[新聞] Struggles will test Montero

[beckseaton (沒有運動會死)]

MOOSIC, Pa. - The big kid is standing right in front of you. He is wearing

a sleeveless black shirt and pinstriped uniform pants. He's a 20-year-old

catcher and the No. 1 prospect the Yankees have, one of the top five

 power-hitting prospects in the minors, according to Baseball America.


For Jesus Montero, it doesn't mean there's not still a lot to figure out.

At the top of the list is this: Two months into his first season in AAA

ball, with the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees, Montero, a 6-4, 225-pound

 Venezuelan, is hitting .234 after going 0-for-3 Sunday night against

Syracuse. He has hit three home runs, or one every 50 at-bats. He has

21 RBI.


What happened to the ball-pounding prodigy who went .32-6/17/87 in his

first full year in the minors at age 18? The guy who hit .337 with 17

homers and 70 RBI in 92 games last year, split between Class A and AA?


"I am worried about my hitting, but not that much," Montero says in front

of his locker in the PNC Field clubhouse. Not even five minutes later, he

 says, "I'm not upset that I'm not hitting. I'm still the same guy ... trying

 to hit the ball hard every single time


He is entitled to be confused. Four years ago, the Yankees thought so much

of Jesus Montero that they signed him to a reported $2 million contract. The

 kid's only experience in his baseball life has been runaway a success. Now

it is different. Now he is being tested, by fastballs pounded on the inside,

 and breaking stuff away.


Now he finds out about himself, and so do the Yankees.



"In a lot of ways it's good for young players to hit these speed bumps,
because

this business is full of them, and life is full of them," says Mark Newman,
the

Yankees' senior VP of baseball operations. "He's one of the better young
hitters

 we've had in our system since I've been here (22 years). I am confident that
he

 will hit. Our baseball field personnel - the coaches and coordinators - think

 he's going to hit. You can't find anyone in our organization who doesn't
think

 he's going to be a really good player."



It's the rare player who gets to the majors without some variety of
competitive

duress. Maybe Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals' presumptive ace (whom
Montero's

 Yankees beat, 3-2, in Syracuse Saturday night), will be one of them. Most

everyone else has trials. Derek Jeter made 56 errors in 126 games in
Greensboro

in his first year in A ball. Jorge Posada batted .240 in his first year in
AAA,

in Columbus.


Former Yankee catcher Butch Wynegar is the Scranton-Wilkes Barre hitting
coach,

and Montero's unofficial catching coach.



http://bleacherreport.com/tb/a4lD9



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