MLB.com has been posting “Prospect Watch: Top 10 (insert position)” and the other day they posted their top 10 catching prospects of 2012.

Number 4 on the list is Yankee prospect Gary Sanchez. To many, including myself, foresee Austin Romine as the future Yankee backstop but Sanchez is rated higher then Romine. Sanchez has a similar skill set as Jesus Montero (Ranked 1 on the list), big power and sub-par glove.

Sanchez is only 19 years old and has time to develop. Russel Martin looks to be the primary catcher in 2012 with Franciso Cervelli probably as the backup.

The wild card in mix is Austin Romine. He got a taste of the majors last season in 9 games he got 19 at bats where he collected a few hits and an RBI. Romine is a career .281 hitter with a .333 OBP in the minors but the yankees are very high on what the 23 year old catcher can do in the future.

So while it would seem like trading away the number 1 catching prospect could hurt the Yankees’ behind the plate in the long run it isn’t the case. With two young catcher in the system and another season with Martin behind the plate I don’t think the lose of Montero will be felt while the new presence of of Pineda on the mound will be felt for over the next decade.

Side Note: I found this other Yankee blog called Bleeding Yankee Blue, check it out. http://bleedingyankeeblue.blogspot.com/

Y4L

JM

Top 10 catching prosepct list http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120118&content_id=26377496&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb