Alex Avila, Cameron Maybin and why Detroit's back is against a wall at catcher
Fellow Tigers blogger Ian Casselberry wondered aloud today in his Alex Avila post whether or not we’re seeing Avila being called up too early, a la Cameron Maybin in 2007. I want to take a look at Maybin’s time in Detroit’s farm system, his Detroit numbers and how he performed post-trade to the Marlins as part of the Cabrera/Willis deal.
Maybin’s first game came on August 17th, which after a loss to the Yankees saw the Tigers a half game back of Cleveland. We were in need of a corner fielder that could hit with Craig Monroe long since gone, Gary Sheffield still not sure where a ball was coming from and Jim Leyland unsure of Marcus Thames for reasons that continue to be a mystery. Maybin was hitting .316 in the minors, with a .409 OBP. The call, as I remember it at the time, was seen as perhaps too early but generally exciting to see a kid play with such enthusiasm to earn a spot on the roster. Maybin’s stay with Detroit didn’t go all that well, hitting only .235 and a painful .298 OBP in 24 games. Maybin’s fielding performance was fine, committing no errors and converting all 32 of his putouts.
The postscript on Maybin is much of the same performance he turned in with Detroit. In two seasons with Florida, he has largely languished in their minor league system. The Marlins are working on converting him to a center fielder and in 2008 he was with AA Carolina, posting a ho-hum .277 average and quite the drop off to .983 fielding. In 2009 he’s improved with AAA New Orleans, hitting .328 with .415 on base percentage. His fielding has gotten worse however, slipping to .979. He’s only played 22 games in the bigs this year, unable to bat at .202 and a marked fielding improvement converting 53 of 53 putouts.
The root of Avila’s callup is Laird’s inability to be an everyday catcher. With Treanor done and gone early in the season, the farm system was taxed perhaps too early in the search for a backup. Dusty Ryan has only played 11 games this year, he has not proven to Leyland that he can backup Gerald Laird. He’s hitting .160 and while defensively has been fine, his pitch calls have been questionable at times. Snap judgement says to look at Sardinha, however he’s having trouble hitting the broad side of a barn parked on the pitcher’s mound hitting just .154 for AAA Toledo this year. Looking down a level to AA Erie, we see Avila’s .264 BA and .365 OBP this year and a better story for backing up Laird.
So the questions stands, while we wait for Avila’s first big league start, have we called down too early for what could be a stud catcher a few seasons down the line? It’s difficult to say without some games under Avila’s belt. There is no doubt that Detroit’s back is against the wall at catcher, with Laird showing signs of fatigue and no decent backup in sight since the beginning of the season. After Treanor went down, I immediately became concerned about Laird’s full-time status going deep into the season. I’ve said for a long time that the one place on the field you can hide a poor bat is at catcher, and this will most likely be the case with Avila. He won’t be the answer to “where are the hits?!” which have become the war cry of fans over the last month in Detroit. However it’ll be difficult to do worse than Ryan or Sardinha, and Detroit is making due with what they have.
