Jesus Montero Out for Season

Via Pete Abraham, and others,

Jesús Montero, the Yankees top prospect, is out for the remainder of the minor league season after sustaining a broken middle finger.

Mike Ashmore is reporting that Montero may play in the AFL.

He had previously been named the third rated prospect in all of baseball--not bad for a 19 year-old and the youngest active player in the league.


I plan on catching a Trenton game next weekend; I'd hoped to see Montero, but alas fate has other things in store.

Still, the silver lining here is that it is a broken finger for a catcher; not something more disturbing or career-altering like a shoulder injury for a pitcher.

Holy Jesus Montero Watch, Continued

Jesus Montero tonight:

1 for 3, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB.

The one home run was a game-tying grand slam in the late innings that came on a 3-2 count.


Other prospects that may be worth keeping an eye on as the summer progresses:

Kelvin DeLeon--hitting .338 for GCL Yankees.
Matthew Richardson--0.64 ERA and only one walk in 28.1 IP for GCL Yankees
Neil Medchill--Raking for Staten Island; already with 8 HRs.

Holy Jesus Montero Watch: The Futures Game

Today, the annual MLB futures game will be played and televised at 2 PM on ESPN2. For the Yankees, catching prospect Jesus Montero and 18 year-old-pitcher Manuel Banuelos have been selected to play, so I figured that I might as well turn this post into a bit of a liveblog while these players are playing for the World Team.

Thus far, at AA (he started the season at high-A), Montero is batting .287/.353/.472/.825 with 5 HR and 15 RBI.

At low A Charleston, Banuelos is 7-3 with a 2.20 ERA, 1.004 WHIP and he has struck out 68 while walking only 17. That's good for a 4.00 K/BB, and may I remind you, dude is 18.

Check back for updates!

2.00 PM: Here we go! Looks like we've got Gary Thorne on the call, which, while not ideal, still is far better than Miller/Morgan.

2.03 PM: Wow, is Gammons really saying nice stuff about Montero?

2.09 PM: I feel so unpatriotic rooting for the World team...

2.12 PM: So now I kind of see why the Brewers don't want to part with Escobar. Tons of speed and he plays a premium position. Imagine if Brett Gardner played short instead of CF, but better. Much, much better.

2.13 PM: Tillman's struggling a little, but this is good, if it gets Montero an AB now!

2.17 PM: Gammons really likes Montero. I'm down with that.

2.18 PM: Montero grounds to short and legs it out to avoid a DP, gets an RBI and now 2-0 World team.

2.22 PM: Heh, I wonder if the World team ever gets to be the home team? If the All Star game is in Toronto?

2.23 PM: Rain delay.

3.31 PM: Still in a rain delay. Will go back and forth with Yankee game.

3.55 PM: From Twitter: @BaseballAmerica: Word is MLB will meet at 3:15 CT to discuss what to do about the game. Still raining.

6.04 PM: 7-inning game to start at 5:30 CT. No inning will start later than 7:30 pm CT.

6.25 PM: Nefteli Feliz to start for world team.

6.32 PM: And...we're back! Not quite the same atmosphere as before, understandably.

6.39 PM: Neftali Feliz is kind of awesome, no? Hit 101 on the gun. And this is after a four hour rain delay, too.

6.54 PM: I am kind of half paying attention right now. Four hour rain delays and an incredibly depressing sweep at the hands of the Angels has taken a lot out of me. The US has two on with two out in the second.

7.04 PM: Montero grounds out on the first pitch he sees in that AB.

7.10 PM: Gotta be pretty cool to hit a HR in the Futures Game. I imagine for some of these players first time ever in a major league park.

7.29 PM: Inspiring. Tyson Gillie's personal story is well worth it.

Holy Jesus Montero watch continues

When you have more hits than games played, life is good.

Montero: 28 hits in 22 games at AA Trenton. Nine multi-hit games thus far, including tonight in which he has three hits, an RBI and a walk.

He has more hits and walks than he has strike outs.

No home runs tonight, but kid can hit for average, too.

Holy Jesus Montero!

His name is Jesus Montero. He's 19 years old and was recently promoted to AA Trenton, where he's done nothing but mash.

You may have heard of him.

Without question he is the best hitting--especially power hitting--prospect the Yankees have in the minors.

There is no guarantee that Montero can keep hitting as he is, or that he will make it in the Majors, but what is clear is that he is outperforming some of the game's best when they were at that level.

What I've done in this post, then, is taken some of the game's best hitters today and in the past decade, and given you their lines for both their age-19 seasons and their first AA seasons (since most players are not 19 at AA). And then I'll give you Jesus' line, through 19 games.


