Jesús Montero (born November 28, 1989) is a Venezuelan baseball catcher for the New York Yankees organization. The Yankees said that thhey would maybe come up and be back up for Jorge Posada, well at the end of the 2011 season they brouught him up and he played for a little while. When the Yankees were trading they traded Montero to the Seatle Mariners. Whether his height and weight are conducive to being an everyday catcher.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag Montero was reported to be the best player and to have the best power of any 2006 international signee [1]
In 2007, at the age of 17, Montero made his professional debut for the Gulf Coast Yankees. He was invited to 2008 Spring Training, where he hit a home run in his only at bat before being assigned to minor league camp.[2] He spent the 2008 season with the Class A Charleston RiverDogs, where he batted .326 batting average with 17 home runs and 87 RBI, with 2 stolen bases.[3]
He began 2009 with the Tampa Yankees, the Class A-Advanced Florida State League affiliate of the Yankees, but on June 3, 2009, Montero was promoted to the Double-A Trenton Thunder.[4] Despite having played only a portion of the 2009 season in Trenton, Montero was added to the Eastern League All-Star roster.[5] He was named the Yankees' second best prospect for 2009[6] and the third best prospect in baseball by Baseball America.[7] He was named to the All-Star Futures Game for the second year in a row, which features baseball's best minor league prospects. Montero's season ended prematurely when he sustained a broken finger while catching.[8][9]
Montero was named the Yankees' best prospect for 2010 by Baseball America[10] and the fifth best in all of baseball.[11] He was invited to spring training,[12] where Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long declared him ready for the Majors as a hitter,[13] though the team wanted to see improvement on defense. Montero spent the 2010 season with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Early in the season, Montero struggled,[14] but he improved after the All-Star break.[15] He was named to the International League All-Star game[16] the Postseason All-Star team,[17] and was chosen as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Player of the Year.[18]
Montero contended for a spot on the Yankees' 25 man roster in 2011 spring training.[19] Yankees officials believe Montero is ready to be the starting catcher, enabling Jorge Posada to shift to designated hitter,[20] though the signing of Russell Martin will allow the Yankees to be patient with Montero.[21] A spring training injury to Francisco Cervelli gave the Yankees an opportunity to use Montero as Martin's backup,[22][23] but they decided to have Montero begin the 2011 season in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.[24] But at the end of the 2011 season they brought up Montero and he was good for them. When the Yankees were trading they traded Montero to the Mariners.
- ↑ Manuel, John. "Baseball America: Prospects: Top 10 Prospects: New York Yankees", Baseball America, 2006-11-08. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ↑ Hoch, Bryan. "Yankees invite 26 to Spring Training", MLB.com, 2008-01-15. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ↑ "MiLB.com Player Stats Page", MiLB.com, 2008-09-02. Retrieved on 2008-11-20.
- ↑ Ashmore, Mike. "Montero's coming", Mike Ashmore's Thunder Thoughts, 2009-06-03.
- ↑ Trentonthunder.com (2009-07-08). Thunder C Montero Added To EL All Star Roster. Press release. Retrieved on 2010-09-01.
- ↑ "New York Yankees Top 10 Prospects, 2009", Baseball America, 2008-11-10. Retrieved on 2009-12-23.
- ↑ Baseball America Prospects Blog | Midseason Top 25 Prospects. Baseball America (2009-07-09). Retrieved on 2010-09-01.
- ↑ Cory Giger. "Yankees prospect Montero taken to hospital with hand injury", Altoona Mirror, 2009-08-01. Retrieved on 2009-08-02.
- ↑ Abraham, Peter. "Game 105: Yankees at White Sox", LoHud Yankees Blog, The Journal News, 2009-08-02. Retrieved on 2009-08-02.
- ↑ "New York Yankees Top 10 Prospects, 2010", Baseball America, 2009-12-16. Retrieved on 2009-12-23.
- ↑ "Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg flashed top form in Fall League play", CNN, 2009-12-23. Retrieved on 2010-05-06.
- ↑ Hoch, Bryan. "Montero's power on display in camp | MLB.com: News", MLB.com, Mlb.mlb.com, 2010-02-23. Retrieved on 2010-09-01.
- ↑ Shpigel, Ben. "Yanks' Montero Looks to Claim Squatters' Rights", The New York Times, 2010-03-13. Retrieved on 2010-03-13.
- ↑ Prospects: Rankings: Top 100 Prospects: Midseason Updated Top 25 Prospects. BaseballAmerica.com (2010-07-09). Retrieved on 2010-09-01.
- ↑ Weisberger, Jed (2010-08-30). Blog Archive » Accomplishments by Nova, Nunez Not a Surprise. Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest. Retrieved on 2010-09-01.
- ↑ Raskin, Alex. "IL, PCL set to renew All-Star rivalry | MiLB.com News | The Official Site of Minor League Baseball", Minorleaguebaseball.com, 2010-07-14. Retrieved on 2010-09-01.
- ↑ International League of Professional Baseball Clubs, Inc. (2010-08-31). Durham’s Johnson Named 2010 IL MVP; Hellickson, Freeman, & Montoyo Round Out Award Winners. Press release. Retrieved on 2010-08-31.
- ↑ "Yankees champs again", The Times Leader, Timesleader.com, 2010-08-29. Retrieved on 2010-09-01.
- ↑ Marchand, Andrew. "Jesus Montero next in line for Yankees", ESPN New York, ESPN.com, 2010-10-25. Retrieved on 2010-10-26.
- ↑ Feinsand, Mark. "Jesus Montero will get chance to win starting catching job, Jorge Posada will slide in as Yankees DH", New York Daily News, 2010-11-05. Retrieved on 2010-11-07.
- ↑ "Russell Martin: His knee, his hip and his role", The Lohud Yankees Blog, Yankees.lhblogs.com, 2010-12-16. Retrieved on 2011-03-14.
- ↑ Barbarisi, Daniel. "Yankees' Montero Gets His Chance", Wall Street Journal, WSJ.com, 2011-03-05. Retrieved on 2011-03-14.
- ↑ Shpigel, Ben. "Cervelli To Miss 6-8 Weeks With Broken Foot", The New York Times Baseball Blog, New York Times, 2011-03-04. Retrieved on 2011-03-14.
- ↑ http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2011/03/28/montero-and-pena-officially-sent-to-triple-a