by Nes Lessman
Not satisfied to have just one young catcher that the Boise Spuds liked, the Yellow Springs Nine, after trading for Ka-pa She, opted to sign another one, Curtis Wyman, to a minor league free agent deal. Wyman, who was drafted in the 5th round by GM Ben Teague this spring, failed to sign with the Spud and moved into free agency, where GM Rob McMonigal got aggressive. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but I'm told it was in the neighborhood of 1.5 million, aka the value of an early pick.
I asked McMonigal about the signing, and he had this to say.
"I spoke earlier about how I wasn't done stockpiling catchers. Well, I'm still not done, but this was the other key piece we identified at the moment. Curtis was a player we looked at back in the draft, but things didn't work out at that time." (The Nine picked center fielder Bob Walker instead, given his 9.8 arm and 6.2 zone rating at that position.) "We think that Wyman can be a great piece for us some day. He's got some great ability at the plate and almost never lets a ball get by him, either as a batter or when he's the backstop."
McMonigal isn't wrong about that. In college, Wyman had a .487 average, 12 home runs, and an OPS+ of 155, showing that despite an overall rise in college offense, he was still well above average. He had an insane range of 10.51 as a catcher for the Easter Europe Kings, too. He had 3 grand slams for the team as well, showing that he comes up big in clutch situations.
The scouts I talked to do have some concerns about Wyman's ability to throw out runners, which could be an issue in the future given that stolen bases have increased in importance lately in the game plan of many BBA teams. But several of his college teammates tell me that Curtis works tirelessly to improve himself, and so there is a chance this, too, will improve with time. It also means that his batting potential, which sees him as a .300 hitter who could push his on-base percentage close to .400, has a good chance of filling out and making him a serious threat.
But he's not there yet, and now he's going to have to fight for playing time. That's the downside to this plan of McMonigal's there's only room to really ensure eight, maybe nine catchers are developing. At the rate he's going, there's going to be enough to fill out an entire lineup with them.
Will She or Wyman or any of the others pan out, or will they end up like Jim Kantor? This award-winning farm reporter will be sure to keep you up to date.
