62.12 Montreal Trades for Young Catching Prospect

[Bob Breum]

Montreal announced today that they have reached an agreement with Louisville to swap prospects. Montreal will receive 20-year-old catcher John Chitwood. They will send 24-year-old right-handed starting pitcher José Davis to Louisville. Both players are on minor league contracts.


John Chitwood
Chitwood was selected out of college in the third round of the 2061 draft by Louisville, 69th overall. He has a plus batting eye with otherwise average offensive tools. He is very slow on the basepaths. Although he is a right-handed hitter, historically he has hit right-handed pitching much better than left-handed pitching. His defense grades out as average.

José Davis
Davis was selected out of college in the thirteenth round of the 2059 amateur draft by Montreal. Last season at AA Mississauga he made 27 starts, going 5-14 with a 4.59 ERA (91 ERA+). He has a five-pitch repertoire of very pedestrian quality. His control is decent, but he has a strong tendency to surrender the long ball because of a lack of movement on his pitches. Scouts say that he is not a hard worker.


Harry Spurlock
Davis will be replaced in the AAA New Jersey rotation by the newly acquired Harry Spurlock, who came over in trade from Twin Cities.

[BaseClogger]

Based on this thread I calculated the average BBA catcher ability rating as 8 so a 6 is certainly below average.

Having said that, I think Montreal is getting a fully developed backup BBA catcher who at 20 years old has the potential to become a second-rate starter if his defense can improve a bit. Louisville's pitcher return would be a lot more interesting if he was also 20 years old but he's not, he's 24. Davis is barely a prospect in my book.

[Bob Breum]

Louisville's pitcher return would be a lot more interesting if he was also 20 years old but he's not, he's 24. Davis is barely a prospect in my book.

To be fair, Chitwood was on waivers. I think Davis was a more than fair return under the circumstances.

[BaseClogger]

To be fair, Chitwood was on waivers. I think Davis was a more than fair return under the circumstances.

Yep, makes more sense. I haven’t gotten in the file yet.