Pinto: Once around the rotation

[jorgenswest]

Pinto started 2 of 5 games at catcher. He did not DH. The was at least one opportunity to pinch hit not taken.

 

It is hard to argue that he should be DHing over Colabello. That may change in a few weeks.

 

If the plan is for Pinto to get two starts out of 5 at catcher, is that enough for now?

 

Would it be better for him to be playing everyday in AAA?

 

I think there is more to learn at catcher than any other position. Learning the league and the pitchers can happen at the major league level. Steinbach and the starting pitchers on the bench have a lot to offer.

 

If the plan is for him to catch Gibson and Hughes, I think that will work for now. Any less and the Twins should send him down.

[Thrylos]

Would it be better for him to be playing everyday in AAA?

 

No and No.

 

a. He will not play every day at AAA. He will likely play 3/5 of the days. And he will likely end up playing 3/5 of the Twins' games by the end of the season

 

b. If he does not catch MLB pitchers, he will not learn to catch MLB pitchers and call an MLB game. Lots of junk throwers at AAA and it is easy to put down the deuce as a catcher...

[Joe A. Preusser]

As long as he's going through all the prep (opposing batters, etc) with Suzuki and soaking up knowledge, starting 2 of 5 games is just fine. In fact my only complaint so far is the 1 opportunity he had to pinch hit instead of Escobar in the White Sox series, and all things considered that is pretty minor.

[Madre Dos]

If you notice, the only 2 wins that the Twins have is with Josmil catching. I know, I am prejudice.

[LaBombo]

This is a franchise that stuck with Aaron Hicks as an everyday player for half a season after his awful April. If they want to be more cautious about bringing Pinto up to starter status, it would be interesting to hear them lay out the rationale. Offense being off the table, the defensive comparisons would be informative about many things.

[Craig Arko]

If the plan is for him to catch Gibson and Hughes, I think that will work for now. Any less and the Twins should send him down.

 

I'd hope as they cycle through the rotation he gets chances to catch all of the starters, as he prepares for heavier duty later in the season.

[Shane Wahl]

I do think that Chris Herrmann should be up instead of Bartlett in order for Pinto to get more ABs. Other than that, I have no complaints.

[jokin]

No and No.

 

a. He will not play every day at AAA. He will likely play 3/5 of the days. And he will likely end up playing 3/5 of the Twins' games by the end of the season

 

b. If he does not catch MLB pitchers, he will not learn to catch MLB pitchers and call an MLB game. Lots of junk throwers at AAA and it is easy to put down the deuce as a catcher...

 

He would likely CATCH 3/5 days in Rochester....And in a week's worth of 6-7 games in Rochester, he would be DHing at least 2 more times per week. I'm not saying that Pinto should be getting regular DH starts at the major league level at this point, but it's absurd not to be able to have him available daily as a pinch hitter and that he didn't enter the game as a DH for Bartlett in the 8th inning the other day. Can someone send a printout to Gardy of the mathematical odds of a pitcher having to bat more than once a season due to injury is practically infinitesimal? To dumb it down even more, just tell him, "as long as you hold emergency Catcher Escobar out when both Suzuki and Pinto are in the lineup at the same time, you've even got that infinitesimal thing covered."

[minnymadness]

You have an emergency catcher. He won a few gold gloves and a silver slugger last season as a catcher. If the highly unlikely chance that pinto pinch hit late in a game and after that Suzuki got hurt. Mauer as a team leader should tell gardy I'm going in behind the plate to finish the game. Put someone else in to play 1b.

[Beezer07]

This is a franchise that stuck with Aaron Hicks as an everyday player for half a season after his awful April. If they want to be more cautious about bringing Pinto up to starter status, it would be interesting to hear them lay out the rationale. Offense being off the table, the defensive comparisons would be informative about many things.

 

Their rationale for being more cautious? DOesn't your first sentence pretty much lay out their rationale for being more cautious?

[LaBombo]

Their rationale for being more cautious? DOesn't your first sentence pretty much lay out their rationale for being more cautious?

It would if the franchise had not once again carefully and deliberately stripped itself of any strong alternative to Hicksie before the season started.

 

In other words, Hicks had a dreadful 2013 and Pinto had a great one. So the Twins once again discarded the only realistic alternative to Hicks and made their most important off-season position player acquisition a nearly 30 year old catcher who historically can't hit water when falling out of a boat. In water.

