With the 35th overall pick in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft the Mets selected Kevin Plawecki, a catcher from Purdue University. In Plawecki, the Mets are obviously drafting a position of need, as the farm system is lacking in true catching prospects, and being a college catcher there is a chance that Plawecki will be big league ready sooner rather than later.
Defensively, Plawecki is a solid catcher. He has good hands, decent skills behind the plate, and is able to block pitches. He calls his own games, which is rare in college, so he is both an intelligent catcher and trusted by his coaches, two intangibles that can go a long way. He’s also a team leader, which is a great trait to have for a catcher as well. The only drawback he has defensively is that his arm isn’t great. It’s decent, and he was still able to throw out plenty of base stealers, but it’s far from impressive.
Offensively, Plawecki will hit for a high average but may not show much power. He was the offensive leader of his college team at Purdue and he was able to carry them a long way. He has a good approach and his contact oriented. For his career he struck out 29 times, which is staggering. Some believe he has the strength to be able to add some power to his game, but if not he should remain a high-contact and high-average hitter.
Plawecki is not likely destined to be a star in the big leagues, but if his defensive abilities, game calling, and contact-oriented hitting can outweigh and make up for a lack of power and a less than stellar arm behind the plate there’s reason to believe that Plawecki a major league catcher, possibly a starter. Being a polished college player with a good approach, good intelligence, and solid defensive abilities there’s a chance Plawecki could find himself on the fast track to the majors at a position of need for the Mets.
9 comments
srt
6/4/2012-11:30pm at 11:30 pm (UTC -4)
Sounds like Thole.
Bryan
6/5/2012-12:21am at 12:21 am (UTC -4)
Thole was not nearly this polished or experienced calling games when he was drafted, and there’s some strength to maybe develop some power.
srt
6/5/2012-9:00am at 9:00 am (UTC -4)
Good to hear on Plawecki. I’m reading all over that for a HS catcher, his ability to call games is advanced.
Thought I read too sometime back that Thole wasn’t really drafted as a catcher but rather converted to one after the draft. Can’t remember his original position.
Stick
6/5/2012-9:10am at 9:10 am (UTC -4)
Palewki is a college guy, not HS, but it was really rare I think that they let him call games as a freshman.
he does seem to have some power too, with 20 doubles and 6 HRs, and a .571 slugging %.
Thole, I thought was a catcher coming in but they didn’t think he would stick so he switched to 1B, and eventually switched back (probably when he didn’t become much of a power hitter).
srt
6/5/2012-10:06am at 10:06 am (UTC -4)
Shoot – I knew that…….
srt
6/5/2012-10:07am at 10:07 am (UTC -4)
I meant knew he was a college kid, not HS.
I didn’t know Thole was originally drafted as a catcher. Just read a few years back he was converted to a catcher – not converted back to a catcher. Then again, that’s probably my memory…..
Prismo
6/5/2012-9:15am at 9:15 am (UTC -4)
The Mets drafted a guy who is now the second best catcher in the organization. Woo!
gategem
6/5/2012-10:50am at 10:50 am (UTC -4)
Any catcher they drafted would have been the 2nd best catcher in the organization.
SaltyGary
6/5/2012-9:19am at 9:19 am (UTC -4)
I am way happier with this pick then the first one. The team desperately needs a catcher and it sounds like this kid has some good ability. It just looks like a high offensive catchers are becoming more of a rarity.