Q&A: MetsBlog and C Josh Thole
Last month, I had the chance to speak with Mets Double-A C Josh Thole.
…i watched thole in spring training, and was super impressed with his swing… he hits the ball square, lots of line drives…
Thole is batting .349 with 29 extra base hits and 40 RBI in 81 games for the Double-A B-Mets.
Last season, he switched from playing mostly first base to being a regular, every-day catcher.
In July, Toby Hyde of Mets Minor League Blog wrote:
“There are still major questions surrounding Thole’s defense, mostly about his arm. He’s improved his receiving skills to be adequate. However, if he can’t stick behind the plate, his value drops dramatically. As much as I love an OBP above .400 and a hitter who walks almost as much as he strikes out, he doesn’t have the power to profile as a classic first baseman. Working in Thole’s favor at this point is his age (22), underlying hitting ability and work ethic, as even those who question his tools praise his effort.”
Matthew Cerrone: I thought I saw on your stats that you played a little first base in the past. Is that something you are still working on?
Josh Thole: Yeah, I’m still working on it. It’s always good to have an extra position if something ever happens and they need somebody to fill in, it’s always good to have that in your background. In the previous years, I had played first base, and now, I just started catching. It’s always something good to have in your back pocket.
Matthew Cerrone: What’s the hardest part about catching?
Josh Thole: It’s really the mental part, getting the pitchers to really trust what you are doing back there and have 100 percent faith in whatever you do. Once you get that established, everything kind of falls in to place and makes it a lot easier.
Matthew Cerrone: You’ve been with the organization for, I think, five years and came up when you were 18 years old. What kind of adjustment is that? I know what I was doing when I was 18, but, how is that like maturing through the minor leagues?
Josh Thole: It’s fast. I had to learn a lot of things really fast. I grew up in a small town; mom and dad did everything for me. 18 years old, living down in Florida for my first year, learn how to do laundry, cook and get food on your own. It was a little bit of an adjustment for me.
Matthew Cerrone: Did the coaches look out for you?
Josh Thole: Yeah, they did. Even a lot of the older guys that I had on the team definitely looked out for me, always kind of led me by hand and told me what to do, what not to do, that type of thing.
Matthew Cerrone: What was the hardest thing to get used to going from Single-A to Double-A? What are you really working on most at this level?
Josh Thole: Defense is the biggest thing right now. I am just trying to hone everything and lock it all up: my throwing, receiving, blocking, all that stuff. Obviously, every day, my hitting. I’ve got to constantly 
keep working on that. Our hitting coach, Bill Masse, is working every day with me. That’s something that I come here, keep working every day and getting better.
Matthew Cerrone: I saw you in spring training. You’ve got an outstanding swing. Growing up, who did admire? Who did you idolize? Who did you try to emulate?
Josh Thole: It’s kind of weird. The swing actually started last year when I was in high-A, with Tim Teufel, our manager. I was hitting .230, and I was hitting standing straight up. All my hits were coming on two strikes. That’s my two-strike swing, the spread out, choked up approach, and all of a sudden he told me, just stay with that and do it with no strikes, one strike, whatever. So, I did, and that’s kind of where I started picking up with it and then I just I ran with it.