Albert Pujols

Without question, Pujols is the best hitter in the game today. He's already got 30 HR before the All Star break, and with the caveat that smart teams don't pitch to him because he has almost 0 protection in the line up.

Pujols is an interesting case because he broke into stateside professional baseball at age 20--wherein he advanced from A- to AAA, and outright skipped AA altogether.

For the year, across all three levels, his totals were .314/.378/.543/.920 with, as you might imagine, most of the damage coming at low-A where he hit .324/.389/.565/.953. He played over 100 games at low-A; 21 at high-A and 3 at AAA.


Miguel Cabrera

In the 07-08 off season, the trade that sent Cabrera to Detroit (along with Dontrelle Willis) in exchange for Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller was hailed as the biggest of the off season (until some dude named Santana went to the Mets). There's never been a question about Cabrera's bat; the question over his defense seems to have been solved by moving him from third to first.

At his age-19 season, Cabrera was at high-A, and over 124 games put together a line of .274/.333/.421/.754, with 9 HR, 38 walks and 85 strikeouts.

At AA the nest year, at age-20, over 69 games, Cabrera seems to have stumbled onto a miracle cereal, or something--at level where many bats go to die, Cabrera blossomed to .365/.429/.609/1.038, with 10 HR, only 49 strikeouts and 31 walks.

He skipped AAA entirely.



Hanley Ramirez

Often considered the #1 fantasy player in the game, because he hits well, and unlike Pujols, doesn't have an injury history.

He seems to have taken a course that is more common for some of the game's top prospects.

At age 19 in the Sally League, in 111 games, Ramirez hit .275/.327/.403/.730 with 8 HRs, 73 strikeouts and 32 walks.

His age 20 season was spent in three different leagues, ultimately ending at AA; his age 21 season was spent entirely at AA.

At that season, age 21 at AA, Ramirez hit over a course of 122 games, .271/.335/.385/.720, with 6 HR, 62 strikeouts and 39 walks.


Like Cabrera before him, he skipped AAA entirely.



Mike Piazza

As a power-hitting catcher who didn't catch very well, Piazza could be Montero's best comparison--although Piazza didn't break into even the minors until his age-20 season.

He was already 23 when he first appeared at AA ball, and over 31 games, he hit .377/.441/.658/1.099, with 7 HR, 18 strikeouts and 13 walks. The stats are astounding...and may explain why he didn't stay at AA for very long; I am inclined to think that age here is also a factor.



Andruw Jones

Never mind the sudden falling-off-the-face-of-the-earth; Jones did some crazy good things in his prime.

In his age-19 season, Jones made it all the way from high-A to AAA, so as an age comparison he probably works best with Montero.

At age-19 and in AA, over 38 games, Jones hit .369/.432/.675/1.107 (Holy $#$@#$), with 12 HR, 34 strikeouts and 17 walks.



So what about Jesus Montero?

At age 19, over the course of 19 games thus far, Montero's hit .319/.395/.542/.937, with 4 HR (12 for the year over all) with nine walks and only six strikeouts.


So, right now, Montero isn't hitting like Jones hit in AA, but unlike Jones and everyone else on the list, he has more walks than strikeouts. Last year, there was huge split, with 83 strikeouts to 37 walks; the gap has narrowed at each level, and it will be interesting to see if he can keep it up.

Nineteen games is a very small sample size, but four home runs over this time period is about one HR every five games--and this is in a pitcher's league, in a pitcher's park.

What makes Montero all the more impressive is that he is doing all of this, and he doesn't even turn 20 until November.

Now, Montero isn't a perfect prospect--he doesn't play great defense, and he, like many catchers, is slo-o-ow, but with a bat that can mash like his can, you end up pretty willing to deal with that.


One thing I've noticed--these players all seem to play only part of a season at a certain level or skip a level entirely.

Could Montero skip AAA?

It's unlikely--even if his bat is major league ready at the end of this season (unlikely, but you never know), his defense will hold him back. A hitter that good you can find a role for, especially in the AL, but with what will soon be a glut at DH, the Yankees would be best served by finding a position--any position--that Montero can play even remotely competently in the field. Catching would be the first choice--since that will give him the most value, but there are also rumors of left field. First base would seem almost natural, but as long as Teixeira's there for the next 8 years, Montero would be blocked at that position.

Still, Montero has been incredibly fun to follow thus far, and shows little sign of slowing.

It's March 1st. It's okay to step away from the ledge

Apparently, I never realized that Grapefruit League games actually matter.