 

What was your question again?

[jokin]

It would if the franchise had not once again carefully and deliberately stripped itself of any strong alternative to Hicksie before the season started.

 

In other words, Hicks had a dreadful 2013 and Pinto had a great one. So the Twins once again discarded the only realistic alternative to Hicks and made their most important off-season position player acquisition a nearly 30 year old catcher who historically can't hit water when falling out of a boat. In water.

 

What was your question again?

 

LOL. "Strong alternative" in CF? I'd settle for one with a modicum of major league mediocrity. For as much as the manager frets about not having the luxury of 3 catchers and 8 relief pitchers, having Jason Bartlett as #2 on the depth chart in CF should be even more hair-raising, both in the field and at the plate. How did the Twins not learn their lesson from "The Year of Clete" ?

 

And now it's revealed that Arcia has the same wrist injury that he had late last summer, meaning the Twins are down to 3 actual and available OFers on the roster until at least mid-week- with the usual "day-to-day-while-we-wait-and-see-how-it-feels-and-go-from-there" routine, possibly leading all the way to potential extended DL time in the offing if things don't improve.

 

How long would the Twins be willing to wait to make a roster move if it was Hicks instead of Arcia with the apparent day-to-day wrist situation? And the winner, by default, is the diminished Darrin Mastroiani, who also needs a roster spot BTW, and because of his health situation, has been reduced to "Year of Clete" level, if that.

[pierre75275]

This is really a stretch to find fault. I am disappointed in this particular thread. The Dh's have been raking (Kubal and Collabello) and suzuki has had one of the best weeks of his professional career. Maybe in a month or two this might....might....be a valid argument but after one week? C' mon be realistic. Give things time.

[jorgenswest]

This is really a stretch to find fault. I am disappointed in this particular thread. The Dh's have been raking (Kubal and Collabello) and suzuki has had one of the best weeks of his professional career. Maybe in a month or two this might....might....be a valid argument but after one week? C' mon be realistic. Give things time.

 

I am not reading it the same way.

 

Ignoring the posts that have little to do with Pinto's playing time, I think that most have been OK with his early use and feel it is better than AAA. Starting 2 in 5 is OK for now. There was one missed pinch hitting opportunity.

[Jim H]

I agree, it is too early to be overly concerned about Pinto's playing time. I also think however, that all this watching from the bench and learning from Steinbach is mostly baloney. The way he will learn to call a major league game is getting out and calling a major league game, making mistakes, and then going over them with the pitchers and Steinbach. I also think as a pretty young player, that he will need more than 2 games a week to keep him batting sharp. I might be wrong about that, however.

[Guest USAFChief]

If, soon, the ratio flips and Pinto is getting 3/5 starts behind the plate, along with a couple three DH starts per month, I'll be fine with that.

 

If, by mid May or so he's still getting the short end of the ratio, I think they've probably made a mistake.

[Mike Sixel]

two of five is fine for now. My only issue is not PHing him when the need arises. Worrying about something that doesn't happen often, and would only effect 1 AB seems a bit over paranoid to me.

[cmathewson]

Pinto will soon earn his way into the lineup more often. It is up to him. For now, the guys taking his at bats (Suzuki, Colabello, Kubel) either at catcher or DH are doing fine. When Gardy uses Suzuki several days in a row and he goes 0 for those games, I will have cause to complain.

[drivlikejehu]

Pinto should be the regular catcher. The Twins are rebuilding and need as much opportunity to develop and assess younger players as possible. Suzuki is irrelevant in the long-run and therefore using him more than Pinto is contrary to the club's long-term interests.

 

Lots of small sample size fail in this thread as well.

[twinscowboysbulls]

Pinto should be the regular catcher. The Twins are rebuilding and need as much opportunity to develop and assess younger players as possible. Suzuki is irrelevant in the long-run and therefore using him more than Pinto is contrary to the club's long-term interests.

 

Lots of small sample size fail in this thread as well.

 

Tell that to Ron g and his 3-3 team!

[DaveW]

Suzuki is playing well for the time being, no need to force this issue yet. 2/5 is fine to start the season, once Suzuki starts to fade then split them at 50/50 and give Pinto a DH start once a week or so as well, if Pinto proves legit then make him the every day C.

 

Hard to complain with his use thus far at this point to be honest.