Quote:
Originally Posted by doomy3
I've read plenty of takes from educated baseball people since the trade and I haven't seen anyone say, "Lucas May is never going to be a starting catcher."
Care to link me to the article or message board you copied and pasted that post from?
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You’ve heard the reports that the Royals got Lucas May and Elisaul Pimentel, but don’t be confused – the Royals actually got Elisaul Pimentel and Lucas May. May gets the headlines because he’s in Triple-A and is almost major-league ready, but he’s clearly the lesser player in the deal. In fact, I’m not entirely convinced that he was worth acquiring at all.
May was in his eighth season with the Dodgers, during which time he had moved from shortstop to the outfield and finally to catcher, which he has been playing since 2007. He still plays like a converted catcher; this season is the first time that has allowed fewer than one passed ball every four games, and he’s thrown out just 19% of basestealers this year. (He did throw out 35% last year.)
Offensively, some people are looking at his .296/.352/.496 line in Triple-A this year and projecting him as a good-hitting catcher; I’ve even read some comments implying that if he can’t catch, he can serve as a DH. This is patently ridiculous. The Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate is in the thin air of Albuquerque, which inflates the numbers of even the most marginal hitters. This year, May is hitting .347/.392/.603 at home; at parks closer to sea level, he’s hitting .252/.318/.403.
Baseball Prospectus does a great job (through their Davenport Translations) of converting the numbers of a minor-league player into his equivalent numbers in the major leagues, in a neutral ballpark. Based on May’s performance this year, if he had spent the year in the majors he could be expected to hit about .227/.278/.386. That’s backup-catcher material at best.
So what do you have, exactly? You have a catcher who can’t really catch, and can’t really hit, and is already 25. It’s always nice to have catching depth, I suppose, but in terms of the long-term future of the franchise May ranks no higher than fifth or sixth on the depth chart. If you want a catcher who can’t hit but can play defense, the Royals already have Manny Pina in Omaha. If you want a catcher who can’t play defense but can hit, Brayan Pena is already in the majors and is a better hitter than May. If you want a catcher who might develop into a two-way threat, the Royals have Salvador Perez in Wilmington. And if you want a catcher who might develop into a superstar, there’s always Wil Myers.
So what, exactly, does Lucas May do? I mean, other than take away at-bats from a younger, better player in Pina? He’s supposed to be a gamer and a leader on the field (he starred for Team USA last summer) and coachable and all that. Those are all great and wonderful things, but it doesn’t change the fact that he isn’t a better player than the guys the Royals already have, and likely never will be.
That's from Rany good enough?