2012 State of the Dodgers Minor League System - Catcher

It's time for the annual State of the Minor League System, which is where I do an analysis of the Dodgers system at the midway point of the season. I'm posting this a little later than I wanted to, although now that the trading deadline has passed and we lost some prospects then I guess now is a good a time as any so over the next few weeks I will be providing a position by position breakdown for the Dodger minor leaguers. Just like last few years, 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 only like to do an overall system ranking once a year, so this will simply show the rankings within each position. I will also provide my 2012 preseason overall rank (Pre Overall) for each player. 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. Like my pre-season rankings, I will only include guys who are under 28 years of age and players who are still considered prospects (less than 130 AB's).

I am including all players that are in the Dodgers minor league system except for the recent international signees who have not yet played in a professional game because there simply isn't any information about them out there. I will also be providing how each player was acquired, their age, height, weight, and current level.

Also, I have ranked each player at is the position that I believe is best long term position 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.

See the Dodgers minor league catching rankings after the jump...

Here was the mid-season catcher ranking from last year. You can see that the top of the list is pretty similar to 2011, with the biggest exception being the acquisition our top catching prospect Tim Federowicz. Just adding him to the system gives the Dodgers a good amount of insurance, and also makes up for the fact that the top other players in the top 5 have mostly struggled throughout 2012. FedEx is hitting a solid .290 with 10 bombs for Albuquerque, and should be able to step in should something happen to A.J. Ellis or Matt Treanor.

Pratt Maynard and Griff Erickson, the top two players on the list from last year, have been very disappointing this season. That being said, neither should be written off just yet as both still have potential. Erickson is a switch hitter that still has time to figure things out in AA, while Maynard is still quite young has is actually heating up as of late.

J.T. Wise started of 2012 hot but is now just an average older player in AA, while Michael Pericht is having a breakout season although he's been hurt recently. Josmar Cordero was the talk of the town early in the minor league season as he was destroying Dominican Summer League pitching, but he's cooled off as of late. Tyler Ogle tore up the Arizona Rookie League before his promotion to the Loons, but he's really struggled to hit Midwest League pitching.

Eric Smith is the top rated catcher from the 2012 draft on this list, and he is already off to a hot start for Ogden. Chris O'Brien was a popular sleeper prospect heading into 2012, but his OPS is under .700 in the California League. Matt Wallach is having himself a tough year and it's becoming more and more unlikely that he'll ever join his father in the show.

Overall the Dodgers catching position is pretty weak after the top ranked Tim Federowicz as nobody else is close to being big league ready. The Dodgers did seem to focus on catching over the past few years, but nothing has really seemed to pan out. The younger guys with decent projection have struggled this year, and then of course there are a few wild cards. Hopefully a guy like Griff or Maynard is able to rebound in 2013.