A Mariners’ Dilemma: What to Do with Montero?

By Wayne Cavadi | Mar 22, 2015

The Seattle Mariners made some roster moves this past week as they narrow down their Spring Training rosters to the Opening Day 25-man roster. One roster move shouldn’t have come as a surprise as Jesus Montero was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma. Is it time to call Montero a complete bust?

Montero was the prized catching prospect of the New York Yankees signed out of Venezuela at 16 years of age back in 2006. Montero rose to great heights rather quickly: by 2010 both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus had Montero as a Top 5 prospect in all of baseball (No. 4 to be precise) and heading into 2011, he jumped to the No. 3 overall.

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Montero, who was once expected to be the heir apparent to fan favorite Jorge Posada, made his big league debut in 2011 for the Yankees and things couldn’t have gone better. In a small sample size of 61 at bats, Montero slashed .328/.406/.590 while smashing four home runs with 12 RBI. His hot debut at the age of 18 earned him a one way ticket to Seattle, as the Yankees shipped him to the Mariners with Hector Noesi for Michael Pineda.

Unfortunately for the Mariners, Montero has looked like anything but a Major League ball player since donning the Seattle uniform. His first full season was a disaster as he slashed .260/.298/.386 while hitting just 15 home runs. He struggled behind the plate as well, throwing out just 11 of 65 attempted base thieves and struggling in blocking and handling the pitching staff.

Montero’s next few seasons would see him slowly transition from catcher to designated hitter and now to a first baseman. His past few seasons shows that he has little ability to handle big league pitching as both a batter and behind the plate. His career has been marred by injury, a performance enhancing drug suspension, weight problems and that little ice cream sandwich incident last season.

This year, Montero showed up 40 pounds lighter than last season. He looked as if he was in the best shape since he was the best offensive prospect in the game. And for the Mariners, there was still no room for him.

The question now is where does he fit in at Tacoma? One would expect their No. 2 overall prospect D.J. Peterson to get the majority of work at first base. Should they decide to move Peterson to third base or the outfield, Patrick Kivlehan is lurking below ready to become the first baseman of the Mariners’ future.

While Montero may only be 25-years old, in baseball years, he’s already a seasoned veteran. He has seven years of professional baseball experience and has arguably digressed every season. His new re-found love for the game and obvious hard work in the offseason is admirable, and he does provide depth for the Mariners should Logan Morrison get hurt and the likes of Willie Bloomquist or Dustin Ackley can’t fill in at first.

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But what are the long term plans for someone like Montero? Are the Mariners simply hoping that the new-look Montero’s bat returns to the offensive weapon it once was? Are they grooming a future career DH or are they willing to take at bats and experience in the field from Peterson, one of the best power prospects in the game?

Montero won’t be going anywhere for now, as he does provide an advantage in the depth he will give the system. It will be interesting to see how Montero responds at Tacoma. If he starts slowly, will the Mariners cut ties and admit defeat in the Jesus Montero experiment?

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