In this week's Get To Know a Prospect, we will take a look at a 22 year old catcher who, although he is on the DL right now, in the last two seasons has started to make some noise in the Mets system as a catcher to start to watch. The catcher of course is Josh Thole. The Mets drafted him in 2005 in the 13th round and that year he played his first “season” of professional ball with the Mets at the age of 18. Thole has really flown under radar in the Mets system for two reasons. First, he hasn't really started to hit above average until last season and second, a few years ago the Mets signed the then 17 year old Francisco Pena, who was supposed to be the catching star of the future. However since 2008 Thole has really started to impress thanks to a successful 2008 minor league campaign, a good fall in Arizona and then a good start to this season. In the last season he has been named an AFL rising star, a FSL postseason all star, and a FSL midseason all star. Here are his stats from the last several years:
2009- .346 BA, 257 AB, 34 R, 89 H, 21 2B, 2 3B, HR, 30 RBI
2008- .300 BA, 347 AB, 104 H, 25 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 56 RBI
2007- .267 BA, 389 AB, 104, H, 17 2B, 0 3B, 0 HE
2006- .235 BA, 98 AB, 23 H, 4 2B, HR
2005- .269 BA, 104 AB, 28 H, 2 2B, 3B, HR
The stat that I would really like to point out is his doubles over his minor league career. They have been increasing every year and to have 25 in 2008 is a good sign. He already has 21 this year, and he has been injured which means that not only is his contact hitting improving (look at his batting averages) but his power hitting is starting to improve. This is the type of improvement that the Mets cannot ignore next Spring when recreating the Mets catching depth chart.
