The Mets have promoted catcher Josh Thole from Double-A Binghamton of the Eastern League.
He is expected to join the Mets in Colorado for tomorrow evening’s game and will wear uniform No. 30.
Yesterday, Jerry Manuel said before the game that Thole might be limited to facing only right-handed pitchers.
…frankly, i’d like to see thole bat against whomever… i mean, the team should be selective, if for no other reason than to not crush his confidence, but i don’t understand why lefty or righty should matter…
Thole hit .328 against both left-handed and right-handed pitchers during his time in Binghamton.
Does that mean we finally traded Scheider? I mean, he is a very bland catcher who we will probably not resign. I thought there were teams that needed experience. I would not mind trading him around. I mean if we are going to field a AAA (and below), then lets do so!
No way we traded Brian. Who would take him? In all honesty he would be a downgrade for any MLB team out there.
You mean what?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Schneider makes $6 million a year and is useless… Omar Minaya is the only GM that would actually trade for the guy…
Oops, I forgot call ups start. Anyway, I still would not mind dumping Scheider.
He’s atking Uncle Cliffy’s number? Have we had a 30 since Cliff did it proud?
let the kid play
Luckily, it doesn’t matter since most pitchers are right-handed, but this is just another example of Jerry being Jerry. And by that, I mean a moron.
Kid hits equally well against lefties and righties. Are we worried about him taking ABs away from the god-awful Omir Santos? I have no clue how that guy’s still living off one fluke hit off Papelbon.
Santos isn’t great, but he’s better then the alternative, which before this was Brian Schneider. I mean Schneider is hitting .189. That is god awful. Santos is holding a respectable .268. He’s not great, not even very good, but he’s an adequate backup.
Thole should play the majority of the games. See what the kid does. He hits for no HR power, but overall he’s solid with the bat. Lots of doubles. His big knock has been his receiving skills and his overall defense, mainly throwing out batters.
Throwing out batters?
I mean runners, not batters. He has trouble throwing out people stealing bases.
Thole’s thrown out 26 of 60 would-be base stealers this year, his second as a full time catcher. Maybe it’s just me, but if the biggest knock on him is that he throws out “only” 30% of runners, then I’m totally fine with that. By the way, the NL as a league has thrown out 484 out of 1,181, which is 29% (or 1% worse than Josh Thole). Just sayin’…
Hey look I’ve never seen the kid play, so I’m just going by what I’ve read on various sites from BA to MetsMinorLeagueblog.com.
They said he has the Bat to get it done on the Major League level as a catcher, not any other position really though as he provides little in the HR department, but his big knock is his defense, and his receiving skills as a catcher.
No, no, totally. I’ve read the same things. They just frustrate me, because personally, I’m unconcerned about his arm, since a) throwing out runners is just about the least important thing a catcher does, b) a catcher’s CS% has at least as much to do with the pitchers’ abilities to hold runners on as it does with his own throwing abilities, and c) the numbers indicate that he’s, at worst, average at that particular skill. I haven’t seen him play either, so I really can’t speak to the things that aren’t captured by the stats. So if it’s his game calling, blocking, pitch framing, etc. that need work, I’m fine with holding him back, but if it’s just the arm, then I say that’s not enough.
This point alone is why he should start at all times…
“Thole hit .328 against both left-handed and right-handed pitchers during his time in Binghamton.”
I mean is Schneider even hitting .200???
i’m so bored tonight no loss to watch….
Funny you say that… I just put on SNY for 5 minutes and watched a little of the Buffalo vs. Rochester game…. And I’m deeply saddened because those are 5 minutes of my life that I will never get back…haha what a terrible team we have no talent down there atleast from what Ive seen.
Have you seen the score? 6-1 Buffalo in the bottom of the 8th. Tobey Stoner has gone 8 full innings. 4 hits, 1 walk, in 94 pitches. Stoner set down 10 in a row at one time.
Funny thing…Rochester could still come back in the Bisons go to the pen. Like Thole…let Stoner try for the CG.
I say Buffalo in 5 over the Mets (in a 7 game series)
No I told you I only watched 5 minutes lol and I think the score at the time was 1-0 Buffalo
I read somewhere that Thole’s splits between left and right handed pitchers were about the same. Am I wrong?
He’s hitting .328 against lefties AND righties. So it only makes sense that Manuel would want to take advantage of only his strong side…..seriously I think that Jerry is trying to get fired. He can’t be this incompetent….can he?
Jerry is an id$ot. But then again…he does have to keep his other 2 catchers happy….i guess.
no, he is an id$ot
Guy’s, there is a difference between AA lefties and major league lefties, no?
That said, he’s going to be put in every position to succeed and put up numbers that will justify not getting a catcher this offseason.
Forgive me for that horribly wayward apostrophe.
I don’t know that anyone reasonably expects him to hit lefties as well as righties at the ML level, because as you mentioned, lefties at the ML level are certainly different than lefties in AA. Righties are too, for that matter, although ML lefties tend to be particularly tough on left-handed batters. However, it seems foolish (of Jerry) to ride the assumption that simply because he’s a lefty, putting him in against left-handed pitchers is equivalent to setting him up to fail. From every interview with Thole I’ve read, I’ve walked away with the impression that he’s a mature kid and a professional hitter. And that’s the type of player who can benefit from the experience of facing tough MLB lefties, even if the boxscore says that he failed.
I have to think this is a real audition for the Mets.
If the objective is for him to be a part of the team next year, you want success if it could be had this year. Get him enough at bats to get his feet wet and see what Major League pitching is. Ease him into the lefties. By next year he will be part of the plan so expect him to get a hard look next year in Spring Training.
By the way, it also looks like Ike Davis may be part of the plan next year as well. With F-Mart, Thole, Niese, Davis and possibly Mejia being part of next year’s plan, expect the Mets to not throw all of them in the water at the same time.
The good thing is, we should see our farm system help out some next year. The bad thing is, there are more holes than the farm system can fill.
Speaking of Ike Davis, he homered again last night (after going deep the night before off a lefty), giving him 13 in AA and 20 on the year. His AA line is .309/.386/.565. That’s an obscene OPS of .951. He’s absolutely killing minor league pitching.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis has also become a legitimate CF prospect. He’s been mashing A+ pitching lately, earning a late season promotion to AA. Last night he went 3-5 with a 3B in his debut. He’s been #2 on the BA Hot Sheet for two straight weeks, which is a ridiculously difficult accomplishment.