State of the Minor League System - Catchers

In conjunction with my minor league reports, I wanted to do an analysis of the Dodgers system at the midway point of the season.  This analysis will serve two purposes.  First, it will take a look at the Dodgers minor league system at each position and show the depth and talent at each.  Second, it will provide a re-ranking of the players within each position.  I am not going to provide an new overall ranking, but instead will just show the rankings within each position.  I will also provide the preseason rank that I gave to each player within the position.  You'll notice that some players have an N/A next to their preseason rank.  That is because the player is new to the Dodgers since my preseason ranking.  I will be providing a position by position breakdown over the next two weeks.

I am including the players that were drafted in the 2010 draft and have already signed with the Dodgers.  I know that it is difficult to evaluate such prospects so early into their Dodger career, but I am going to do my best and basically give them a preliminary ranking.

Also, the position that I have each player ranked at is the position that I believe is best for the player.  It may not be the players current primary position, but it is where I believe each player will ultimately end up should they make the major leagues.  The same holds true for pitchers.  If I believe a pitcher is best suited as a reliever, then that I where I put them.  Finally, please feel free to leave comments, debate my rankings or challenge the positions that I have the players at.  Enjoy.

The Dodgers don't really have any star catching prospects, but they do have a lot of depth in their minor league system at the position.  After his great first half in AAA, in my opinion the position is led by Lucas May.  At the beginning of this season I thought that he would never be more than a backup catcher at the big league level.  However, May has put together a solid season thus far in 2010 and is hitting for power and average against advanced pitching.  I'm sure he'll get a promotion at the end of this season because he'll be out of options at the start of the 2011 season so the Dodgers will want to get a closer look at him. 

Tony Delmonico is next on the list, and actually might have the most potential out of the bunch because he is a great athlete.  Delmonico is a converted infielder and is still learning the position.  Despite his lackluster power stats this season, he continues to hit for a decent average and shows outstanding plate discipline.  He has had some injuries along the way, including a recent hand fracture, but he is still just 23 and has time to get better. 

Jan Vazquez moved up in my catcher rankings because the guys who were ahead of him are struggling.  Vazquez, who is from Puerto Rico, had a forgettable professional debut in 2009.  The good news is that Vazquez is still very young and seems to have some potential as he is a good size for a catcher and is a switch hitter.  Michael Pericht, who is having a huge 2010 season thus far, is next in my catcher rankings.  Pericht is a 2009 draftee and is an interesting player because of his size and apparent power here in 2010.  As I mentioned in my 2009 preseason rankings, he has is the same size as Matt Wieters.  There have already been a couple of reports written on him, so I won't go into too much more detail.  As you continue on down the list, you'll find the Great Lakes Loons tagteam of Gorman Erickson and Jeremy Wise.  Both are having poor seasons in 2010, but I think Erickson is the better prospect of the two because is a switch hitter and is 2 years younger than Wise.

Matt Wallach is having a breakout season of sorts in the California League, but he is already 24 and it may be too late for him to because a legitimate prospect.  In the bottom half of this list are several catchers who are currently playing in the Dominican Summer League, and because most are young is difficult to get a good read on how good any of them will be.  That being said, I'm hoping that at least of them will have a good 2010 season and give us something to talk about.

Finally, the Dodgers selected a bunch of catchers in this past draft, but I really don't think any of them will amount to anything except for maybe Steven Domecus.  Domecus had a great career at Virginia Tech, and if he can stay behind the plate he might have a good enough bat to move up through the Dodgers system.