Yeah I didn't know a thing about him until he showed up in Gleeman's top prospects list.  He sure looks like he has a solid approach.  Good walk rate, Good K rate, Good slugging, excellent average.  The bat looks really good but full season A ball will be a good test for him.  Lot's of young players struggle with the better pitching there.

If this kid can stay at catcher and actually throw guys out at a decent clip he could really help the Twins system out as they are struggling in the catcher department.  I have my eyes on this kid as well and hoping for big things from him this year.  Still he is only 21 and Catchers generally take a long time so he has time.

If more of these international signings can work out it could really lift the system up.

2 hours ago, Dman said:

Yeah I didn't know a thing about him until he showed up in Gleeman's top prospects list.  He sure looks like he has a solid approach.  Good walk rate, Good K rate, Good slugging, excellent average.  The bat looks really good but full season A ball will be a good test for him.  Lot's of young players struggle with the better pitching there.

If this kid can stay at catcher and actually throw guys out at a decent clip he could really help the Twins system out as they are struggling in the catcher department.  I have my eyes on this kid as well and hoping for big things from him this year.  Still he is only 21 and Catchers generally take a long time so he has time.

If more of these international signings can work out it could really lift the system up.

1st I heard of Olivar was on a podcast called "Scout the Statline" they were evaluating 10 top catching prospects. I was interested in Endy Rodriguez (PIT) and some other catching prospects that maybe we could nab.  They announced at #10  Ricardo Olivar from MN. I said to myself WHAT? I've never heard of this guy. They only gave his offensive stat line & said keep an eye on him.

It's hard to get defensive info on this guy, only that he's got an above average arm. Since he plays a lot of CF, I suspect that he has quick reactions & good instincts both good qualities for a catcher.

Wow! Embarrassed that someone who follows the milb system as close as I do can't remember even hearing of the kid before!

Agree his 2022 numbers look great. And the fact that he's athletic enough to be that versatile is intriguing and would tell me he's got the ability to develop in to a quality defensive backstop. (Not just a lumbering brick wall). I also agree that his age per level opens up questions about his actual potential going forward, exploding in his 2nd FCL season. But then again, if he didn't play at all in 2020 at 19yo, can we dismiss his 2021 numbers as a rusty 20yo and accept his 2023 production as a 21yo to be perfectly fine labeling him as a legitimate prospect?

On 2/16/2023 at 1:58 PM, DocBauer said:

Wow! Embarrassed that someone who follows the milb system as close as I do can't remember even hearing of the kid before!

Agree his 2022 numbers look great. And the fact that he's athletic enough to be that versatile is intriguing and would tell me he's got the ability to develop in to a quality defensive backstop. (Not just a lumbering brick wall). I also agree that his age per level opens up questions about his actual potential going forward, exploding in his 2nd FCL season. But then again, if he didn't play at all in 2020 at 19yo, can we dismiss his 2021 numbers as a rusty 20yo and accept his 2023 production as a 21yo to be perfectly fine labeling him as a legitimate prospect?

Wither I'm right or not, I like to compare him to Endy Rodriguez. With NYM, he was at DSL for over a year & finished off at  GSL. He was also effected by covid, he was later traded to PIT. PIT promoted him to A. Rodriguez played behind Henry Davis (c) (he was the #1  draft pick) so he played OF & 2B. '22 Davis got hurt, with this opportunity to play exclusively catcher. Endy exploded.

I really like Olivar's trajectory. I'm expecting an explosion from him, maybe it's after low A. Venezuela has produced a lot of great catchers. I'm hoping that Olivar could be one if given a chance.

The bat relative to the team is outstanding. He was so much better than anyone else on the team with over 100 PAs. The team OPS was .685. His was 1.047.

On the other hand his ability to throw out base stealers relative to the team was poor throwing out only 7% in the FCL. That is consistent with his poor numbers the previous season. Endy was throwing out 44% and 31% at a similar place in his career. If we are going to compare the two I think we need that data.

7 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

The bat relative to the team is outstanding. He was so much better than anyone else on the team with over 100 PAs. The team OPS was .685. His was 1.047.

On the other hand his ability to throw out base stealers relative to the team was poor throwing out only 7% in the FCL. That is consistent with his poor numbers the previous season. Endy was throwing out 44% and 31% at a similar place in his career. If we are going to compare the two I think we need that data.

7% is concerning, IMO Olivar has the tools to control the runners (above avg. arm, quickness & instincts) but they need to give him that extra attention to achieve much better results as far as behind the plate.

Olivar finished runner-up in the Twins Daily short-season minor league hitter of the year voting, just behind Jose Rodriguez, and just ahead of Yasser Mercedes. 

As for the future of Twins catching... I mean, not a lot of catcher prospects, but... Christian Vazquez just signed for 3 years and Jeffers is under control for 3-4 more years. Guys like Tony Wolters and Graysen Greiner and Chance Sisco are always available in the offseason. David Banuelos will get job offers for a long time because he's so good behind the plate. And I really like Jair Camargo and was glad he came back. 

I think I had him in the mid-40s... I see a lot of Jeferson Morales in him.

And, his age doesn't matter at all. 

On 2/19/2023 at 3:12 PM, Seth Stohs said:

And I really like Jair Camargo and was glad he came back.

Agreed.

On 2/19/2023 at 2:12 PM, Seth Stohs said:

Olivar finished runner-up in the Twins Daily short-season minor league hitter of the year voting, just behind Jose Rodriguez, and just ahead of Yasser Mercedes. 

As for the future of Twins catching... I mean, not a lot of catcher prospects, but... Christian Vazquez just signed for 3 years and Jeffers is under control for 3-4 more years. Guys like Tony Wolters and Graysen Greiner and Chance Sisco are always available in the offseason. David Banuelos will get job offers for a long time because he's so good behind the plate. And I really like Jair Camargo and was glad he came back. 

I think I had him in the mid-40s... I see a lot of Jeferson Morales in him.

And, his age doesn't matter at all. 

 

Appreciate your response Seth. Getting Vazquez was a life saver because our in house catching is in a shambles. Jeffers is our top in house option, I see runners running on him all day, I rather not have him catch at all. He still has some good trade value, so why don't we trade for a very promising MLB ready catching prospect that Vasquez can mentor.

Yes we have some depth but what kind of quality depth is it? And what kind of future depth do we have that can come in & command after Vazquez is gone? We are envisioning ourselves as a competing team so we need premier positions to have quality depth. At SS, CF & rotation we do with many high prospects at those position. At catching we have no quality depth & no high prospects ready to take over in the future.

Carmargo has potential at catching & there is where he can make it to the MLB, So why do they have him playing other positions where we are loaded and has no chance of breaking in? They need to have Olivar & Carmargo fixed at catcher & focus all their attention to develop them to the best of their abilities to give us a chance to see these guys rise up to be at least serviceable at MLB level.