Jesus Montero Hits Two More Out
Jesus Montero went 2 for 4 in Tampa’s early game today with two more home runs. He’s now at .371/.421/.614 on the season. At 19 years old, Montero’s start to the season has been fairly astonishing. Its always brightens up my day to think and write about Montero. He leads the league in hits while being second in home runs, third in OPS, third in batting average and second in slugging percentage. But really, this post needs pictures. Thank you Minor League Splits.
Montero’s 2007 fly ball spray chart with the Gulf Coast League Yankees:
[image title="spray-chart-montero" size="full" id="3010" align="center" ]
Montero was much more pull happy in 2007. He hit .287/.367/.467 that year. He was 17 years old. The following year for Charleston, Montero’s chart looked like this:
[image title="jesus-montero-spray-chart" size="full" id="3012" align="center" ]
The difference between 2007 and 2008 for Montero is that he started hitting to all fields. For an 18 year old, he showed remarkable maturity at the plate. I’m willing to bet that once we get spray chart data for Montero’s 2009 season, we’ll see more of the same.
What about defense? While numbers are largely meaningless at this point in the season, I think a few are worth nothing. Montero and Romine have alternated the catching and designated hitter duties for Tampa this season. Each have caught nine games. Take a look at how many runs have been scored while they were catching in each of the 9 games:
Montero: 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 10 Average: 5.0
Romine: 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 5 Average: 1.9
While the same size is not yet statistically significant, also think about this:
Montero as a catcher: .267/.353/.367
Montero as a DH: .483/.515./.903
These are numbers that I’ll be keeping my eye on all season. If I get some time, I am going to check out how many runs Charleston pitchers allowed when Romine and Montero were each catching. These are the kinds of quantative indications that we should look for to help access his ability to play the position.
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10 Responses to Minor Notes: Jesus Montero Does More Stuff
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TIQ IQ
Stats show him as a DH, with Romine as the catcher. Hitting in Charleston and the bigs is light years apart but, hopefully he keeps this up as he moves up.
Wow, all of those numbers are pretty stark. I’m sure some of it can be chalked up to the small sample, but those offense numbers, particularly SLG, while DH are amazing.
Also worthy of note is that Tampa is a pitcher’s park, and Montero’s numbers are much better on the road so far (albeit, in a small sample size). If he keeps showing that he hits much better as a DH, and the defensive improvement is slow, it might be hard to resist switching positions (particularly if Romine continues to progress).
Romine is the key (as you have stated), I still would like Montero staying as a catcher but, the more I see of him…not a chance.
Someone had mentioned El Howard/Yogi; the difference is, both were very good catchers. Maybe DH/LF and back-up catcher is his place on the team. The next few years he may improve enough to be a good back-up catcher?
I just hope he finds a position – ANY position
umm are those blue dots signifying homeruns an accurate measure of distance? if so, montero hit one hr nearly 450 feet dead center when he was 17 in the gcl, and hit 4 hrs at least 450… one maybe like 460 feet in charleston. that is INSANE power for an 18 year old. Now he’s 19 and destroying the pitcher’s friendly FSL. Mid season call up to Trenton perhaps? Catchers don’t need to be rushed but if he’s going to continue like this, we might as well challenge him… how about a September call up? A pipe dream, but it would be pretty awesome no?
Imagine if he becomes our Miguel Cabrera… DH/1st/C – I think this would make him a really adequate defensive player (by essentially not using him much… but not hurting the team overall when he is used) and truly let his bat skills shine.
sorry to double post, but i’m really astonished to see how he hits to all fields for average and power. the difference between charleston and tampa is that pitchers in high-a are much more refined and show dramatic improvements in off-speed breaking type pitches compared to their low-a counterparts. montero’s current season so far should be an indicator of how he can handle both fastballs and breaking pitches. i can’t wait for him to start batting 5th in the yankees lineup
The way that Montero hits, Miguel Cabrera might be a really good comparison. We all love to faun over his power, but its worth noting that Montero has been one of the best singles hitters in low minor league baseball for over a year now. He has power too, but for now he’s generating a ton of multi-hit games too. He also doesn’t strike out too much.
On distances – Don’t trust the distances on the spray chart too much. They are inaccurate compared to major league or Triple-A spray charts. That said, I’ve seen at least two clips of Montero hitting home runs that appeared to be 450+ ft, so he’s definitely got that capability. I’ve also been told that he puts on quite a show in batting practice.
Montero is the rare player whose defense is going to lag far behind his bat. He might have to hold off being promoted for a bit until that aspect of his game catches up. Plus, he’s super young. There is nothing wrong with taking him year by year, league by league. He’d be only 21 around the time he’d be in position for a call up.
cabrera was raking it at 19 in the world series. the dude should be 20 and getting a september callup at least.
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