worth noting that we have a very deep system. Plenty of SPs that won't be going anywhere any time soon. I kind of wonder if makes sense to find a decent upside AAA catcher. Castro will be around next year, and they will need a second catcher anyways. Rortvedt won't be ready any time soon. Sounds like the kind of scenario where we could send a way a couple of decent prospects for a decent catcher and everyone could win.

Just took a look at AAA...

It is hard to find a someone playing better than Astudillo that a team would be willing to trade.

In the IL only one player younger than Astudillo his hitting and I would guess it would take a lot to pry Danny Jansen away from the Blue Jays. The other young catchers are Francisco Mejia and Reese McGuire. We might go after McGuire but he has never hit in the minors.

In the PCL the younger catchers have been called up in Carson Kelly and Jacob Nottingham. Nottingham is back in AAA. He didn’t hit well outside of PCL. When the Cards brought up Kelly, they also moved Andrew Knizner up a level. He is a good prospect.

The Cardinals have Molina through 2020 and a few good 23 year olds. They are the only team I can see to target once Molina is healthy. Gordon might be a fit here.

The Blue Jays have Jansen and McGuire but they also have a major league need at catcher. I can’t see them very interested in moving either and certainly not Jansen.

Maybe there is some hope in Astudillo.

Except, of course, that their opening day lineup (sans suspension) was basically homegrown.

 

Mauer

Dozier

Polanco

Sano

Kepler 

Buxton

Rosario

 

That's every defensive position except the one who Garver backs up.

Sure.  But including Mauer and Dozier in the list is a bit misleading since they are now both over 30 and Mauer probably in his last year of his career.

Second, when you consider how poorly this team has performed over the past 7 seasons that is the prosepcts this team has delivered to the big league team?

If you look at the pitching staff it is the same story.  Berrios, Gibson, Hildenberger, and Taylor Rogers.  And of those 4 only Berrios is under the age of 25.  Think about that.  We have suffered through 95-100+ loss seasons and the only real pitching prospect that has been delivered is Berrios.

Oh, sure there is Fernando Romero.  He is under 25 but lets face it.  If the front office had its way he would still be in Rochester.   There probably just wasn't a retread on waivers they could find.   Sure, I get that eventually his hot start might balance out when he goes thorugh the league a second time but he has demonstrated he has MLB stuff RIGHT NOW. 

Gonsalves and Wade are two players that should be up right now.  Move Lynn to the BP until he gets his stuff working again and send LaMarre back to the minors were he belongs.  

It's kind of strange. I wonder where these issues are coming from. 

 

I remember reading experts saying that his defense was good. 

 

Are the issues fixable? Will he never be a decent defensive catcher?

 

It is really hard to sort out the experts. There is so much scouting and prospect reporting by the stat line. Reports are repeated by other sources giving them additional weight. The only way to reliably assess a catcher’s defense is to watch them in person several times. How many experts saw him catch several games?

I think he has worked very hard and improved considerably from the time he was drafted. We have read about his hard work and improvement. Those phrases are also a cautionary flag about a player. I don’t recall reading about Buxton improving defensively or working hard on his defense.

I think we're also forgetting that Garver has never been an everyday catcher in the minors. He's shared time with Turner and gotten reps at 1B/OF/DH. Last year he caught 67 games which, given his late season promotion, was around half the games.

 

But isn’t this the issue in a nutshell? I know they were planning on Castro being the guy at C all year and not having Garver as an everyday guy but they are essentially experimenting with a guy playing and learning catcher on the job at the major league level. That’s unacceptable.

Garver is still extremely inexperienced behind the plate. He has fewer than 3000 innings caught as a professional. John Ryan Murphy, who is actually a few months YOUNGER, has over 5400, close to DOUBLE.

Garver may or may not ever get better, but to expect him to be a polished receiver now is simply not realistic. Through no fault of his own. Why Anthony Recker wasn’t retained this offseason is a curiosity only Falvine can explain. Would he be a better hitter than Wilson?

