Can Jesus Montero reemerge as a factor for the Mariners?
By Lou Musto
Jesus Montero has finally dropped the weight. Those 40 pounds that caused a stir during Spring Training and ultimately sparked an altercation with a scout that got him suspended for the remainder of the 2014 season? Yep, they’re all gone and now, the Seattle Mariners want you to believe that means the future star has arrived—again.
Don’t hold your breath.
To put it bluntly: his issues on the baseball diamond were about more than just his weight. Montero, despite all his potential, has a vast list of flaws that need correcting. Even some that can’t be fixed.
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Most notable among them was his permanence as a catcher at the Major League level. His offensive potential had been once enough to compensate for his below-average abilities behind the plate, but with continued struggles as a hitter, Montero’s incapabilities as a catcher were cause for change.
His shortcomings were not all his fault. Montero is a large man who was trying to play a small man’s position. For every Mike Piazza or Joe Mauer, there’s an Ivan Rodriguez or Buster Posey behind the plate, who’s substantially smaller in stature and more athletically gifted to do everything a catcher is required to do.
So, the Mariners did the logical thing and tried to help him adapt to playing first base and gave him at-bats as a designated hitter. But even then, that big-league potential was nowhere to be found.
In three seasons at Seattle, Montero has struggled mightily at the dish. He has produced a line of .251/.291/.378, hitting only 19 home runs in 680 at-bats. His splits are what is most concerning; he’s atrocious against right-handed pitching.
Though the vast majority of his career home runs have come against right-handers (16 of 23), he has hit just .226 against them with 100 strikeouts in 486 at-bats. Considering about 61 percent of all pitchers in the Majors are right handers, Montero’s struggles put him at a dramatic disadvantage.
Having played just 35 games at the Major League level over the last two years, it’s hard to imagine he’s improved at the plate while battling ongoing weight problems and an undefined position on the baseball diamond.
His attitude has been another issue in itself. Between the 50-game suspension he incurred in 2013 for performance-enhancing drugs, his embarrassing weight issues and the aforementioned blowup with a Mariners scout in August, it’s clear Montero doesn’t exactly have his priorities in order.
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He’s disinterested in every facet. At the plate. Behind the plate. When he’s moved to first base. Montero has shown no desire to improve himself up to this point, and it’s not a new trait for the 25-year-old ballplayer. He was this way in the Yankees system, too.
There was plenty of hype on Montero, but he plateaued when he reached Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. His offense was marginally above average in two years and his performance behind the plate never took a step forward. His work ethic hampered his potential and that’s the reason, despite being a high-profile prospect heralded for his offensive abilities, that he floundered down in Triple A for as long as he did.
When the Yankees called him up to the bigs near the end of the 2011 season and he flourished, they knew they needed to dump him that offseason when his stock was at its peak. Four years later, it looks like New York made the right move, even if they haven’t received as much out of the player, right-handed pitcher Michael Pineda, that they got in the trade.
It’s fine to be optimistic about Montero. He has proven to be too good to play down in Triple-A, but might he be another dreaded “Quad-A” player? Too good for the Minors, but can’t quite hack it in the Majors?
Still at such a young age, it’s possible he turns everything around and finally emerges as a vital contributor for the Mariners. His efforts to lose the weight he needed to have dropped a year ago is at least proof that he is capable of working hard to accomplish something on more than just God-given talent.
Unfortunately, reality rarely produces an ending so sweet to a story this disappointing. Montero has an uphill battle ahead to prove he’s deserving of a spot on a now competitive Mariners roster, and it might just take a miracle to make that happen.