The Brewers announced that they’ve signed catcher Christian Bethancourt to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training. The 26-year-old former top prospect has been with the Padres organization for the past two seasons after spending his first seven-plus seasons with the Braves organization.
San Diego sought to convert Bethancourt, whose 80-grade arm has long been considered his best tool, from a catcher into a relief pitcher over the past two seasons, though the results of that experiment were less than favorable. Bethancourt’s fastball was capable of reaching the upper 90s, but he never demonstrated much ability to locate his pitches. The 2017 campaign was his long season spent primarily as a pitcher, and it produced an unsightly 8.21 ERA with 5.0 K/9 against 7.1 BB/9 in 41 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball last season.
The Brewers, however, announced Bethancourt as a catcher, so it seems they’ll focus on him as a depth option behind the dish rather than on the mound. Bethancourt is a lifetime .298/.326/.437 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons (601 plate appearances) but has batted just .222/.252/.316 over the life of 489 PAs at the MLB level. He’s had some significant trouble with passed balls (19 in 940 MLB innings as a catcher), though his exceptional arm has helped him to throw out 35 percent of would-be base thieves in the Majors and 37 percent over the course of his minor league tenure.
Milwaukee presently has Manny Pina, who had a breakout season in 2017, and veteran Stephen Vogt atop its catching depth chart with Andrew Susac and Jett Bandy as 40-man options beyond that pairing. As such, Bethancourt will have a difficult time cracking the big league roster out of camp, though it’s certainly conceivable that he could reach the Majors at some point during the 2018 campaign should injuries or poor performances from the options ahead of him open a path to at-bats.
Welp
I think he’d be a great relief catcher!
Nothing more then a depth move. Catchers get hurt during the year. More you have the better
they already have 5 catchers on their 40-man…lmao
A good spring (by no means saying that will happen..lol) he could replace Bandy or even Susac on the 40. They aren’t exactly quality by any means.
Plus Nottingham will all but be moved to 1B I think
That is extremely unlikely. In the next couple years anyway. He improved his chops last year by all accounts.
WRT this move, meh. They’ll be taking at least one of Susac/Bandy off the 40 man if not both. Only way Bethancourt sees the field in Milwaukee is a rash of injuries, so for depth, why not?
Nottingham needs to start hitting before it’s even a question what position he’ll play in MKE.
Probably both
Kind of. The hitting is less important if he becomes a decent-to-good defensive catcher, which is certainly questionable.
not very often you see someone with a 1.4bb/k ratio
It’s also not very often you see a guy who was a position player be turned into a pitcher anymore.
Especially this time! I don’t call what he did “pitching”
See mychal givens of the orioles. Came up as a ss before converting to a pitcher. They’re also attempting it with Darien Alvarez this year who was an of before.
ST depth why not
This. Teams often sign and invite extra catchers to spring training so there are more catchers on-hand to work with the pitchers.
These are the moves that get you to the playoffs. Signing major league caliber players with a few struggles early on in their careers to minor league deals and give them a chance to succeed. Hopefully manny and Vogt stay healthy all year but we all know that one injury to a weak depth position can screw your season up(plus let’s be honest Jett Bandy is probably not as good as Betancourt and Susac is terrible)
There are times when guys are diamonds in the rough, but I’m pretty positive that Christian Bethancourt will never be one of those guys
Bethancourt is like the poor man’s Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Doesn’t call a good game, pitchers prefer he not catch them, his defensive metrics are horrible, and he can’t hit. Other than those minor issues I’d say the Brewers made a solid pickup. ;)
At least Salty was a legit enough HR threat to bat him 7th or 8th (even 6th for a season or two). Bethancourt is embarrassing to send up as your 9 hitter.
Now that this is out of the way the offseason can finally get moving!
Ha! So many minor league deals, and so few major league deals. I love the offseason, but this one is like watching paint dry
I remember when he was supposed to be the Braves’ catcher of the future. atlantabaseballtalk.com/bethancourts-passed-balls-… HAHA
Bethancourt was always an overhyped prospect since he was originally signed. To me he is in fact and by far the most overhyped prospect EVER in the Atlanta organization. Perhaps that was due to the long time he served in the minors and for much of that period the Braves didn’t really have any other prospects.
Bethancourt doesn’t come close to the hype busts of Marte or Glen Williams.
While Andy Marte definitely received some hype I never felt at the time he was overhyped. I don’t recall it ever being said that Marte could play at a major league defensive level like was said about Bethancourt when he was still a teenager (which was blatantly false).
As far as Glenn Williams (which is with TWO n’s) is concerned I don’t ever recall getting too much publicity. He never excelled at any level.
I did think that someone might mention Brad Komminsk, the fact is that Komminsk just never could make adjustments at the major league level.
My opinion hasn’t changed.
Bethancourt had all the tools needed to be a top prospect. He just never put it together. I never met the guy, or read something about this, but I just don’t think the guy is, like, smart.
As I expected, while the Padres were interested in experimenting with him as a pitcher, once some other team got their hands on them it was “Okay, no more goofing around. You’re a catcher.”
While this is a decent signing for depth, it’s unlikely he will see the majors this year. Hopefully he develops to the guy people thought he would be.
Low risk, I like it. Reminds me when we gave Ben grieve another opportunity after he flames out in Oakland. Didn’t really do much for us, but I never mind diamonds in the rough for minimum risk.
Always liked Bethancourt as a Padre. Hopefully he can get it together with the brew crew.
Can’t field, hit or pitch. Is there something alse you can do in baseball?
Yes not be a stupid white dog with a waffle in your mouth. How about start with that?