worse by the standard of having a 6-year track record of barely being able to hit the ball out of the infield. if you're just basing who is better on their BA this season, quintero is hitting .500 in the bigs this season. .300 points ahead of both of them. i guess he's the no-brainer to start. look, our catching situation in the organization is a mess. we have nothing in the minors, we have inexplicably passed up years and years of looking for a replacement for ausmus, and we have prematurely anointed a marginal prospect in towles to be our catcher of the future, and it's entirely possible that he's just not good. i, for one, am over seeing ausmus as our every day catcher, and i feel like the franchise needs to move past him. he's hard to watch these days, and i feel like he's barely an upgrade over towles at his worst anyway. i'd rather watch the fresh blood, and if you're gonna send him down, i'd want quintero to be the primary starter. quintero's our best defensive catcher anyway.
If there's a justifiable reason to send him down for a little bit and he would be better off working out his problems in AAA than here, then certainly I'd be for it. I just don't think the team should send him down just because he's struggling.
Before he was called up, Towels was always described when I read about him as a 'defensive catcher'. I wonder if people are judging him based on last year's .375 BA, .575 SLG, & .432 OBP. Obviously hitting a buck fiddy won't ever get it done, but I also think to expect much better than about .260, .400, .340 is expecting too much from him. Statistically, his best trait seems to be his eye. I think maybe last year's short stint may have set expectations out of whack. For the people who want to send him down, what do you want to replace him with? Ausmus? The idea that someone wants to put Ausmus into the lineup to bolster the offense has a nice absurdity to it. I like Ausmus, but he isn't exactly change the outlook that much and he would be a one year dead-ender anyway. You'd just go into next year with an added question mark. Who else? Humberto Quintero? He's hitting a sterling .184 in AAA. I also seem to remember some posters here talking about what a disliked guy he is in the clubhouse? Call up converted catcher Koby Clements from A ball or Max Sapp and his Low-A .239 average? I understand that Towels' problems are troublesome and that there might be a desire to try something else, but I don't think the other available options are that much better. It might just be better to let him sink or swim here to see if you need to trade for a catcher this next offseason. Find out what you have now.
I always heard just the opposite about him coming up. He was an offensive catcher that was a work in progress defensively. Not really sure why he would not be thought of as a offensive catcher. He's hit everywhere he's been. He has a 301/389/471 career minor league line over 5 levels including .346/.436/.549, .317/.382/.525, and .287/.393/.447 (combined A+, AA, AAA) the last three years respectively. If there is an issue it's that he is less than a year, and only 250 at bats, from A ball. At least one full year above A ball probably would have helped his development. If he and Bourn continue to struggle into next month then I think the Astros should think about making some changes. They both should be playing everyday so AAA would be the answer. Part of the problem is that there isn't adequate replacements for either within the organization. For Towles i'm assuming you can bring up Quintero. Ausmus seems to hit better when rested so I'd hope they'd at least split starting duties. In center if you move Bourn, I'd look into Kenny Loften. For as well as Erstad is playing now, he's proven over the last 7 years that he's not good enough to start. Lofton would give the team a lead off hitter who can get on base in front of Berkman, Tejada and Lee. But i'm not sure there is any harm in giving them both a little more time to see if they can get out of their funks. Quintero would be who they would bring up. Clemens and Sapp are years (if ever) away from being able to play a semi competent catcher in the big leagues. Such a big jump may also likely harm their development.
Read any of the Baseball America entries on him for the last three years. He's been rated "Best Defensive Catcher" since 2005, and for the last two years, both of his 'top 10' entries talk about his need to refine his batting. Minor league statistics are not what I would describe as an accurate indicator of skill. It was a rhetorical device to indicate they have nothing. Calling up Quintero would be just as useless as calling up the learning Clements or Max Sapp, our most recent 1st round bust.
