What's the Real Plan for Montero?

Continuing our Jesus Montero theme this morning, we take a look at this from RealGM Baseball.com. It's about a rumor originally from ESPN Insider that was going around yesterday that top prospect Jesus Montero could be replacing Nick Johnson soon. Although Johnson is struggling (he is hitting only .146), it's ridiculous to start talking about this now. Johnson is a professional hitter who has a career .273 batting average and hit .295 last year. There is no reason to believe he won't start hitting again soon. In the meantime, despite his slump, he is getting on base ahead of Tex and A-Rod (.406 OBP) which is what he was brought here to do.

But writers need stuff to write about, especially when it comes to the Yankees. Discussion like this only fuels the fire with Yankee fans. All the talk about Montero has Yankee fans on edge wanting to see what this 20 year old kid, regarded as the 2nd best prospect in all of baseball, can do in the majors. It doesn't help hearing about how great young phenom, Jason Heyward is performing with the Braves. It just makes us want him up here more. Starting his first year in Triple-A, Montero has been solid offensively. He is hitting .295 through 11 games with 2 HRs and 9 RBI. Based on the "talk", I would have expected more power (he has only 5 XBHs), but it's early and he has hit his 2 HRs over the last few games, so maybe the power is coming.

More of a concern though, is that he is not showing any signs of disproving the theory that he doesn't have the ability to play behind the plate. Defensively Montero makes some strong throws and works well with the pitchers, but there is still questions about his footwork and ability to block pitches in the dirt. Most scouts blame his big 6' 4" 225 pound body for causing slow footwork which in turn affects how long it takes him to make his throws. This translates into the opposition stealing at a very high success rate as evidenced by his overall CS% of 25% in 2008 and 20% in 2009. Through 11 games this year he is 0 for 8 in throwing out runners on steal attempts, has 2 passed balls, 2 errors and 1 catcher's interference. So Jorge seems safe for now.

But how much patience will the Yankees have? If he doesn't catch, Montero will not be able to find a slot in the field with the Yankees any time soon. He has been more than willing to work hard at improving as a catcher. If the Yankees are serious about him becoming the catcher of the future, it's obvious he needs more time in the minors to work on his defense. However, if Johnson continues struggling or makes the much expected trip to the DL (he's averaged less than 80 games a year over last 4 seasons), will they be tempted? Remember, Johnson has a 1 year contract, which leads many to believe that this could be the path which takes Montero to the full time DH roll in 2011.

Supporting the fact that Montero's best asset is his hitting ability, Keith Law called Montero, "a catcher in name only." And from this quote, it seems he endorses the idea of calling him up this year as a DH:

Behind the plate, he has arm strength and has improved his accuracy, but he's so big that he doesn't move quickly enough to catch in the big leagues, and his receiving has never been a strength. His bat is so far ahead of his glove anyway that it might end up making sense for the Yankees to employ him as a major league DH soon rather than wait for him to develop as a catcher, knowing that there's a good chance the latter won't happen.

Fangraphs also had an interesting take in "Updating the Top Prospects:AL Edition":

At first glance, you might say a line of .295/.367/.500 through 11 games is nice. But consider the fact that Montero is just 20 years old and he hasn’t been fazed one bit by the move to triple-A. His triple-slash line is actually pretty awesome. Rumor has it he occasionally plays with one arm tied behind his back just to make things interesting. If the Yankees offense sputters at any point this season, expect to see him penciled in to the DH spot.

How soon before writers and fans start clamoring for Montero to get his chance on the big stage?