Prospect Insider - M's to add new catching prospect

M's to add new catching prospect

By Jason A. Churchill

By 07-26-2011

The Seattle Mariners are planning to -- or at least strongly considering -- converting shortstop prospect Marcus Littlewood to catcher, according to a source of ESPN Insider's Keith Law, and I have been able to confirm.

I have no word on when such a transition might take place, but I imagine instructs this fall is when that will begin if the club follows through with the idea.

Littlewood has the arm strength, hands, athleticism and overall sturdy, durable build to make a successful conversion, though it's a risky decision for the Mariners, as the chance for injury and theft of athleticism attempting to become a catcher could rob Littlewood of a chance to play shortstop, third base or even the outfield.

Basically, it's a move you make permanently if it's a move you make at all. The club could simply be planning on seeing how he looks in workouts over the offseason before making a final determination on where he plays positionally come next spring.

As far as what this might do to Littlewood's prospect value, well, if he can catch, naturally, his value improves. It takes pressure off his bat, too, which means he doesn't have to hit as much to be an impact player in the big leagues, but it also likely pushes back his timetable to the big leagues.

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Comments
The following 21 comment(s) for this article are shown below:

1. By: dawgncarolina on 07-26-2011 07:15:47
Wow, that came completely out of left field. hope it works, but it seems like a huge risk. High risk, high reward, I suppose.

2. By: rocketdawg31 on 07-26-2011 08:45:11

Veddy een-tristink.

We've just put a considerable amount of effort to boost the catching depth in our system via this last draft- and have signed Hicks, Dowd and now Jack Marder to that effect (who may or may not be a catcher long-term, but it's far from out of the question)...and now we're taking Littlewood and maybe making HIM into a catcher?

Frankly I had him pegged for a full convert to third base, if anything.

I wonder if this is meant as insurance from not being able to sign the likes of Marlette, Cron and Guarnaccia ultimately.

Curious move. Risky move. And you're right, Fellow Dawg- high risk, high reward is about right.

But I'll put it this way...I might have more faith in Littlewood becoming a quality minor-league catcher over Kevin Cron.

3. By: 01v-dubs on 07-26-2011 09:19:36
Wow that one took me by surprise, but then again I do like it.

If the M's think he can be an adequate catcher in a relatively short time then I'm all for it. Wasn't Carlos Santana converted from a 3B? and now he is considered a plus defensive C.

Perhaps the M's also thought that he would outgrow SS and would not have the bat for 3B so a move to C early in his development would allow him to grow into the position.

Speaking of draft picks, Jason have you heard of anything new on the signings front? I am particularly interested in Cron, Marlette, and the kid from Germany (Cohnes or something?). Thanks in advance, great job as always.

4. By: baseballman on 07-26-2011 10:32:45
Wow, I'm going to echo some of the comments and say this is pretty shocking. I too thought Littlewood would eventually move off of SS, but to 3B. BUT if his bat could possibly play at 3B, imagine how valuable it would be at C.

Extremely risky, but the rewards are too much to not think long and hard about. If he can pull it off, he's one of our top prospects, right? I like that the fact that the Ms think outside the box and look for value within the organization ranks.

I like it, and from everything I've read, Littlewood sounds like the type of player that could pull it off. JAC, do you know if he played C at all in HS? Hopefully he's already somewhat familiar with the position.

5. By: FWBrodie on 07-26-2011 11:05:10
Kind of shocking news. Should be a fun storyline to follow. Is there any precedent for this?

6. By: Jerry on 07-26-2011 11:38:16
Wow, they are going all in on the search for catching. We added Marlette, Hicks, Marder, and Dowd in this last draft, plus Baron last year. And they are supposedly looking for catching in trades at the deadline. Add Littlewood to that, plus Moore when he finally comes back, and we have some nice depth. We really only need one or two of those guys to pan out. Hopefully it works.

If Littlewood can be adequate behind the plate, the M's will have themselves a switch hitting catcher with plus plate discipline and a little pop. That's damn valuable.

7. By: petermag on 07-26-2011 12:16:22
I like this move and resembles the Ackley to 2b move. If memory serves correct, everyone was saying that Littlewood would be too big for shortstop and would have to move to 3b or outfield. The problem is it seemed that he was never profiled to be a masher at those positions so he was going to lose value in the marketplace. So if he produces as a catcher he has real value. If he doesn't, oh well to the corner spots he goes. I doubt the M's make this move if they don't have Franklin in the system.

8. By: maqman on 07-26-2011 13:36:30
I'm a bit contrariwise on this idea. We've got a quite a few potential catchers now but not so many shortstops. Franklin is good but he's not guaranteed to succeed. If he fails Littlewood might be our next best option in-house. It will also surely take him longer to learn his new position than it took Ack to learn 2B.