Right.

Are we so starved for baseball that we take games in the first week of an extended exhibition season and use these to judge the fortunes of our team in 2009?

Right now, the "regulars" leave the game after four or five innings and the pitchers you see are not your Opening Day starters.

Right now, all that matters is keeping the team healthy and getting them up to full strength.

Thus, Jorge Posada and Edwar Ramirez and Jonathan Albaladejo are legitimate concerns (even if grouping Albie here is pushing it a little bit).

Jesus Montero is a bit of a concern, sure, but he is not supposed to impact the major league team for a couple of seasons...kid's 19 years old! When I was 19 years old, my biggest concerns were staying up till 3.30 AM to finish that paper on African myths...

What isn't a legitimate concern: worrying about losing games in the first week of exhibition play.

Seriously. Remember last spring training? How Robbie Canó hit .440ish? How'd that work out during the regular season?

While, right now, Brett Gardner is pwning Melky, remember, there's still a whole month before the regular season starts, and anything can happen, so, I'd exercise some caution before going out to buy those "Gardner" t-shirts just yet.

Spring Training right now is a time to sit back, be jealous of sunny Florida while in NY it's about to dump a foot of snow, take a seat with a cup of hot tea and Baseball Prospectus 2009, take a deep breath...

...and relax.

Yankees' non-roster Spring Training Invitees

Per the Yankees and Lohud, the Yankees have invited 20 to take part in Spring Training.

The list includes:

Catchers: Kyle Anson, Kevin Cash, Jesus Montero, P.J. Pilittere and Austin Romine.

Infielders: Doug Bernier, Angel Berroa, Shelley Duncan, Justin Leone, Eduardo Nunez, Ramiro Pena, Kevin Russo

Outfielders: Colin Curtis, Austin Jackson, Todd Linden, John Rodriguez

Pitchers: Kei Igawa, Jason Johnson, Mark Melancon, Sergio Mitre

Top prospects are in bold; those that have previously appeared in the majors are in italics.


Notes: Sergio Mitre will miss the first 50 games after a suspension for PED use, Jesus Montero will be the youngest present (he's 19!) and Shelley Duncan apparently cleared waivers and will be outrighted to AAA.

Most of these players will end up in the minors for most, if not all, of the year, but it should be fun to get another look at Montero, Jackson and Melancon.

Jesus, Shelley, and Even More Snow

Some notes from today's exhibition game against the Phillies:

1) Shelley had five of the Yankees' nine RBI on two swings, a three run home run and two run double. If there's supposed to be a competition for the first base spot, Shelley looks to be in the clear lead, given what Giambi did yesterday and Ensberg did today (ie, nothing). However, it's only one game, and it'd be an awful mistake to judge who should get the first base job based on one game.

2) So we all know Jesus Montero is supposed to be good--he's eighteen (!) and one of, if not the, Yankees' top offensive prospects. However, that doesn't make him going yard on the, what was it, second pitch he saw (?) any less awesome. When he makes it to the bigs (and if he keeps healthy, it's a when and not an if), I imagine there'll be some pretty funny Jesus-related comments.

3) Pitching wise, Wang was okay--he threw a few too many balls for my liking, but as I said before, you can't judge a player based on game, and even less than two innings, especially given what Wang's done for us the past couple of years. Anyway, he only gave up one hit, so I really can't complain.

--Apparently, according to LoHud, Rasner hit 107 mph on the gun. They didn't show the gun on the screen, but you have to wonder how much control can you have over a pitch like that? I'm not even sure Joba throws that hard.

[EDIT: Rebecca, the word gullible is actually in the dictionary. Under G.]

--Only saw one inning each from Albaladejo and Traber, but I liked what I saw from both, Traber especially. Hope it continues; I feel somewhat more reassured when I hear that it's Traber coming out of the 'pen and not Sean Henn.

--I keep forgetting Ohlendorf is a Princeton guy.

4) MLB.tv has a new player. It doesn't lag as much as the original player, which is awesome, but it's still not better than watching the game on TV when you can. The Phillies announcers gave the game a little bit of an old-time feel, which I really liked.


5) In the past week, we've had ONE day without snow in Syracuse. I'm not talking about one day without flurries, but bona-fide road-covering, traffic-snarling, car-burying snow. Even my Freshman year it had kinda-sorta stopped by the beginning of March...and it really wouldn't be such a big deal except I'm driving home on Friday for Spring Break, and it would be nice to actually be able to get my car out of the driveway.



Anyway. Good game. I will probably miss most of the live broadcast tomorrow, but there's a reason they invented DVR.