May 04, 2006
Catching On
Mike Napoli makes his major league debut behind the plate for the Angels this afternoon and homers in his first at bat. The Angels lead the Tigers 1-0 in the third. He's hit 60 homers over the last two season in the minor leagues.
Posted by David Pinto at
01:39 PM
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ZiPS has him getting 22 HRs in about 450 ABs, batting at right around .200 with a .300 OBP, and getting only 19 doubles. Sort of a strange line, making me guess he's a slow catcher with an eye for the strike zone, who always swings hard and ends up striking out a lot.
Angels GM, Bill Stoneman, seemed to confirm those ZiPS numbers, when on today's pre-game show he said of Napoli, "He'll hit for a low average, but he can pound the ball."
In one at bat, Napoli matched the total HR output of both Angel catchers combined.