9. By: baseballman on 07-26-2011 14:16:19
RE 8: I don't think we can compare a position switch to what Ackley did when he was drafted. Ackley had only a short amount of time to learn 2B (he had played 1B before) because he was a college player. We need to remember that Littlewood was a HS player when we took him last year, and is only 19 (I think), much different than a 22 year old going from the OF to the INF. Littlewood has 3 years on Ackley already to learn the new position. And there is less presure on Littlewood right now.

And who knows if this is even a new position, does anyone if he played C in HS at all? I'm sure the Mariners didn't pull this out of their butts. Something lead to this decision. And because we aren't extremely deep at SS in our system, this leads me to believe that Littlewood was not going to stick at SS regardless.

10. By: Marco on 07-26-2011 14:18:42
Shocking. That's another brick into the Liddi wall after the Rendon failed pick. Jason, can you imagine Alex in the majors ? Unbelievable.

11. By: baseballman on 07-26-2011 14:21:17
Huh? What failed Rendon pick? And what does Littlewood moving to C have to do with Liddi?

12. By: rjfrik on 07-26-2011 14:22:43
I love it. In my opinion you just can't have enough catchers. Even though we drafted four guys in this years draft at the catcher position that doesn't mean anything. We drafted 2 catchers in the first round in the last 6 years and look how that turned out for us (One with the second pick and was a huge bust and another at the end of the first round that is a bust --so far--).

They wouldn't do this if they didn't think Littlewood could handle it and if they didn't get a like wise expression from Littlewood himself about the change. I think it was a sound move and puts a switch hitting athletic ball player at a position that has been an enigma for us for way too long and frankly if Littlewood can show he can handle the position in the instructional league then he is our top catching prospect, which is awesome.

13. By: Edman on 07-26-2011 14:58:57
Holy crap, Marco, what have you been smoking? What in the world does this decision have to do with Liddi? How is not taking Rendon a failed pick, since we won't have any answers to this year's draft, for at least two year?

If that's their decision to move him to catcher, it has to do with how her profiles best, not because Liddi is in Tacoma.

Some of you are way out on the imaginarium limb.

14. By: TheDudeAbides on 07-26-2011 15:48:41
The Dodgers turned Russell Martin into an All-Star catcher after moving him from 1B. Geovanny Soto was a 3B prospect before the Cubbies made him a Catcher. And yes, the Dodgers also turned Carlos Santana into a Catcher from 3B.

I think it is a good move. If the kid has the arm and can block the ball, go for it. This organization obviously has a lack of catching depth.

15. By: Marco on 07-26-2011 15:59:41
Come one Edman, just joking...I was just joking because I know Jason is not "completely" in love with Liddi ! However as for smoking it's 30 beautiful Marlboros each day if that can quiet you down.

16. By: Marco on 07-26-2011 16:02:54
Sorry for bad typewriting. By the way Edman, is was you who told me some time ago that Justin Smoak was not even in the same class of Ike Davis ? If it's you beware now I fully agree.

17. By: nighthawk180 on 07-26-2011 16:12:10
Edman,

I kind of take offense to the comment of "Some of you are way out on the imaginarium limb" because I think it directed towards me and one of my more recent posts. It's one thing to disagree with but to insult someone on top of that is wrong. I wouldnt take that from Jason let alone from anyone else on here. I think you need to lower the ego a little. Most of the time I agree with you really you have some very valid points sometimes but cut back on the insults. Just for my own curiosity did you happen to read what I said in after I posted. It corrected and backup my first post. Just curious.

18. By: Jerry on 07-26-2011 16:50:48
I don't think you can judge the Littlewood move in relation to other players in the system.

The M's player development personnel are trying to put players into the position to maximize their value. They clearly thought he fit better at C than SS or 3B. Its not like they just decided that the team had too many infielders and arbitrarily moved him to C because there was a need.

That is a huge transition. I'm sure they had a good reason for making the decision. And I'm sure that the basis of that decision was that the team felt he would be a better C than SS.

19. By: Edman on 07-26-2011 17:25:04
nighthawk, my comments were over the top. I have been getting frustrated with people who post stuff here and on other boards. I apologize, but I was unaware that Marco was being sarcastic. And no, it wasn't directed at you.

With the M's loosing at an epic rate, I'm sure everyone is a bit edgy. It just gets tired when some take full advantage of the situation to rant an rave about truly impractical stuff.

Let's hope that this losing streak ends soon, so some of the negativism can end.

20. By: Slack on 07-26-2011 18:49:19
I'm not completely on board with this move. Shortstop is also a premium position and if Littlewood can stick there, why not keep him there?
However, there is a lot of upside to this move, assuming it actually happens. Plus, Littlewood has a lot of time to pull it off.

21. By: nighthawk180 on 07-26-2011 19:29:38
Edman,

Thx man. I feel the same way right now about the M's losing streak. I kind of wondered if you were frustrated too. I appreciate the clarification on and look forward to seeing what the mariners do in the future.

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