Not sure baseball america's best of list is an accurate indicator of skills either. Hitting extremely well at every single level he has ever been at (good age/level too) is a good if incomplete indicator of skill and potential. Anyways BA certainly isn't the only scouting service they have weighed in with their opinions. From John Sickels last year on Towles development throughout the minors: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2008/3/5/164733/9984 "Towles has remained a very effective hitter throughout the minors, though nagging injuries have slowed his defensive progress...On defense, he features a strong arm and tons of mobility, but needs additional polish with his throwing mechanics. With the bat, he has the bat speed to hit for a high batting average with moderate power, along with decent though unspectacular plate discipline...Soto has more current defensive polish, but Towles is improving. Soto had the outstanding 2007 season, but Towles has hit at every level every year since rookie ball, not just last year." From Kevin Goldstein: "Towles might not be as heady a ballplyer as ausmus, and he's no more than average as a defender, but he sure can hit. The only Astros prospect on this list, and the only one who even merited consideration, Towles projects as a .280 to .300 hitter with 12 to 18 home runs a year, which puts him in rare company at his position." From Bryan Smith http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/wtny/ "The Astros have a catcher that is getting high marks in their minor league system named JR Towles. He always has a high average and plays almost daily in the 3 years in the minor leagues. What have you heard about this young man? The Astros need a catcher after Ausmus leaves...could he possibly be the next in line? I am familiar with Towles, he had a good season in Lexington, where I was able to see him play during the summer. In person, Towles has one glaring need: time in the weight room. Very skinny, Towles power and health would be much improved with some added strength. He showed some good, yet crude, defense behind the plate: memorably, he threw one ball to the right field wall after attempting to throw behind a baserunner at first base. It was a good, aggressive move that displayed plus arm strength, but it also reinforced complaints about his raw ability. Towles largest positive is good plate coverage, he's a natural hitter with a propensity for contact. This bodes well for his future, as his weaknesses are more easily rectified than problems with his bat. Towles didn't get much consideration for this list, but the Astros are high on him, despite drafting Max Sapp in the first round. As far as replacing Ausmus goes, he very well could, but I don't see Towles becoming Major League ready until at least 2009." Those are just a few quick ones i could find. I don't have a subscription to Baseball American, but just about every thing i've read on Towles the last 3 years have said about the same thing. Plus bat with moderate power. Defensively he is a good athlete behind the plate, but unpolished.
Well, right about now Baseball America looks pretty prescient, don't they? The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
in baseball 40 games (particularly the first 40 games on ones career) by themselves don't mean a whole lot. There's an old saying that over 100 at bats any player can hit anything. If you only looked at the first 40 games of Lance Berkman's career or the first 40 games on Berkman season last year you'd have a much different perspective on his skill level than what we know is true. Anyways, the main point is, Towles "hype" or expectations coming into this year were not just an overreaction to his AA numbers. His entire body of minor league work indicates he has the potential to hit in the majors. He's mashed just about every where and in every season he has played. Scouts have also liked his bat as well. I would think,though, in an ideal world,( one without the astros need at catcher) Towles would have started the season in AAA.
The Towles discussion has gotten silly at this point. Everytime I heard anything about Towles, it was that he'd be a good hitter with average defensive skills. If you could get Towles to hit .260 to .270 every year, one would have to be happy with that. The bottom line is that Ausmus is hitting much better than Towles right now, and you may just have to go with that. Is it really a shock that Ausmus has seen more playing time recently?
To be fair, had Lou Santangelo not gotten popped for steroids last season, Towles might not have made it to AA. He was hitting .220 in A ball before getting the call. He proceeded to go on a tear through AA, AAA, and into his Sept call up to the majors. I agree that he needs time, but if he's not out of this funk by the All Star break, I think they need to send him down for a month and give Quintero another shot.
Are you ****ing kidding me Oswalt? I'm so tired of seeing the Rangers getting homers in right field. All we need now is a Josh Hamilton grand slam.
