The Orioles designated Lou Montanez for assignment to make room for Robert Andino on the 40-man rosterm according to the team. Baltimore called up Andino, Brandon Snyder and Nolan Reimold today, now that rosters have expanded.
Montanez, 28, has not played in a game for the Orioles since late June. He has spent much of the season in the minor leagues, but did play all three outfield positions for Baltimore earlier in the year. In 11 minor league seasons, the former first-rounder has a .778 OPS. Montanez has just 266 career plate appearances in the big leagues; his major line of .223/.257/.323 doesn't compare to his minor league numbers.
Montanez is actually a nifty bat.
He could be a quality 4th OF who might work into a everyday player. The only reason Montanez didn’t catch on with the Os is because OF is the one position of major depth with them (i.e. CF Adam Jones, RF Nick Markakis, LF Pie, LF/DH Scott, OF Reimold), with plenty of high promising young guys. I wouldn’t take too much stock in Montanez’s ML stats so much. Much of that was accrued in stints filling for injuries under very sporadic periods, maybe 2-3 ABs every 3-4 days at a time. But even at that, he did have quite a number of good hot streaks here and there.
His AAA stats aren’t very impressive either. The one year he hit 300 (.429) at AAA he only had 42 at-bats. 2008 with the orioles hit .295 with just over 100 at-bats but only walked 4 times so OBP wasn’t any better than Reimold while he was hitting .205. He’ll turn 29 in December so if he hasn’t figured it out yet chances are he never will. He is basically Corey Patterson with less speed on the bases, worse defense and unable to bunt to advance a runner when needed. Another AAAA player.
He’s been injured though, hasn’t he? Under 100 ABs this year at AAA. I don’t want to make too much of it, but I think he has legitimate power. He did hit 26 HRs at a tough pitcher’s league in AA. Maybe it comes at the expense of other peripheral stats, true. But, it’s enough that the Corey Patterson comparison doesn’t hold. When Corey is being Corey, Patterson swings for power and his OBP and strikezone numbers suffer greatly. A Lou Montanez AB would be better contact rates and he doesn’t really swing for power but he runs into one a few more times.
In the end, is he a AAA or AAAA player? Probably. But, if he’s competing against 35+ yr old vets/organizational players for a AAA roster spot, he’s worth a low risk gamble or insurance depth move. I just think he possibly falls into the category of once-highly-regarded prospect who ran out of time, and is competing for playing time against any given organization’s bonus babies, where outside of special circumstances, he really has no chance.
Finally! He’s an untalented (but somehow cocky) outfielder that doesn’t do anything especially well. Earlier this year, he noticeably lost whatever motivation he might’ve had to hustle, and he became one of many anchors holding the Orioles down. I hope I never see this bum on TV again.
I liked Montanez and thought he could hit.
But he can’t ever stay healthy so forget it!