Do you remember the moment last season when — during a particularly bad beating at the hands of the Seattle Mariners — the San Diego Padres decided to give catcher Christian Bethancourt a shot at pitching? It seemed amusing at the time, but things got really interesting when it turned out that he could top 90 mph on the radar gun on a regular basis. They gave him another opportunity a month later and he continued to impress. San Diego was already considering moving him to the outfield, but all of a sudden they had another pitcher on their hands.
Christian Bethancourt is still on the path to becoming a hybrid player
Wednesday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at the Padres’ efforts to turn Christian Bethancourt into a jack of all trades. Plus, an important batch of projections was recently released.
Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
Here we are in February, and the Padres are still very serious about turning Christian Bethancourt into baseball's most unique player — a hybrid catcher/outfielder/pitcher. He gave it a whirl in Panama's winter league, and things went well enough for Bethancourt that he'll be giving it a shot in the Cactus League in March, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
While nobody’s expecting Christian Bethancourt to break out and transform into the Panamanian version of Shohei Otani, this is still one of the most intriguing stories in baseball when it comes to just one individual player. You have to credit the Padres for not only trying to get a healthy amount of value out of an otherwise fringe player, but also to spice things up a bit. It’s hard to find plenty of things to get excited about when it comes to the Padres this year, but the saga of Christian Bethancourt: Super Utility Man is definitely something worth keeping an eye on.
- Rob Manfred has floated around the idea of possibly changing the strike zone. Grant Brisbee believes that this will probably result in chaos if the changes go through.Ever wonder what it’s like to stare down a pitch from one of the most talented pitchers in the game?Yu Darvish would like to show you what it’s like.Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projections are out, and it thinks that the Dodgers will finish with the best record in baseball in 2017.Meanwhile, PECOTA has the Astros finishing with the AL’s best record for this upcoming season.The NL leader in home runs has finally found a home for 2017, as the Yankees have signed Chris Carter.The crew over at USA Today’s For The Win decided to rank all 30 rotations from worst to best.Rangers beat writer T.R. Sullivan is citing sources who say that Mike Napoli will indeed be reuniting with Texas this season.If you’re getting MLB.tv this season, then you may have to pay just a little bit more for it.The Cardinals have a great promotion going, but they goofed and used a Cubs baseball in a tweet for the promo. Whoops!Daniel Descalso will be heading to the desert as he’s signed a one-year deal with the Diamondbacks.
See More:
