Montanez Hits for the Cycle by the 6th Inning!!!

[NewMarketSean]

I think the problems here are:

perception that he's a career minor leaguer who failed at higher levels and his probably just having a career year. That label is huge.

No place to play him w/the big club

taking him away from Bowie hurts their post season chances and they don't want to antagonize the management by taking away their best player when he isn't really needed up here.

I beg to differ. Before this season he still had some success in AAA last year (.742 OPS) and had a .828 OPS in Bowie last year too.

I think he'll definitely get called up this September or when Payton is traded or dumped, since he has already been to AAA before.

I think he could end up like a Luke Scott type player, a guy who never got his shot until later in his career.

[Ruzious]

I'm all for distinguishing. We just need to distinguish on the right terms. And one "leading the league" and the other not is not the right terms.

I agree with your point there, but there is something to be said for him putting up those numbers with more plate appearances.

[Jenius]

I beg to differ. Before this season he still had some success in AAA last year (.742 OPS) and had a .828 OPS in Bowie last year too.

I think he'll definitely get called up this September or when Payton is traded or dumped, since he has already been to AAA before.

I think he could end up like a Luke Scott type player, a guy who never got his shot until later in his career.

The key word in Mike's post was perception. I think we've ended up with an apples and oranges argument here. There seems to be consensus that Montanez is worthy of a ML look, but some people (myself included) are not convinced that the O's will offer him that chance. Until they set a precedent here (and I don't consider Salazar's 2-week stint a precedent) the O's are, to me, an organization that is quick to assign labels to players and slow to remove them. Again, the fact that Montanez was demoted from AAA to AA for no apparent reason last year (his performance was certainly acceptable, esp. given Norfolk's pitcher-friendly park) is a red flag to me. His performance this year may force them to reconsider, but I'm not 100% counting on it.

[Big Mac]

I beg to differ. Before this season he still had some success in AAA last year (.742 OPS) and had a .828 OPS in Bowie last year too.

I think he'll definitely get called up this September or when Payton is traded or dumped, since he has already been to AAA before.

I think he could end up like a Luke Scott type player, a guy who never got his shot until later in his career.

Luke Scott's minor league numbers blow Montanez's out of the water.

Scott Mil OPS-.897

Montanez- .773

I still remain skeptical of Montanez having success in the big leagues. He's having a great season this year, no doubt. However, his minor league track record indicates he is nowhere near this good and that he is likely not a ML outfielder.

[boog26]

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080804&content_id=441551&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

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