The “other” catchers we drafted in 2019: Handley & Cannon

[Frobby]

Adley Rutschman may be off to a somewhat slow start, but 6th rounder Maverick Handley (Aberdeen) and 10th rounder Jordan Cannon (Delmarva) are doing very well.  

Handley: .333/.429/.417

Cannon: .458/.519/.958

Cannon had a spectacular day today, 5 for 6 with 2 homers and 5 RBI.
 

[murph]

13 hours ago, Frobby said:

Adley Rutschman may be off to a somewhat slow start, but 6th rounder Maverick Handley (Aberdeen) and 10th rounder Jordan Cannon (Delmarva) are doing very well.  

Handley: .333/.429/.417

Cannon: .458/.519/.958

Cannon had a spectacular day today, 5 for 6 with 2 homers and 5 RBI.
 

I saw Cannon's 1.4OPS in the box score and thought who?  Saw he was a 2019 senior sign for 5k, but also had a jump in numbers last season in college.   I know SSS, but can we dream on another Mike Piazza?   And yes I know he was drafted much much later, but Cannon probably would have too if not for the money savings signing.  

[Legend_Of_Joey]

I need to check around, but I thought both were regarded as very good defensive guys. 

[Tony-OH]

Cannon is off to  great start with the bat, no doubt. Is defense though is a bit questionable, particularly his throwing which is not good.

Handley has looked good in both aspects. 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

I need to check around, but I thought both were regarded as very good defensive guys. 

Handley was co-PAC 12 defensive player of the year, with Rutschman.   So I assume his defense is very good.  

[SteveA]

And Maverick and Cannon are much better baseball names than Adley.

[higgybaby]

3 hours ago, SteveA said:

And Maverick and Cannon are much better baseball names than Adley.

I don’t know but if Adley has the type of career that some believe that he is capable of, I bet a lot more people will be naming their sons Adley than Maverick or Cannon. 

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, higgybaby said:

I don’t know but if Adley has the type of career that some believe that he is capable of, I bet a lot more people will be naming their sons Adley than Maverick or Cannon. 

I think Matt Wieters has a boy named Maverick.   Catcher in 2036?

[CHIP]

12 hours ago, higgybaby said:

I don’t know but if Adley has the type of career that some believe that he is capable of, I bet a lot more people will be naming their sons Adley than Maverick or Cannon. 

Top Gun 2 may change that after it comes out this year for kids named outside the baseball circle...  other interesting tidbit...   Adley only makes up 71.4% of "HaNdley"

[bobmc]

13 hours ago, higgybaby said:

I don’t know but if Adley has the type of career that some believe that he is capable of, I bet a lot more people will be naming their sons Adley than Maverick or Cannon. 

Perhaps but "Cutter" isn't looking good right now.  

[CHIP]

18 hours ago, Frobby said:

Handley was co-PAC 12 defensive player of the year, with Rutschman.   So I assume his defense is very good.  

Handley led the all of D-1 Baseball in 2019 with 9 Pick Offs... and that was with the offense knowing he would do it.  In 2019 he threw out 19 of 30 runners trying to steal 2nd which is 63%?  This year, watching the streams in Hudson Valley, he has thrown out 2 of 4.  The 2 not caught?  Balls dropped by the 2nd basemen.  I think if the Orioles don't figure out what to do with him... he will be gone come December 2022's Rule 5 draft.  His knock was his offense...  and sounds like he spent the shutdown year working on that...

[Tony-OH]

Handley looks every bit the defensive stud he was supposed to be. He throws really well and accurate, blocks balls nicely and seems to receive well. He has a nice quiet approach at the plate and actually runs better than most catchers. The bat will determine his ultimate role as he moves up, but he does have an upside of a starter, especially if a little power develops.

The only knock i see right now is game calling. Watching the Drew Rom start, he calls a lot of fastballs and mostly breaking balls, but did not call many changeups despite it being a very good pitch for Rom. Saying this, I saw Rom shake off the changeup sign on a 1-2 pitch to a right-handed batter, which was the right call. Rom wanted to throw his breaking ball and the batters smacked it into left field for a single. 

At other times I saw Handley call for too many fastballs in a row against a lefty who eventually singled the other way. Rom left and left breaking ball is effective.

This really the first game I was able to see some signs and paid attention so don't read too far into things here. Game calling is something a lot of young minor league catchers need to work on because many/most high school and college coaches call the pitches (which i think is a travesty). 

[RVAOsFan]

 

[glenn__davis]

My goodness, now that is a quick release.

[Frobby]

A catcher stealing 5 bases in a week and a half is more than I typically expect from my catcher.