Project Prospect ranks the catchers.
6. Bryan Anderson (12/16/86), ETA: 2009
While a .298/.348/.388 vital line doesn’t appear to be too exciting on the surface, the fact that Bryan Anderson was able to experience such a degree of success at the age of 20 in Double-A speaks volumes about his potential. Although his lack of power last season isn’t hard to miss, you could argue that Anderson’s Single-A showing (.302/.374/.417) was superior to Conger’s (.290/.335/.469) at the same age, depending on your metrics of choice. Both Anderson and Conger have been scrutinized for their defensive performances, suggesting that neither one may stick behind the plate in the big leagues.
I’ve seen Anderson and Conger both in person. My initial impression was that Conger had a miserably inaccurate arm but was decent behind the plate, while I thought Anderson was the opposite. Looking at the numbers my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Last season, Conger allowed 78 steals in 99 attempts and 5 passed balls. Anderson on the other hand gave up 15 passed balls and 71 steals in 97 tries. I was surprised by the amount of steals Anderson gave up last year, because my impression was his arm was strong and he had a quick and pretty accurate release.
–Catching stats from BA and the player pages at Baseball Reference’s players pages.
Filed under: Bryan Anderson
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Any idea as to where Anderson starts the season next year? AA or AAA…
In my BA 2008 Almanac, the stats for the Texas League show that Anderson led the league’s catchers in putouts, assists, and double plays, along with having more passed balls than anyone else. (Springfield led the league in DPs, for what that’s worth.)
I don’t know if any other catcher logged as many innings in the TL as Anderson, so those stats may not mean much.
redblazer–my guess would be AA due to how he slumped after the break, but i think they will promote him to AAA midseason if he does well. they do have pagnozzi and they signed mark johnson to play C in memphis for now, but johnson could see some time w/the big club if yadi or larue get hurt
Just in case you guys hadn’t noticed yet Miles was resigned and a strong hint was laid that Brendan Ryan would be back at AAA at least to start the season.
WHY?!?!?!?!?! I really can’t stand miles, i don’t get this at all.
There’s a lot of NL Central on that list.
erik, How do you think Anderson compares with Towles and Soto? Obviously they’re both ready to be big leaguers while Anderson is a little further away, just wondering if you think Anderson has a shot at turning in a stat line similar to their +.300/.400/.500’s in the next year or two.
tyler–no, i don’t think he’ll ever slug .500. .400-.420 would actually be nice. i think he’ll hit for average and have a decent .350-.365ish or so OBP.
It all comes down to how you view (A) Andersen’s second half and (B) How much the Cards will pay to train Andersen.
If Andersen’s second half numbers were the result of a worn down catcher playing in AA at 20 then you are talking Phenom potential. If you think he was what he was last year then you are talking about “average catcher” (above with the bat below with the glove) who will also have to play some other positions at some point…
Andersen said the can not play any other position other than C. He could learn to play 1B I guess but he is not going to just play another position. He was asked the question in a blog he had during the world tournament.