Francisco Pena, the son of Tony Pena, has the honor of catching Zack Wheeler today as the Las Vegas 51s take on the Iowa Cubs. In the top of the first, Pena hit his second home run since being promoted to Triple-A, spotting Wheeler with a quick 3-0 lead in the second inning.
In reporting the home run, ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin said this about the immediate future of Pena:
Heard this recently: There’s a decent chance you may see Francisco Pena at the major league level this year. #mets
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) May 22, 2013
While Travis d’Arnaud‘s foot injury was unfortunate because it pushes back his eventual landfall in with the Mets, it has helped shine some light on the surprising catching depth in the upper level of the minor leagues. Before hitting the seven-day disabled list himself, Juan Centeno was turning some heads while filling in for the top catching prospect in professional baseball.
In 13 games and 37 at-bats, Centeno is hitting .297/.395/.405 with no homers, six RBIs, and four doubles.
One of the things Alderson was determined to accomplish over this past winter was to create more legitimate catching depth throughout the entire organization. Kevin Plawecki has been tearing up the South Atlantic League (although he is currently in a minor slump), while Centeno and Pena have showed what they’re capable of while d’Arnaud is on the shelf. At the big league level, John Buck has already out-performed the combination of Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas after a quarter of the season.
A lot has changed at the catching position over the past year, and we could be close to seeing what they can do in the major leagues.
Good stuff guys. Nice job on getting a post on this out there so soon after the tweet. I have liked the potential depth at the catcher position this year as well. I felt it may be as deep as I can ever recall seeing it since I started following the team.
Thanks for the compliment. I agree with you…I’ve never remembered the catching depth being this deep throughout the organization, either.
The Mets have come a long way from the Thole/Nickeas/Johnson days. It is good to see this position improve to this degree. Catching is the one position that most teams need in some form. Not only can the Mets fill the major league club but have guys left over to trade. Look at the Yankees getting Pineda (unfortunately for them it didnt work out because of injury).
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