Jesus Montero came into the year supposedly as the Starting Catcher and then the Yankees signed Russel Martin and that idea was scrapped. After Cervelli broke his leg in Spring Training it seemed that the backup catching job was Montero's to lose which he did. Montero's offense has never been the question as even with his slow start this year he is besting every and all AAA pitching. The biggest issue is and always has been his defense. If the Yankees had not signed Mark Teixeira then I almost guarantee that Montero would have been moved to 1st base, but since he is locked up until 2016 that's not an option for at least several years. The thing about Montero is that he is only 21 and even though he is probably too tall to be a catcher for the rest of his career the Yankees need an influx of young talent and Catcher is where they are stocked with the most talent.
The Yankees Top Catching prospects are:
Jesus Montero: As I said Montero is an offensive Catcher and is the most ready, the concern is whether or not he can be a competent starting catcher in the MLB in terms of game calling and defense. He has a great arm which is why many people feel he is best served as a Right Fielder. The Yankees apparently do think that he can catch in the MLB.
Austin Romine: Romine projects to be a goof overall catcher with good defense and a decent bat but not the raw power and potential for huge offense that Montero has. I saw catch Phil Hughes at Hughes rehab game in New Britain and I was really impressed with his defense especially his blocking of balls in the dirt. Romine is a good all around catching prospect and the only thing keeping him for AAA is Montero. He is also very young at 22 and he was great today at the Futures game.
Gary Sanchez: Sanchez has been called Montero with a better glove and many have said that he is the true future at catcher. His bat is impressive but probably not as good as Montero and he has had 24 Passed balls so far this year but has caught 35% of base stealers. That being said he has had some issues at low-A Charleston and was briefly demoted due to behavior issues. He is only 18 and is years away from MLB ready.
J.R Murphey: Most people assumed that the Yankees would move Murphey to a corner spot either this year or next as they liked his bat but his defense was considered to be suspect. Then Murphey decided to drastically improve behind the plate and offensively over last year. Muphey earned himself a promotion to the Tampa Yankees and they are still mixing him between Catcher and 3rd base. Murphey is the only one of the 4 who has no real chance of being the starting Catcher but the Yankees could keep mixing him between catcher and corners spots and try to make him into a sort of super utility role. If he sticks at catcher he will be a backup at best.
Going into this season it seemed obvious that Montero was the future at catcher but at this point I don't even know if he will be traded or make his Yankees debut in 2012. The Yankees are obviously unhappy about his defense and probably unhappy about his lack of power. Cashman has said that he wants Montero to play everyday but honestly I think that is just an excuse to keep him in AAA because they were willing to bring him up at the beginning of the year as the backup and if he was doing better he would probably be platooning with Martin at Catcher. At this point I don't know what to expect because I don't see any front end starter that the Yankees can trade for but every sign seems to suggest that they want to trade him. I just feel that if they thought that Montero was the catcher of the Future then he would be with the team right now. If he is not traded by the deadline then I expect that he will start the year splitting time with Martin, but he could traded over the winter. Ideally I think the Yankees would like Montero to be the starting catcher until Sanchez develops and then they can move Montero to Right Field or 1st Base but projecting something like that is impossible.
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