Mes: Rookie Season Part II

[lollipopcurve]

Hanigan is pretty damn good. He's gold with the pitchers, has a great OBP, and is great at throwing out runners.

You can't underestimate how much the pitchers like throwing to Hanigan. The guy is a great defensive catcher, and if there's one position you want that kind of excellence at, it's catcher. I think Baker and Jocketty really value Hanigan and are not inclined to reduce his playing time in order to develop Mesoraco.

That said, I agree with what some others have said -- if Mes can hit when given the opportunity (and be solid behind the plate), he may be able to work his way into more time than he got last year.

To my eyes, Mes didn't look great at the plate last year, primarily because he seemed overanxious, jumping at the ball. Poor balance, especially on balls away, where you'd see him fall towards the plate after swinging. He's got to find that center of gravity again and lock down his lower half. If he's able to do it, he can be a very dangerous hitter. But I am not assuming it will happen. Got to see it first.

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by M2

If Mes gets his bat going, he'll get plenty of work. Dusty likes winning.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.
In fact, I feel there's a good chance in 3 years, that in hindsight, we will look back on 2012 and say that Walt and Dusty handled Mes perfectly.

Mes apparently got enough PT to figure out what he needs to work on at the ML level. Maybe he got humbled a little bit too (I don't know if he needed that or not). I'm glad they didn't toss him out there to simply "sink or swim".

But back to your point. Dusty has a history on the Reds of giving young players every possible chance to succeed. Heck, just look at Heisey. Every year, Heisey has gotten a fair chance to win a starting job. He may not get that chance this year with Choo, but he's gotten plenty of chances. Dusty stuck with Janish a long time, and was supportive of him long after it was clear than Janish was not a starting ML SS. IMO, if anything, Dusty is too patient with youngsters, but that's a not a complaint. Dusty understands that there can be some long term benefits to not optimizing the run differential for every game in the regular season.

[jmcclain19]

Like the old saying goes - a great bat makes that glove look fantastic. If Mes hits - he will play. The Reds starting catcher under Dusty never seems to get more than 350PA. That's another 250-300 ABs there for the taking. More if he hits.

For a team with big aspirations. It will be guys like Mesoraco stepping up which makes that happen.

[Cooper]

He's got to stop lunging at pitches when he receieves them. It may not actually effect how the game is called, but sitting still back there helps a pitcher perceive that he has better control. It was almost like he had too much energy -whereas Hannigan couldn't move too much cause he's getting too old to (joke....maybe). OTOH, it's hard to settle in when your playing time is 2 times a week and you want to prove to the world that you can do your job.

Anybody else play golf a lot better when you're body is exhausted?

[Trajinous]

Personally, I don't see why everyone is in love with this kid. Here's the disclaimer, I hope Mes takes that step and becomes a top 10 hitting catcher, that he's been hyped to be. To be honest, he hasn't shown much of anything in the major league level.

Mesoraco was essentially Paul Bako the past two years, remember him? I understand he's young and has all this potential but it's been VERY disappointing imo. People say they aren't worried about his hitting but I'm really skeptical to hype after so many Red prospect flops. With Hanigan as a great defensive catchers and his .360+ OBP, there's no reason to rush Mesoraco. Hanigan is criminally underrated.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by Trajinous

Personally, I don't see why everyone is in love with this kid. Here's the disclaimer, I hope Mes takes that step and becomes a top 10 hitting catcher, that he's been hyped to be. To be honest, he hasn't shown much of anything in the major league level.

Mesoraco was essentially Paul Bako the past two years, remember him? I understand he's young and has all this potential but it's been VERY disappointing imo. People say they aren't worried about his hitting but I'm really skeptical to hype after so many Red prospect flops. With Hanigan as a great defensive catchers and his .360+ OBP, there's no reason to rush Mesoraco. Hanigan is criminally underrated.

So many Reds prospect flops? Like who? Joey Votto? Jay Bruce? Edwin Encarnacion? Adam Dunn? Austin Kearns before his injury (and even then, the dude has been a pretty valuable player)? Todd Frazier? Yasmani Grandal? Yonder Alonso?

There really has only been one guy over the last what, 10 years, who was actually a Top 100 prospect in baseball for the Reds, who was a hitter, who hasn't done something with his bat and it is Drew Stubbs. That's it. Well, unless you want to count Mesoraco and Hamilton. The Reds have produced bats when you look at the ones that were actually supposed to be good.