On the Cubs’ young roster, Anthony Rizzo has become a leader at the tender age of 25, Peter Gammons writes. Actually, because he’s close in age to many of the Cubs’ top young players, Rizzo is a more meaningful leader than a 30-something veteran might be. Cubs executives Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod (who praised Rizzo’s makeup after drafting him when Rizzo was just 17) have been by Rizzo’s side throughout much of his baseball life. McLeod drafted Rizzo with the Red Sox, and then Hoyer and McLeod acquired Rizzo in the first Adrian Gonzalez trade when the two executives were in the Padres front office. Then, when Hoyer and McLeod headed to the Cubs before the 2012 season, they traded for Rizzo again, this time in the Andrew Cashner trade. Here’s more from the National League.
- The Reds have announced that reliever Sean Marshall will have surgery Wednesday to fix the torn anterior capsule in his oft-injured left (throwing) shoulder. The surgery will be performed by Mets doctor David Altcheck. It’s been a rough few years for the 32-year-old Marshall, who last pitched a full season in 2012, the same year the Reds signed him to a three-year, $16.5MM extension.
- Top Padres catching prospect Austin Hedges is adjusting to being a bench player after being promoted to the big leagues two weeks ago, Kirk Kenney of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Hedges, who’s backing up Derek Norris, has collected just 11 plate appearances since his debut on May 4. “When I’m catching every day you don’t do as much because you’ve got to save your body to be able to catch,” Hedges says. “When I’m not playing, I’ve got to be doing things, game-like blocking drills, throwing to bases more, we just did popups today, working on things so that when I’m in there it’s not like I haven’t done anything for four or five days or however many days it is.”
If the surgery is being performed by an opposing teams doctor maybe that’s part of the injury problem
Sean Marshall down again for surgery, no surprise there.
Hedges is not much more than a backup. I always thought it was funny that there was any kind of competition to be the top C prospect between TDA and Hedges, one has a bat that will stick at catcher while the other will struggle to hit for anything. Oh well, as long as the Padres aren’t planning on him starting for multiple games in a row, they should be set with him as late inning defensive sub and spot starter.
Well catchers are valued much more for their defense than their offense so that’s why Hedges was so highly regarded.
Well, I understand that, however for the Padres, unless they can retain this high-octane offense, adding in a bat that hit .225 last year would be a killer. I know BA isn’t that good of a correlation for MLB production but he’s never hit that well in the first place. Just my preference anyhow. Great backup, spot starter, and could be a regular if they kept up their offense thus allowing them to waste a spot on below average production at the dish.
You should look at Yadi Molina’s first few seasons in the majors. He didn’t hit at all. Elite defense at catcher plays, and most scouts think Hedges will hit enough. The offensive bar at catcher is very low, and always has been.
You sound like the guys from last year saying the SAME EXACT THING about Christian Bethancourt. Sure, defense plays but defense and a horrid bat does not. Who’s starting behind the dish for the all but admitting to a rebuild, Braves? Not him, it’s Pierzynski. My point stands, Molina was on a great Cardinals team with a potent lineup so they could stomach his offense as he matured and learned to hit. As I said up top, defense plays, I completely agree, for instance, Andrelton Simmons and his amazingness, but he at least hits. I have no faith in Hedges being a starter, color be sceptical.
Well, the Braves are a team with an awful manager; no reason to start Pierzynski over Bethancourt, but Gonzalez probably believes in some kind of “veteran leadership” piece or whatever. Simmons didn’t hit last year at all, but his defense made him a positive. The point I was making about Molina is that nobody ever thought he would hit either, and he eventually has. Hedges could, or he could not, but his defense will play regardless. If he turns into even a .240 hitter with elite defense he’ll be a positive-WAR player. The average MLB catcher in 2014 batted 245/309/380. That’s not a hard bar to clear. And the average MLB catcher in 2014 didn’t have Hedges’ defensive skills.