The numbers say yes. Maybe not much, but likely some.

Swap Recker and Wilson in Reno, and you might see crazy numbers from Bobby too.

The CAREER MLB and MiLB numbers for Recker are better than Wilson’s. Not much, but that is exactly why I said “not much”.

Let Garver play more and take his lumps, or watch him show some improvement. Meanwhile, I also vote to give Astudillo a chance. After the Castro injury it's tempting to want to go out and find an upgrade at catcher, but I'm still not confident enough that the Twins are going to be playoff contenders this year. If someone good falls into our laps, take it, but I don't want to see any foolish trades at this point.

Somehow, the presence of a player on the roster is evidence to the contrary?

It isn't because if the front office had its way Romero would still be in AAA.  HE isn't here because it was the choice of the FO, he is here because of injuries to the pitchers they chose to begin the season on the active 25.  

Garver is still extremely inexperienced behind the plate. He has fewer than 3000 innings caught as a professional. John Ryan Murphy, who is actually a few months YOUNGER, has over 5400, close to DOUBLE.

Garver may or may not ever get better, but to expect him to be a polished receiver now is simply not realistic. Through no fault of his own. Why Anthony Recker wasn’t retained this offseason is a curiosity only Falvine can explain. Would he be a better hitter than Wilson?

The numbers say yes. Maybe not much, but likely some.

I get the argument about Garver, but lets face it.  He is already 27 years old.   AS a college draft pick he did a draft year at Rookie, a full year of A, A+, AA, and AAA.  Even though he has been a relatively successful minor league hitter the Twins have not shown any hurry in bringing him up, only giving him a late season call up last year.

Using your comparison, JOhn Ryan Murphy reached the major leagues at 22 despite not being as successful of a hitter.  And while Murphy was a high school draft choice so that may have given him a bit of a head start, he also was in a system of a major league team that was winning so they had a much better talent level on their roster.  

The Twins should have moved Garver up to the major league level full time 2 years ago.  We were a rebuilding organization and giving a guy like Garver the opportunity to get experience, develop at the big league level, and either find success or fail was important.  

It isn't because if the front office had its way Romero would still be in AAA. HE isn't here because it was the choice of the FO, he is here because of injuries to the pitchers they chose to begin the season on the active 25.

Romero isn't up because of injuries. Santana was out long before the season started.

There have been no other injuries to the starting rotation.

Romero was clearly their first option to come up if Hughes struggled in the 5th starter role, which he did.

If the front office wanted Romero to still be in AAA, he'd still be in AAA. They could have called up Mejia or Slegers if they wanted to keep Romero down.

It's a sign of how desperate we are that we're spending time lamenting how much offense we can squeeze out of the catcher position.  That position didn't figure to provide much offense in 2018.  But now that about 5-6 other position players are producing offensively what you might expect from a catcher...and at least one producing offensively what you'd expect from a pitcher...yeah, might as well find out how much Garver can improve defensively.

It isn't because if the front office had its way Romero would still be in AAA.  HE isn't here because it was the choice of the FO, he is here because of injuries to the pitchers they chose to begin the season on the active 25.  

LOL!  Ok.   WHile I will state taht there is a very probable chance that Romero will come back to earth and perhaps will go through a stretch were he will really struggle, the FO wanted Phil Hughes and others on the pitching staff instead of Romero. 

And the sad part is that it is so obvious of a mistake that I cannot believe you are defending it.  IF you bring Romero, a MUCH BETTER PITCHER WITH UPSIDE, north instead of Hughes we would be a better team from the beginning and we might be getting Romero's growing pains out fo the way sooner rather than later.

Instead, the club decided a has been would be in their rotation instead of a developing prospect.

Listen, you can make excuses for the FO all you want, the results speak for themselves.  IF you cannot admit they were wrong then you just are not looking at reality.

Yeah, the Twins get a full extra season in his prime, at the expense of 2 less starts his rookie season.

It's a no brainer.