February 15, 2011

Wither Wieters?

Matt Vensel at the Baltimore Sun is disappointed by PECOTA’s numbers for Matt Wieters:

“While fandom still waits for the soon to be 25-year-old catcher to make good on his terrific minor league numbers, PECOTA has stopped looking for a breakout, calling for a .268/.341/.419 season,” wrote Steven Goldman of Baseball Prospectus. “Names like Ryan Doumit and Ryan Garko are starting to show up among his comparables, two too many mediocre Ryans for a future star.”

So the kid they called “Joe Mauer with power” is now “Ryan Doumit with a glove?” I don’t know about that.

It strikes me that a .341 OBP is pretty good for a catcher. The problem is that expectations for Wieters were so high. If he develops into a .350 OBP, .450 slugging player, he’ll be very valuable to the Orioles. He just won’t win any awards.

2 thoughts on “Wither Wieters?

  1. Pingback: Baseball Crank

  2. t ball

    Um, a .760 OPS from a solid defensive catcher is NOT a bad thing. Especially with offense down the last couple years. That would actually make him well above average for value at catcher.

    I agree, only unrealistic expectations should keep Baltimore fans from being happy about that kind of draft and development success.

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